Thomas Weßling Principal Expert AI
Summary

Accomplished Head of AI and Digital Transformation with 12 years of experience in guiding impactful and innovative projects in AI and digital transformation. Known for a strong record in designing and implementing digital solutions that enhance organizational growth and elevate customer experience.

Professional Experience
07/2022 – PresentKarlsruhe, Germany

Head of AI

Atruvia AG
  • •Defined and executed the enterprise AI roadmap, aligning AI investments with strategic business priorities to enhance operational efficiency, customer experience, and risk mitigation in the financial services
  • •Established AI governance frameworks ensuring full compliance with regulatory requirements and promoting Responsible AI practices across the AI lifecycle
  • •Standardized AI architecture and MLOps practices to improve model reliability, scalability, and time-to-value in production environments
  • •Led cross-functional collaboration between Data Science, Compliance, Legal, and Executive teams to accelerate trusted AI adoption at scale
  • •Guided strategic make-or-buy decisions to balance speed, innovation, and cost-efficiency in building AI capabilities
  • •Fostered an AI-driven culture, mentoring talent, building communities of practice, and advancing AI literacy across business units
  • •Acted as strategic advisor to executive leadership, translating complex AI topics into business value and risk-aware decision-making
    • 06/2019 – 06/2022Frankfurt, Germany

    Head of department „AI for Healthcare“ & Senior Architect for AI

    IBM
  • •Led the AI for Healthcare department at IBM, driving strategic initiatives and managing budgets
  • •Increased AI department revenue by 30% by leading strategy for the 'Cloud & AI' division, managing a budget of €5M, and mentoring 20 team members
  • •Directed full-lifecycle AI projects as Lead Architect, specializing in NLP, ML, and IBM Watson technologies
  • •Mentored cross-functional teams of data scientists and developers, enhancing their technical capabilities
  • •Spearheaded the Cognitive Factory initiative in Germany, improving deployment efficiency and consistency
    • 07/2020 – 05/2022Rülzheim, Germany

    Head of Digital Services and Digital Transformation

    HWI group
  • •Leading a team through the delivery of a digital strategy and digital services for automation, artificial intelligence and scalable architectures in today's cloud- driven world
  • •Responsibility for company-wide cloud and AI strategy, architecture, revenue growth and project delivery
  • •Responsibility for department utilization, data governance, GDPR compliance and IT security
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  • •Introducing best practises for agile leadership and agile project delivery
  • •Developing strategies and technical solutions for digital, AI- and cloud-based services in health care and life sciences
  • •Leading projects to introduce company-wide business digitization solutions (CRM, LIMS, Document Management)
  • •People Manager for a team of data scientists and analysts: fostering a growth mindset to support digital transformation
  • •Guiding the design of solution architectures involving AI and modern container-based cloud architectures
    • 02/2016 – 06/2019Frankfurt, Germany

    Managing Consultant Data Science - Machine Learning & Text Mining

    IBM
  • •Led end-to-end design and delivery of AI solutions to solve complex business problems and drive process optimization across industries
  • •Technical project lead for high-impact AI use cases, delivering measurable business value through automation and intelligent insights
  • •Strategic advisor for AI and cloud adoption, supporting C-level stakeholders in aligning AI initiatives with business strategy
  • •Cognitive Factory Champion for Germany – established a reusable asset framework to enable fast and consistent AI deployments
  • •Acted as liaison with IBM Research Lab to bring cutting-edge research into client-facing applications
  • •Client-facing consultant and solution architect for Machine Learning & Text Mining projects across diverse sectors
  • •Developed an AI-based classification and processing system for customer communication, including the design of NLP-powered chatbot solutions
  • •Facilitated Design Thinking workshops to foster user-centric innovation and accelerate AI solution ideation
    • 09/2016 – 12/2016Frankfurt, Germany

    Team Lead Data Science/Text Mining

    Deutsche Bahn
  • •Led a team of external developers using Scrum methodology to enhance Text Mining processes
  • •Analyzed diverse data sources to derive actionable KPIs, driving strategic decision-making
  • •Collaborated with stakeholders to implement a company-wide feedback system, improving communication
  • •Acted as a consultant for "analysis as a service," aligning customer needs with developer capabilities
    • 07/2013 – 01/2016Heidelberg, Germany

    Researcher Data Mining | Machine Learning | Natural Language Processing

    University of Heidelberg
  • •Led cross-industry projects applying AI to digital humanities, enhancing narrative text analysis.
  • •Developed information extraction techniques using Java, Python, and R, focusing on temporal relations.
  • •Utilized Apache UIMA & Ruta alongside open-source libraries like ClearTK and Spark for data science.
  • •Published multiple peer-reviewed publications in major scientific journals and presented findings at conferences
    • 02/2011 – 08/2013Heidelberg, Germany

    Lecturer & Research Assistant

    University of Heidelberg
  • •Delivered engaging lectures in Software Engineering, Data Science, and Business Process Modeling to undergraduate and graduate students
  • •Conducted innovative research in data mining, deep learning, and machine learning, collaborating with industry partners
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  • •Published multiple peer-reviewed papers in prestigious conferences and journals, enhancing the university's academic reputation
  • •Managed a diverse team of 8 students, ensuring timely project delivery within budget constraints.
    • Education
    2008 – 2013

    Master of Arts (MA), Computational Linguistics

    Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
    2008 – 2011

    Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Computational Linguistics

    Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg / University of Heidelberg
    Languages
    German

    Native or Bilingual

    English

    Full Professional

    Publications (selection)
    03/2024

    Finding the right people for the right job: Talent Scouting and Retention in AI

    Finance Forward
    09/2023

    Balancing business-impact with responsible AI in banking

    Handelsblatt Banken Tech
    05/2023

    From Dark Data to smarter Banking

    IFK Semestervorträge
    04/2023

    “AI is no magic” – ingredients for successfully scaling enterprise AI

    Verlag für Absatzwirtschaft
    06/2017

    An end-to-end pipeline for detecting and categorising customer complaints

    Swiss Text Analytics Conference
    09/2015

    Did I Really Say That? – Combining Machine Learning & Dependency Relations to extract Statements from German News Articles.

    GSCL 2015
    Awards
    08/2025

    Executive Leader of the Year (impact & talent retention)

    Atruvia
    06/2025

    Banking Innovation Award

    Atruvia
    06/2016

    Managers Choice Award

    IBM
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