Marc Rössler-Interim-Management, CTO Advisor & Executive Coach - Technical Vision, Strategy & Engineering Leadership
Check rate
Experience
CTO Coach
zvoove Switzerland
- Coaching the CTO on translating the product strategy into technical strategy and AI transformation of the R&D organization; acting as an independent sparring partner on strategic and technical topics
Interim CTO
zvoove Germany
- Delivered the foundation for large-scale On-Prem to Cloud migration; stabilized cloud operations and closed critical feature-parity gaps
- Positioned the tech organization for PE transaction readiness (risk mitigation, scalability narrative, due-diligence preparedness)
- Replaced a traditional rewrite approach with pragmatic AI-driven innovation on the legacy stack, incl. an LLM-based interaction layer on a legacy ERP
- Drove AI tooling adoption across a 60+ person R&D org
- Redesigned team topology for clearer ownership
- Designed and ran a structured CTO succession and screening process, and coached the incoming CTO through handover
IT Strategy & Execution Consultant
European Marketleader eCommerce
- Cost-transparency and Capex/Opex optimization initiative for a publicly traded e-commerce company
- Software development process benchmarking across external teams in a large engineering organization
- Efficiency program for a ~150 FTE e-commerce software department via delivery KPIs and improved cross-functional coordination
Co-Founder
Proscaler GmbH
- IT management consulting
CTO
Unicepta GmbH & Ubermetrics Technologies GmbH
- Leading ~ 50 IT professionals through a post-merger integration
- Updating and implementing the technical strategy with a focus on AI-based automation
Managing Director | Head of IT
Unicepta GmbH
- Defined and implemented the tech strategy in close coordination with management and investors
- Grew the team from 10 to 30 developers
Director Engineering
Recommind GmbH
- Led development, implementation, and support teams (35 FTEs)
- Cloud migration and making development processes more agile
Engineering Manager
Recommind GmbH
- Built the engineering organization and support processes to support the US go-to-market of an early AI legal tech product
Consultant
Recommind GmbH
Research Associate and Lecturer
University of Duisburg-Essen
- Designed, carried out, and coordinated a publicly funded research project (BMBF) on AI-based text annotations
- Earned a PhD summa cum laude in Computational Linguistics, dissertation on "corpus-adaptive named entity recognition".
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Information Technology, Education, Professional Services, and Retail.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Information Technology, Product Development, Operations, Research and Development, Project Management, and Strategy.
Summary
Fractional CTO and executive coach with 15+ years leading engineering organizations and 3+ years advising CTOs and tech leaders across SaaS, e-commerce and legal-tech companies. I act as a sparring partner to CTOs and founders - challenging assumptions, translating product strategy into technical strategy, and helping leaders build a technical vision that can be executed. Comfortable operating at both strategic (board, investor, PE-readiness) and hands-on (architecture, delivery, team structure, AI-transformation) levels.
Skills
Strategy & Management
Organizational & Process Optimization
Digital Transformation & Automation
Leading And Transforming Programs, Projects, It Teams And Service Providers
Decision-Making Processes, Conflicts And Transformations At Executive And Leadership Level
Post-Merger Integration And Consolidation Of Software Departments
Cost Optimization, Efficiency And Productivity Programs
Optimizing Development, Requirements And Product Management Processes
Leading Through Delivery/Engineering Kpis, Okrs, Portfolio Management And Prioritization Methods
Concept, Implementation & Change Management Of Digitalization Projects
Agile Transformations (Kanban / Scrum)
Ai-Based Automation Of Workflows
Leading And Scaling It Organizations As Cto, Head Of It Or Director Engineering
Project And Program Management (Agile, Classic, Hybrid)
Designing And Managing Efficient It Departments On An Organizational, Process And Technical Level
Optimizing Development, Requirements And Portfolio Management Processes
Facilitation And Management Of Conflicts, Decision-Making Processes And Strategy Workshops
Mentoring And Coaching For Leaders And Decision-Makers
Sourcing With It Professionals, Nearshoring
Generative Ai, Analytical Ai And Machine Learning
Concept, Review And Implementation Of Tech Strategies
It Controlling, Cost Management, Capex/Opex Optimization
Industry Knowledge In It & Software Development, Ecommerce, Media Analysis And Legal Tech
Analytical And Strategic Thinking With A Strong Focus On Execution
Pragmatic And Solution-Oriented Way Of Working
Strong Communication And Leadership Skills At All Levels And Tailored To The Audience
Assertive And Confident In Internal And External Negotiations
Responsible And Reliable - Even With Sensitive Topics And Decisions
Languages
Education
Universität Duisburg-Essen
PhD · Computational Linguistics · Germany
University of Duisburg-Essen
M.A. · Linguistics and Computational Linguistics · Germany
Certifications & licenses
APM Group
Kanban University
Mastering Design Thinking In Organizations
HPI
Mastering OKR
Coursera
Project Management Institute
Statistics
Experience
Global experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Profile
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Marc is based in Cologne, Germany.
Marc speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Advanced), French (Intermediate).
Marc has at least 26 years of experience. During this time, Marc has worked in at least 10 different roles and for 8 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 3 years and 7 months. Note that Marc may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Marc would be well-suited for roles such as: CTO Coach, Interim CTO, IT Strategy & Execution Consultant.
Marc's most recent position is CTO Coach at zvoove Switzerland.
In recent years, Marc has worked for zvoove Switzerland, zvoove Germany, European Marketleader eCommerce, Proscaler GmbH, and Unicepta GmbH & Ubermetrics Technologies GmbH.
Marc is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Education, and Professional Services. Marc also has some experience in Retail.
Marc is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Operations. Marc also has some experience in Research and Development, Project Management, and Strategy.
Marc has recently worked in industries like Information Technology, Professional Services, and Retail.
Marc has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology, Strategy, and Operations.
Marc holds a Doctorate in Computational Linguistics from Universität Duisburg-Essen and a Master in Linguistics and Computational Linguistics from University of Duisburg-Essen.
Marc has 7 certificates. Among them, these include: AWS Certified AI Practitioner, ITIL Foundation, and Kanban Mgmt Professional.
Marc is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.
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Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 7 Sep 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
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