Find proven testing professionals with a ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) in Frankfurt in minutes from over 15,000 CVs with the power of AI.
CTFL holders know the basics of test design, defect reporting, test levels, and the software development life cycle. They help teams build clear test cases, spot risks early, and work cleanly with developers and product owners. Get fast, precise matching with vetted freelancers who hold this certification.
About the certification
What CTFL proves
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level, often called CTFL, shows that a tester understands the core ideas of software testing. It is the entry point in the ISTQB path and is widely recognized by companies that need reliable quality assurance support. For Frankfurt teams, it is a practical sign that a freelancer can join mixed in-house and remote projects and speak the common language of testing.
Core testing skills
A CTFL holder is expected to work with the basics of disciplined testing, not just run checks at the end of a project.
- Test principles and the purpose of testing
- Test levels and test types
- Test design techniques and traceability
- Defect reporting and retesting
- Risk-based thinking and test planning
- Basics of test tools and test data
Typical freelancer profile
This certification is common among junior and mid-level testers, QA analysts, test consultants, and business analysts who need a solid testing foundation. It also suits developers who work closely with quality teams and want a shared understanding of how defects are found, described, and tracked. In Frankfurt, companies often look for CTFL freelancers when they need dependable support for agile squads, release testing, or project-based QA work.
Knowledge areas covered
The exam content is built around practical testing concepts that matter in everyday delivery.
- Software development and testing life cycle basics
- Static testing and reviews
- Black-box and white-box basics
- Regression, confirmation, and exploratory testing
- Test management fundamentals
- Communication between testers, developers, and stakeholders
What it means for a company
Hiring a freelancer with CTFL usually means less time spent explaining basic QA terms and more time spent on the work itself. You can expect clearer defect reports, more structured test cases, and better collaboration in sprint work, UAT, or release validation. The certificate does not promise deep automation or senior test leadership, but it does show a solid foundation that helps reduce avoidable testing gaps.
Exam path and renewal
CTFL is an entry-level certificate, so it is a common starting point for people new to formal testing as well as for professionals who want to validate what they already do. Preparation usually covers the ISTQB syllabus, practice questions, and understanding the vocabulary used in testing teams. The certificate is part of the ISTQB framework, and professionals should always check the current rules for exam format and any renewal or update requirements with the issuing body.
Meet FRATCH ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL)
Joachim Auster
Project Manager HubSpot, Tracking + Analytics Expert
Last position:
Project Manager HubSpot, Tracking + Analytics Expert at Swiss Post
- Create a tracking concept for Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics including data layer, events, triggers, and reporting
- Manage the project team (developers, designers, performance specialists)
- Serve as communication interface between stakeholders and digital departments
Mouad Oulad M’hand
Project Management Consultant
Last position:
Project Management Consultant at Joynext GmbH
- Planning and controlling qualification tests and the delivery of software components (SWC)
- Consulting and support in stakeholder management
- Checking work packages for compliance with ISO 29119
- Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for the Porsche and Bentley brands
- Regular reporting to the customer and internal management
- Tools / processes: KPM, Azure DevOps, JIRA, Confluence, MS Project, ISO 26262
Eric Bouendeu
Quality Manager / Test Manager / Senior Test Analyst / Senior Data Analyst / Statistical Programmer
Last position:
Quality Assurance Lead (QSV) at Federal Employment Agency
Supported the International Web Presence project of the Federal Employment Agency (IntWeb) in quality management, taking on responsibility for the quality of processes and project deliverables while adhering to BA standards. The project's main goals are to give professionals abroad a quick overview of their chances to move to Germany and to enable them to take the necessary steps in a consistently digital way.
Set the fundamental guidelines using the QA handbook
Summarized test results in QA reports for PLA
Analyzed project outcomes for improvement opportunities
Quality management of requirements analysis (especially processes, methods and tools)
Ensured compliance with SERA guidelines
Created a cross-project test concept
Agreed on sprint completion reports
Conducted formal reviews of deliverables according to guidelines and/or project plan
Acted as contact person for internal audit and external audits by auditors or the Federal Audit Office (BRH)
Technologies: JIRA, Confluence, MS Office, GitLab, Kubernetes
Jan Petrasch
Program / Project / Migration / Taskforce / Transformation Lead
Last position:
Operational Readiness / Migration Lead at Worldline
Migration of SEPA direct debits, credit transfers & card clearing to Worldline's internal platform as part of the outsourcing contract
Definition of the MIGR strategy
Mobilization of the community (300+ experts at client & Worldline)
Creation of the MIGR runbook (100+ workshops)
Close collaboration with upstream project streams: BUILD & TEST, as well as with the operating units
Set up of the governance framework, capacity management & reporting
100% of SEPA DD, CT & CC transaction traffic migrated (7 months)
~80 migrations carried out with a success rate of 70% ("first-time right")
Set up technical & manual production monitoring
Established a "fast-track" incident management process in the MIGR & hypercare phases
Set up 20+ exception handling processes
Conducted trainings
Implemented SLAs & billing
Florian Fladung
Senior Backend Developer
Last position:
Senior Backend Developer at ING Deutschland AG
- Database design with Oracle DB, JPA and Flyway considering high performance requirements
- Analysis of multiple architecture drafts and identification of technical risks
- Design and implementation of various interfaces and integrations, especially REST APIs and Kafka topics
- Setup of Elasticsearch for monitoring and analyzing log data
- Establishment of an iterative work approach in the project team facing complex business requirements
Muaadh Abo-Al Rejal
Product Lead, System Development – Active Sound System (EV)
Last position:
Product Lead, System Development – Active Sound System (EV) at CARIAD, Volkswagen Group
- Systems & Requirements Engineering: Requirements elicitation, traceability, and change management across the V-model
- System-level responsibility for Active Sound and AVAS functions within hybrid and electric vehicle programs
- Definition, refinement, and maintenance of system and software requirements with strong focus on AVAS regulatory compliance
- Management of development backlog and user stories within SAFe PI cadence, ensuring clear acceptance criteria
- Analysis and assessment of change requests, including impact on system behavior and delivery timelines
- System interface between software development, vehicle integration, testing, and homologation stakeholders
- Coordination of system, software, and vehicle-level testing, including support of homologation-relevant validation activities
- Support of feature releases and integration across multiple vehicle platforms and variants
- Development and delivery aligned with ASPICE Level 2 processes and internal quality standards, including system and vehicle-level validation, test drive support, and homologation-relevant activities
- Ensuring functional safety (ISO 26262) and automotive cybersecurity (ISO 21434) compliance within system development contexts
- Compliance with ASPICE processes, EuroNCAP requirements, and vehicle-level regulatory and homologation constraints
Olga Lewandowska
IT Business Analyst and Test Manager
Last position:
Business Analyst at Start-up
Analysis and design of functional requirements for an AI-based forecasting model in (XRP) crypto trading to support trading decisions.
Identification, classification, and validation of relevant input sources.
Design and execution of business tests to verify data and model quality.
Analysis of the regulatory environment for using robo-advisors in the crypto sector.
Waleri Moretz
Project Manager
Last position:
Project Manager at WAMOCON Academy
- Project planning and resource planning
- Requirements definition and technology selection
- Data migration and risk management
- Monitoring up to go-live
- Tools: Office365, Jira XRAY, Strato, Onboarding App
Jörn Bottenhorn
Project Management and PMO
Last position:
Project Management and PMO at TANKKARTEN | PAYMENT
- Close collaboration with development teams to ensure alignment with project goals
- Assessment of in-scope assets, requirements definition and support of the public tender process up to vendor selection
- Creation and maintenance of UML sequence diagrams to document system interactions
- Intensive use of Agile/Scrum methodology and the Spotify model
- Development and implementation of cutover and rehearsal plans together with the application managers
Björn Auel
Project Manager
Last position:
Project Manager at DB InfraGO
Project Elevator Emergency Call Reorganization: Project to evaluate and define a new technical solution for connecting elevator emergency calls across all DB InfraGO passenger station facilities.
Objectives: Secure redundant connectivity for all sites nationwide. Define the technical solution, document it, and provide thematic oversight and control of specialist and line organizations.
Identify and commission the technical solutions.
Manage the documentation and approval of the technical solution within DB regulations.
Define and follow up on the roadmap for the solution description.
Develop a rollout plan to prevent shutdowns.
Prepare, align, and implement decision proposals for steering committees.
Communicate the solution in all committees and regional departments.
Alexander Mendelson
Managing Director & Senior Project Manager
Last position:
Managing Director & Senior Project Manager at Mendelson GmbH
- Interim project manager and requirements engineer in various client projects
Sai Kancharana
QA Engineer
Last position:
QA Engineer at Pharoscion Global Solutions
- Worked on an Internet Banking System enabling secure customer transactions (fund transfers, bill payments, balance inquiries) and bank-side operations (account management, approvals).
- Designed and executed manual and automated test cases for functional, regression, and integration testing across web and mobile platforms.
- Automated end-to-end banking workflows using Selenium WebDriver, Java, and TestNG, and performed REST API testing with Postman for backend validation.
- Built and maintained test automation frameworks using TestNG and Maven, and integrated with Jenkins CI/CD for continuous testing and reporting.
- Generated detailed test execution reports with ExtentReports, including logs and screenshots for audits and stakeholders.
- Collaborated in agile teams, contributing to UAT, test planning, and documentation across sprints.
Jerry Fonou
IT Requirements and Test Management in the S/4 HANA Implementation Project
Last position:
IT Requirements and Test Management in S/4 HANA Implementation Project at Q_PERIOR AG
- Create functional concepts for implementing applications
- Coordinate tests
- Create and execute test cases
- Create test reports
Eugen Boschin
Test Manager
Last position:
Test Manager at Research Industrial Systems Engineering (RISE) Forschungs-, Entwicklungs- und Großprojektberatung GmbH
- Creation of test concepts
- Requirements management
- Release planning & support
- Leading DDS
- Reporting (test report, AFO test matrix)
- UAT/BAT coordination
- Onboarding new team members
- Team planning / capacity planning
- Documentation support
- Methods/tools/technologies: black box, white box, exploratory testing, end-to-end testing, regression testing, load & performance testing, acceptance and interface testing, integration and system testing, networking, JIRA with Zephyr Scale plugin, Confluence, RISE portal, Ethernet, IPv4, IPv6, Linux, VM, Postman, SQL, SQL Developer, Bruno, Wireshark, cloud, Burp Suite, Notepad++
Anusha Labhi Shetti
Test Automation Consultant
Last position:
Test Automation Consultant at EON Energy
- Design, develop, and maintain automated tests using Playwright with Python scripts, Typescript and Spring Boot
- Create test classes annotated with Spring Boot Test
- Create test scripts to cover functional, regression, and integration testing
- Ensure test automation coverage for web applications
- Collaborate with developers to identify testable requirements
- Troubleshoot automation test failures and resolve issues
- Integrate automated tests with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD)
- Monitor and report test automation metrics
- Implement test data management and mocking strategies
- Ensure test reliability, stability, and maintainability
- Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes)
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) statistics
Typical experience
16 years
Average project duration
1.5 years
Certifications per freelancer
5
Top business areas
Quality Assurance, Information Technology, Project Management
Top industries
Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Automotive
Most common languages
German, English, French
Bachelor's degree or higher
100%
Master's degree or higher
47%
Doctorate
7%
Salary / Daily Rate Distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers holding this certification are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows how many freelancers charge within that range. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
Average rates for ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) & Seniority distribution
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.
Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? Learn key details about FRATCH right now
A ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) on a profile means the freelancer has proven a basic, structured understanding of software testing. It signals familiarity with test design, defect handling, and the language used in QA teams. For companies, that usually lowers the ramp-up time on day one.
Yes, in practice people often use CTFL and ISTQB Foundation Level for the same entry-level certificate. You may also see the full name, Certified Tester Foundation Level, in older or formal references. Searchers use all of these names when they look for the same qualification.
The CTFL is a good fit for testers, QA analysts, and consultants who need a solid base in testing principles. It is also useful for developers, analysts, and product people who work closely with test teams and want to understand how quality work is organized. Companies often value it for project roles where clear communication and reliable test execution matter more than deep specialization.
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) validates the basics of how testing is planned, designed, executed, and reported. That includes test levels, defect management, review techniques, and simple test design methods such as equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis. It is about disciplined fundamentals, not advanced automation or test architecture.
Preparation for ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) is usually straightforward for people who already work around software delivery, but it still requires careful study. The syllabus uses precise terms, so candidates need to learn the definitions and the logic behind them, not just memorize phrases. Practice questions help a lot because the wording matters.
For most candidates, CTFL is the starting point and does not require prior ISTQB certifications. Some testing experience helps, but it is not the core requirement. The real prerequisite is understanding basic software concepts and being willing to learn formal testing terminology.
CTFL is the foundation. Higher ISTQB levels go further into specialist topics, advanced test analysis, or test management. If a company needs a freelancer for everyday QA support or as part of a wider delivery team, CTFL is often enough; if it needs strategy or leadership, a higher level may be more relevant.
The ISTQB Foundation Level matters most in projects where teams need structured testing and clear coordination with development. That includes agile product work, release testing, application change projects, and regulated environments where documentation and traceability are important. In Frankfurt, it is especially useful when local companies want freelancers who can work well in German-based teams or in international setups with English as the main project language.
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