CompuGroup Medical (CGM)
Christoph Unfried, Vice President Software Development bei CompuGroup Medical
Description
Christoph Unfried von CompuGroup Medical gibt im Interview Einblicke in die Teamstruktur des Unternehmens, beleuchtet spannende technologische Themen und erläutert, wie Recruiting und Onboarding gestaltet werden.
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Video Summary
In “Christoph Unfried, Vice President Software Development bei CompuGroup Medical,” Speaker Christoph Unfried explains how CGM’s Austria team of 35 works in small, mostly location-based product teams, supported by dedicated QA and a shared DevOps group for build/deploy pipelines and hosting. Hiring includes a virtual first interview, a coding challenge, and an on-site second round with the team lead, with strong emphasis on personality, an open mindset, and active contribution in self-organized teams. Onboarding is structured—from HR and technical setup to product/domain ramp-up and pair programming on an initial bug with ongoing code reviews—while the stack spans C++/.NET Windows apps to Java/.NET with React/Angular, deployable in cloud and on-premise, and the team is advancing AI to support developers and deliver product value.
Engineering healthcare with purpose: How Christoph Unfried at CompuGroup Medical builds teams, hires, and scales to the cloud
DevJobs.at takeaways: A clear mission, a clear operating model
In the session “Christoph Unfried, Vice President Software Development bei CompuGroup Medical,” speaker Christoph Unfried walked us through how his Austrian R&D organization works. CompuGroup Medical (CGM) builds software for physicians and communication solutions for secure data exchange. In Austria, 35 employees across four locations—Innsbruck, Asten, Sankt Pölten, and Wiener Neudorf—deliver that mission in lean, self-organized teams with strong QA and DevOps support.
From our DevJobs.at editorial seat, the signal is consistent: teams are organized around products, anchored locally, and reinforced by centralized quality assurance and DevOps capabilities. For engineers who want meaningful work in healthcare IT and who prefer small, empowered teams, this setup blends purpose, technical breadth, and disciplined collaboration.
What CGM builds: Software for physicians and secure communication
CGM focuses on day-to-day practice realities. The products target medical practices and secure data exchange—areas where reliability, usability, and performance have direct impact. One theme recurs in Unfried’s remarks: removing unnecessary time at the keyboard so medical professionals can spend more time with patients. He points to AI as a way to support that goal, both by assisting developers and by powering product features that reduce manual workload for users.
- Core focus: applications for physicians and secure communications
- Value proposition: time savings, reliable workflows, and patient-centric impact
- Product philosophy: grounded in real practice, quality-oriented, and pragmatic
Four locations, 35 people, one engineering core
CGM’s Austrian engineering team counts 35 people across four locations:
- Innsbruck
- Asten
- Sankt Pölten
- Wiener Neudorf
Product teams are typically organized around a single location. That local anchor keeps day-to-day decision-making fast while centralized functions—Quality Assurance and DevOps—provide consistent standards and operational support across teams.
Team structure: Product, QA, DevOps
Product teams
Each product team owns its product end to end, with a straightforward composition:
- Team lead
- Software developers
- A software architect when needed
This combination supports autonomy for product decisions while maintaining enough architectural depth to keep technical direction coherent.
Quality Assurance (QA)
A dedicated QA team works alongside the product teams. Testers are assigned to specific products, which keeps testing grounded in real usage and domain context rather than abstract checklists. QA is embedded by product line, carrying its own responsibility and deep product knowledge.
DevOps
A central DevOps team supports all development teams with:
- Build pipelines
- Deployment pipelines
- Hosting
This is a clear commitment to operational excellence: development teams can focus on product increments, while DevOps ensures stable delivery and reliable runtime environments.
Collaboration in a distributed setup
While product teams are usually aligned to a location, the organization operates across all four sites. That requires intentional communication and crisp interfaces. Two practices stand out in Unfried’s description: structured reviews and collaborative onboarding.
- Local teams benefit from short lines of communication.
- Central QA and DevOps standardize quality and delivery across teams.
- Code reviews provide continuous feedback and shared quality benchmarks.
Hiring: Two-stage, focused, and grounded in real work
Hiring is well-defined, with HR playing a strong supporting role while the technical organization remains deeply involved at every step. Unfried outlines a pragmatic sequence:
- Job posting: The technical department collaborates closely with HR from the start.
- Application screening: The technical team reviews every application and decides whether to move to a first interview.
- First interview (virtual): The initial conversation is “almost always virtual” now.
- Coding challenge: Candidates receive a challenge to see how they approach a problem, what technical skills they apply, and how they think.
- Second interview (on-site): Using the challenge as a basis, the follow-up happens on location with the team lead and, often, an expert from the team.
This flow ensures depth on the technical side while offering candidates an early, realistic sense of the work. The coding challenge is a strong signal: the organization values how you reason and how you translate that into code.
What matters most: Mindset and team fit
Beyond technical strength, Unfried emphasizes personality and mindset. The teams are small and self-organized, which calls for active contribution and co-ownership of the process.
“We work in very small, self-organized teams … it’s important we find people who actively contribute and help shape the process.”
What the teams look for:
- An open mindset
- Willingness to contribute actively and help shape how the team works
- Fit with the daily collaboration style
For candidates, that means soft skills matter: it’s about how you work with others, whether you want to take responsibility, and how you show up in a collaborative setup.
Onboarding: One structured month and early pairing
Onboarding follows a structured plan, with a tightly scheduled first month designed to provide clarity and momentum. The sequence is logical and supportive:
- General organizational topics (supported by HR)
- Technical setup of the development environment
- Getting to know the product and understanding how it works
- Learning the domain context
New joiners work closely with a designated teammate from the start—pair programming included—and gradually take on independent tasks. That progression from guided contributions to autonomous development is intentional.
“Step by step, they get into a position where they develop independently.”
Another pillar is the continuous code review practice:
“We have ongoing code reviews … an experienced colleague looks over the code and gives feedback.”
It’s a setup that accelerates learning, strengthens quality, and gives new hires a safe runway into complex systems.
Engineering practices: Reviews, pairing, continuous feedback
The combination of early pairing and routine code reviews shapes the engineering culture. It delivers:
- Shared quality standards for code
- Knowledge transfer between experienced developers and new joiners
- Day-to-day safety—errors surface early, solutions get refined together
For developers, it means clear expectations about craftsmanship and collegiality, within a structure that prioritizes feedback and learning.
The technology landscape: From C++ and .NET to Java, React, and the cloud
CGM Austria supports a broad product portfolio—and the technology stack reflects that. Unfried outlines two key layers:
Existing products (legacy)
- Classic Windows applications
- C++ and .NET
- Databases: “QuestQL” and MSSQL
New product development (the replacement for legacy)
- Backend: Java and .NET
- Frontend: React and Angular
- Operations: deployable in the cloud and on-premise
This duality offers a range of challenges: from working on mature Windows applications to building new cloud-ready modules with modern web technologies. The DevOps team underpins this with build and deployment pipelines plus hosting—foundational for reliable releases.
AI focus: Helping developers and reducing user workload
CGM is also investing in artificial intelligence along two vectors:
- AI to support developers—helping them work more efficiently and productively.
- AI-powered product features—benefiting customers by saving time spent on the computer so they can focus more on patients.
“We already see areas where AI can support very well … to save time for the user so they don’t have to look into the computer and type, but can focus on the patient.”
That direction has technical implications: AI workloads require significant compute, which elevates the role of cloud infrastructure. CGM is exploring how to operate this sensibly—balancing technical feasibility and operational considerations.
Why engineers should consider joining
All of this translates into clear benefits for engineering talent:
- Meaningful domain: healthcare IT with direct, practical impact.
- Small, self-organized teams: short decision paths, real responsibility, room to shape how things are done.
- Structured collaboration: QA embedded by product, DevOps for reliable delivery.
- Robust onboarding: a planned first month, early pairing, accelerated learning.
- Everyday learning: pairing to start, continuous code reviews, steady feedback.
- Technological breadth: legacy and greenfield—C++ and .NET to Java, React, Angular, and cloud.
- AI as leverage: assistance for developers and practical gains for users.
- Clear hiring process: transparent, fair, and grounded in real tasks via a coding challenge.
If you like taking responsibility, shaping processes, and working with an open mindset, you’ll likely thrive here.
Collaboration as a habit, not a buzzword
Unfried doesn’t lean on buzzwords—he names routines: virtual first interviews, a real coding challenge, a structured onboarding plan, pair programming at the start, and code review loops in day-to-day work. It’s practical engineering management with strong guardrails.
- Locations bring proximity; central teams bring rhythm and reliability.
- Product teams decide autonomously; QA and DevOps standardize and support.
- Reviews maintain quality; AI is used to reduce friction and save time.
The result is an organization that channels energy into value creation with the right scaffolding around it.
Who is this a great fit for?
- Developers who want to see the impact of their code on real users in healthcare.
- People who prefer small, self-organized teams and want to take ownership.
- Colleagues who like to help shape the process, not just ship features.
- Engineers who enjoy a wide technology surface—from Windows applications to modern cloud modules.
- Talent with an open mindset who value feedback and active collaboration.
Closing thoughts: Purpose matched with practice
In “Christoph Unfried, Vice President Software Development bei CompuGroup Medical,” Unfried presents a coherent setup: a company with a clear mission, an organization that structures collaboration intentionally, and an engineering practice that backs quality through pairing and code reviews. For engineers in Austria who want to build healthcare software—across locations from Innsbruck to Wiener Neudorf—this is where purpose meets disciplined execution, spanning legacy systems to cloud and using AI not as a buzzword but as a practical tool.
For tech talent with an open attitude, a taste for responsibility, and a desire to work close to the product, this is an opportunity worth serious consideration.
