After his mechanical engineering degree, he completed his PhD on the simulation of martensitic phase transformation in shape memory alloys at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, where he was named honorary professor after his part-time habilitation phase. Between 2007 and 2020, he worked in the steel industry for thyssenkrupp. His most recent role there was as the head of product development. In his field at IWT, he carries out research into metal materials, their production, thermal treatment, coating, and characterization.