Find the perfect Chief Executive Officers in Austria in minutes from over 15,000 CVs with the power of AI.
Bring in a CEO, interim CEO, or managing director for turnarounds, market entry, investor work, and leadership gaps. Match with vetted, available freelancers fast and precisely.
About the role
What they lead
A Chief Executive Officer sets direction, makes final decisions, and keeps the company moving as one unit. In freelance assignments, a CEO is often brought in to stabilize leadership, sharpen strategy, or guide a company through a change in ownership, growth, or restructuring.
- Define priorities, goals, and decision paths
- Lead the management team and align departments
- Represent the company with investors, partners, and key clients
- Shape operating plans, budgets, and performance reviews
- Steer crisis response, succession, or interim leadership
Core skills
Strong CEOs combine commercial judgment with calm leadership. They read numbers quickly, ask the right questions, and turn broad goals into clear action. They also know when to delegate and when to step in.
- Strategic planning and execution
- Financial oversight and board communication
- Change management and restructuring
- Stakeholder handling across leadership levels
- Clear communication in English and, when needed, German for Austria-based teams
Typical assignments
Companies hire a CEO freelancer for a defined challenge, not for long-term setup. Common work includes stepping in during a vacancy, preparing a business for sale, supporting post-merger integration, or leading a turnaround where speed and authority matter.
This is also common when a founder needs an experienced operator to professionalize processes, build a leadership layer, or restore focus after rapid growth. In Austria, this often fits companies with regional operations, family ownership, or cross-border business ties.
Tools and methods
The role is less about a fixed software stack and more about disciplined management. Still, strong CEOs work with dashboards, financial reports, board packs, KPI reviews, and planning tools that keep decisions grounded in facts.
They often use:
- monthly performance reviews and forecast updates
- budget and liquidity tracking
- org design and responsibility matrices
- risk lists, action plans, and board materials
- investor, lender, and stakeholder briefing formats
What strong CEOs do differently
A strong Chief Executive Officer brings clarity without creating noise. They can enter a company fast, read the power structure, and identify the few decisions that matter most.
What sets them apart:
- They make decisions with incomplete information without losing rigor
- They build trust with owners, boards, and teams
- They stay visible in tough moments and consistent in calm ones
- They connect strategy, people, and numbers
- They leave behind a clearer structure than they found
When to hire one
Bring in a CEO freelancer when the role is too important to leave open, but the need is specific. That can be an interim gap, a launch into a new market, a leadership reset, or a period where the board needs experienced external control.
For Austria-based companies, a freelance CEO is especially useful when you need local leadership for on-site meetings, but also want someone who can work remotely with owners, finance teams, and international stakeholders.
Meet FRATCH Chief Executive Officers
Manuel Pasieka
AI Engineer
Last position:
AI Engineer at Misumi Europe GmbH & Motius GmbH
- Designed and built a next-generation NLP platform to accelerate sales-driven customer service through intelligent request analysis and routing, reducing average customer query response time by 30%.
- Architected a hybrid NLP system combining Large Language Models (LLMs) with traditional NLP pipelines for robust, explainable results.
- Developed request classification and routing mechanisms to accelerate customer support teams in handling customer queries faster and more accurately.
- Optimized LLM based data extraction and classification with context engineering.
- Integrated the platform into customer service processes, reducing response times and enhancing workforce efficiency.
Nikola Neloski
Founder and CEO - Senior Business Analyst
Last position:
Founder and CEO - Senior Business Analyst at fintechno AI GmbH
- Business analysis
- Requirements engineering
- System design
- Various insurance projects
- Technology stack: msg.Billing (in-/ex-collection)
- Product: Pay-per-use car insurance based on blockchain and OBD-II real-time telemetry with AI
Stefan Morgenthaler
Founder & CEO
Last position:
Founder & CEO at MoreGeek IT Services GmbH
- I offer project-based short and long-term freelance services for Linux and open source projects
- DevOps/SecOps/Sysadmin for Linux operating systems with a strong focus on idempotent automation and high availability
- Migration projects: on-site to cloud (and vice versa) and cloud-to-cloud migrations between providers
- Development environments: standardizing customers' development and sysadmin workstations/clients
- Digital sovereignty solutions (independent of hyperscalers): Linux desktop (Ubuntu/SUSE), mail and communications (groupware mail/calendar/contacts), file sharing and collaboration (Nextcloud)
Jürgen Eckel
Chief Executive Officer
Last position:
Chief Executive Officer at Riddle&Code GmbH
- Pivoted the company into data-driven and AI-powered energy optimization solutions for microgrids, energy communities, and grid operators.
Sascha Leitner
CEO
Last position:
CEO at SEComply
- Founder & creator of a cutting-edge Governance, Risk & Compliance SaaS solution.
- Developing and executing business development strategies to identify new opportunities and expand market presence.
- Providing information security consulting services.
- Specializing in governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) topics such as risk management, ISO 27005, ISO 27001, NIS 2, DORA, PCI DSS, EU-GDPR, and more.
- Past projects:
- Kyndryl Austria GmbH: delivered IAM blueprint, conducted risk assessments, developed transformation strategy and roadmap for client projects, and provided support in pre-sales activities to align solutions with client needs.
- Cashpoint Sportwetten GmbH: conducted ISO 27001:2022 gap analysis, enhanced ISMS processes, updated security training, aligned with ISO 27001:2022 standards, and improved vulnerability management practices through regular assessments and remediation planning.
- Hornbach Baumarkt AG: supported the CISO in achieving ISO 27001 compliance, implementing a secure software development lifecycle (SDLC), strengthening vulnerability management practices, and enhancing risk management frameworks.
- MHP Management- und IT-Beratung GmbH: created and reviewed security concepts aligned with ISO 27001 standards.
- Stromnetz Berlin GmbH: developed a comprehensive security concept based on ISO 27001 requirements.
- dmTech GmbH: conducted IT security training for employees, fostering awareness and adherence to security best practices.
- Finanz Informatik GmbH: managed PCI DSS-related tasks, including compliance assessments and control implementations.
- TIPS Messtechnik GmbH: conducted NIS2 gap analysis, developed a comprehensive compliance roadmap, and provided supportive actions to address identified gaps and ensure alignment with regulatory requirements.
Ingo Hofmann
Chairman of the Executive Board
Last position:
Strategy Consulting & Interim Management
Norbert Geroldinger
Interim CFO / CEO
Last position:
Interim CFO / CEO at Unternehmensberatung Geroldinger GmbH
- Taking on interim CFO mandates as well as strategic finance projects in medium-sized companies and corporate groups
- Leading the entire finance function (accounting, controlling)
- Responsible for monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements, including group structures
- Identifying and implementing EBIT and cash flow improvements
- Restructuring finance organizations and processes
- Acting as direct interface with banks, auditors, tax advisors and authorities
- Stabilizing the consolidated financial statements for a medical technology group (publicly traded, >€100 million revenue, international)
- Shortening closing cycles and eliminating structural weaknesses in the finance area
- Reorganizing the accounting and reporting structure as well as implementing new ERP and accounting solutions for a passenger transport group (DACH, >€500 million revenue, 1,800 employees)
- Leading and realigning large finance teams
- Developing a structured controlling system and introducing new financial processes and ERP setups in commodity trading with R&D (Vienna, >€100 million revenue, 3 foreign subsidiaries)
- Ensuring transparency on profitability and liquidity position
- Managing the accounting department, preparing for integration into an international group and professionalizing closing and reporting processes in sporting goods retail (Innviertel, >€25 million revenue)
Alexander Gonsior
Development, Sales, Marketing
Last position:
Development, Sales, Marketing at GECKO SPA GMBH
- development of walk-on pool covers
- design of automated assemblies in CAD (Creo Parametric)
- rendering with Keyshot and creating AR files (AR360.io)
- marketing, sales, manufacturing and assembly
Georg Juffinger
Owner & CEO / Senior IT-Consultant
Last position:
Owner & CEO / Senior IT-Consultant at CONPITEC GmbH
- CONPITEC offers premium consulting and IT services.
- Our clients are leading global IT service providers, as well as international groups in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe.
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Chief Executive Officers statistics
Typical experience
22 years
Average project duration
3.3 years
Certifications per freelancer
3
Top business areas
Information Technology, Product Development, Strategy
Top industries
Professional Services, Information Technology, Manufacturing
Most common languages
German, English, French
Bachelor's degree or higher
67%
Master's degree or higher
56%
Doctorate
11%
Salary / Daily Rate Distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers in this role 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 Chief Executive Officers & 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
Do you have questions? Here you can find further information about FRATCH
A Chief Executive Officer sets direction, makes key decisions, and leads the management team. In freelance form, the role is often focused on a clear mission such as stabilizing the business, leading a transition, or preparing the company for growth or a transaction. The work is practical: align people, manage priorities, and keep the company accountable to results.
An interim CEO makes sense when the company cannot wait for a long search or when the assignment is temporary by nature. Typical cases are a sudden vacancy, a founder stepping back, a turnaround, or a post-merger transition. A freelancer can step in fast and bring authority without committing the company to a long-term structure too early.
The titles can overlap, but the scope is not always the same. A Chief Executive Officer usually carries the highest executive responsibility, especially for strategy, owners, and board communication, while a managing director or general manager may focus more on operational control. In some companies, the title changes by country or legal structure, but the actual authority should be checked carefully.
Look for clear strategic thinking, strong financial judgment, and the ability to lead people through change. A strong CEO should be comfortable with board reporting, stakeholder management, and difficult decisions. They also need the credibility to speak with owners, managers, and external partners without losing the trust of the team.
The first deliverables are usually a clear assessment, a priority list, and an action plan. A good interim CEO will also define decision rules, review the leadership structure, and set up regular reporting so the company can move with discipline. If the assignment is about turnaround or growth, the first phase should quickly show where attention and resources belong.
Yes, especially when the company needs local leadership with flexible availability. In Austria, a Chief Executive Officer may need to work closely with owners, works councils, German-speaking teams, or cross-border partners, depending on the company setup. Many assignments combine on-site leadership for key meetings with remote coordination for planning and reporting.
Ask for examples of similar situations, not just general leadership claims. A strong managing director or CEO can explain how they handled change, managed conflict, improved decision making, or led through uncertainty. Also check whether they can describe what they would do in the first days and how they would measure progress.
Companies will usually ask about leadership style, crisis handling, board communication, and experience with similar industries or ownership structures. They may also want to know how the CEO works with founders, finance teams, and external stakeholders. Good candidates answer clearly, without overselling, and show that they can adapt to the company’s reality quickly.
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Philipp Thomaschewski
FRATCH CEO
