Lars Schaaf

Cloud Native & Platform Architect

Open for new projects · Remote and on-site across DACH

I design and build Kubernetes platforms across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OpenStack, with Infrastructure as Code, GitOps, and observability built in from day one, including private-cloud and air-gapped environments.

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About me

I have been working as a freelance architect and engineer since 2002. Today I focus on platforms that teams can rely on and operate themselves, declarative, observable, and secure by default. I join as an architect, as a hands-on engineer, or both.

Freelancing since: 2002
Focus: Kubernetes platforms, observability
Clouds: AWS, Azure, GCP, OpenStack, private cloud
Based in: Ratingen, Germany
Languages: German (native), English (fluent)

What I do

Platform architecture
Kubernetes platforms on EKS, AKS, GKE, and OpenShift, from multi-cloud to private-cloud and air-gapped data centers, built with Terraform, OpenTofu, Crossplane, and GitOps.
Observability
Metrics, logs, and traces with OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, Tempo, Mimir, and VictoriaMetrics, including dashboards and alerting as code.
Security & DevSecOps
Security audits and hardening with Vault, Keycloak, Kyverno, Cilium, and NeuVector, plus secure delivery pipelines and policy as code.
Data & messaging
Streaming and analytics platforms with Kafka, NATS, and ClickHouse, operated on Kubernetes with the same automation as everything else.

What I deliver

Architecture & migration
Target architectures and migrations planned to minimize disruption.
Automation & GitOps
CI/CD and GitOps workflows that make provisioning and deployment repeatable.
Tested platforms
End-to-end and load testing (Chainsaw, Karate, k6) before go-live.