Max Körbächer

About

Hi, I’m Max.

I’m a tech advisor, speaker, and author based in Munich, working on the messy intersection of platform engineering, cloud native infrastructure, and AI engineering.

I’m the founder of Liquid Reply, where I help engineering organisations design platforms that developers actually want to use and that produce business outcomes leadership can point to. My background spans Enterprise Architecture, cloud native architecture, and the operational reality of running AI/ML workloads in production.

When I’m not advising, I speak at coporate and community events. I’ve given 70+ talks since 2018 at KubeCon, PlatformCon, OOP, KCDs, Open Source Summit, and many more. Focusing on platform engineering, sovereignty in IT, and the shift from Internal Developer Platforms to AI-Developer Platforms.

I wrote a book on platform engineering, the “Zeitgeist of Bytes” newsletter, and for other publications. I also help organise community events around cloud native and platform engineering in Germany.

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Portrait of Max Körbächer

What I work on

Platform Engineering Cloud Native Kubernetes AI Engineering GenAI in production Digital Sovereignty Sustainability in IT Sovereignty Open Source AI Platforms

Curriculum vitae

Work

  • Oct 2020 — Present

    Liquid Reply GmbH
    • Managing Director
    • Chief Technology Advisor
    • Founder

  • Sep 2018 — Oct 2020

    Storm Reply GmbH

    • Manager · Senior Cloud Native Architect

  • Apr 2016 — Aug 2018

    ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE

    • Office of the CIO — Enterprise Architect

  • Sep 2015 — Nov 2016

    LastBreach UG

    • Managing Director
    • Founder

  • Mar 2015 — Mar 2016

    Lean42 GmbH

    • Management Consultant — Enterprise Architecture

  • Aug 2013 — Feb 2015

    E.ON Business Services GmbH

    • Demand Management — Requirements Coordinator

  • Aug 2010 — Jul 2013

    E.ON Business Services GmbH

    • Dual Student

  • Jun 2009 — Mar 2010

    AWO Stadtkreis Gießen e.V.

    • Civil Service

  • Aug 2007 — Aug 2008

    moreDATA GmbH

    • Internship

Studies

  • Remote

    MIT Professional Education

    Applied Data Science and AI

  • Germany

    University of Bamberg

    M.Sc. Information Systems

  • Germany

    University of Applied Sciences Hamelin

    B.Sc. Information Systems

Engagements

  • Governing Board Member

    Cloud Native Computing Foundation

  • Founding Member of the Management Board

    Förderverein Open Source, Cloud Native und Künstliche Intelligenz Bayern e.V.

  • Inaugural Member of the Advisory Board

    Linux Foundation Europe

  • Advisory Board for Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineering Associate (CNPA) and Engineer (CNPE)

    Linux Foundation

  • Founder, Emeritus Advisor and former Co-Chair — Technical Advisory Group Environmental Sustainability

    Cloud Native Computing Foundation

  • CNCF Ambassador

    Cloud Native Computing Foundation

  • Initiator and Organizer

    Cloud Native Summit Munich

  • Organizer and Host

    Kubernetes, Cloud Native & Platform Engineering Meetup Munich

  • Initiator and Organizer

    KCD Ukraine

Open Source

Open Source projects I'm working/worked on.

Kubernetes

Worked in the Release Team and Release Engineering Team for 3 years.

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vibeD

My own project — a Workload Orchestrator for GenAI-generated artifacts.

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Naira

An open source internal development platform to enable organizations building AI-first platforms.

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