Wirecard Global Sales GmbH, Aschheim — Executive Vice President / Prokurist, January 2006 to August 2020. Wirecard Communication Services GmbH, Leipzig — Managing Director, March 2010 to July 2020. Two parallel leadership roles: Global Corporate Marketing & Partner Management (50 FTE, 4 leaders) and digital services & identity solutions (150 employees).
As EVP at Wirecard Global Sales, Michael Brinkmann led 50 FTE with 4 leaders across Global Corporate Marketing and Partner Management. He built the Strategic Alliances division from scratch to 16 employees, closing partnerships with Google, SAP, IBM, Oracle, Samsung, and Microsoft. Partner Management grew from 35 to 45 staff across Munich, Asia, Austria, England, and North America. He founded the Wirecard Payment Holding in North America and built the in-house marketing team into a 35 FTE full-service agency, achieving over 30% cost savings compared to external agencies.
As Managing Director of Wirecard Communication Services in Leipzig (150 employees), he was responsible for digital services and identity solutions, serving clients such as QVC, HSE, Koch Media, and IDnow. Revenue grew by more than 25% p.a. through new business areas including Direct Response TV and Identity Verification-as-a-Service (GwG-compliant). In 2020, he successfully sold the company to IDnow GmbH, securing all 150 jobs.
His career at Wirecard progressed through several stages: Executive Assistant to the Board (2006–2007), VP Partner Management (2008–2012), and EVP/Prokurist (2012–2020). The Wirecard group collapsed in 2020 following the disclosure of one of the largest accounting scandals in German corporate history. Wirecard Global Sales GmbH was dissolved in August 2020.