SmartBear, a leading provider of software quality and visibility solutions, awarded Dominik Krichbaum, Product Owner of the imPactors at ING Germany, its 2025 Quality Champion Award, recognizing leaders who drive excellence in software delivery and testing. ING is a global financial institution with a strong presence in Germany, serving millions of customers across Europe and beyond. Dominik plays a pivotal role in ING’s centralized Center of Expertise, Tech Integrate & Automate, helping to shape the company’s global strategy for application delivery and quality.  

“We’re thrilled to honor Dominik Krichbaum of ING Germany as the 2025 Quality Champion, celebrating those who help shape extraordinary software products and user experiences,” said JP Cooney, EMEA Enterprise Account Executive at SmartBear. “Dominik, together with the outstanding collaboration and expertise of his team, has made a real impact, not only in adopting contract testing but in driving scalable solutions across ING’s global teams. Their shared commitment to excellence exemplifies what this award is all about: advancing software quality through teamwork, vision, and continuous improvement. We hope to inspire others to advance software quality.” 

As Product Owner for ING’s OnePipeline initiative, Dominik has championed enterprise-wide adoption of contract testing, migrating from open source tools to SmartBear’s API Hub for Contract Testing (formerly PactFlow).  

Dominik led a successful proof of concept with two of ING’s largest application teams, creating a strong internal use case driving broader adoption of contract testing. At ING Engineering Days in Germany, he helped strengthen collaboration with SmartBear, aligning on strategic goals and sharing best practices. 

“I’m honored to receive the Quality Champion Award from SmartBear,” said Dominik Krichbaum. “To me, this recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of my squad. It highlights our shared commitment to improving software quality through collaboration, innovation, and practices like contract testing that help us build more reliable and scalable systems.” 

To celebrate the exceptional work of its customers, SmartBear launched a quarterly awards program last year. Nominations are now open for SmartBear’s AI Innovation Award, recognizing a customer that is redefining the software development lifecycle (SDLC) by leveraging AI for efficiency and quality at every stage. To learn more or to nominate a company, go to:  

https://smartbear.com/company/awards/ai-innovation/