Find the best Heads of Design in Munich in minutes from 15,000 CVs with the power of AI.
Cover brand systems, product design leadership, and hands-on UX and UI direction without slowing the team down. Bring in freelance Heads of Design for rebrands, product launches, design ops, and team reset work, matched fast and precisely with vetted, available freelancers.
About the role
Design direction
A Head of Design sets the standard for how a product or brand looks, feels, and works. They align product design, brand design, and design systems so teams ship with one clear visual and UX direction.
- Define the design vision and guardrails
- Review interfaces, flows, and brand touchpoints
- Align designers, product leads, and developers
- Keep quality steady across multiple workstreams
Typical deliverables
Freelance Heads of Design often step in to lead audits, redesign plans, and design system cleanups. They may also own hiring support, team coaching, and stakeholder alignment when a company needs senior design leadership without a permanent hire.
- Design audits and gap analyses
- Design systems and component governance
- Product UI direction and UX review notes
- Brand refresh guidance and rollout support
- Team structure, process, and critique setup
Core skills
Strong Head of Design profiles combine taste with structure. They know how to lead senior creatives, make clear decisions, and turn vague goals into practical design work that developers and product managers can use.
- UX and UI leadership
- Visual design and brand consistency
- Design systems thinking
- Stakeholder management
- Feedback, coaching, and prioritization
Tools and methods
Most projects touch common design tools and structured collaboration habits. A seasoned design director or design lead should be comfortable moving between strategy, review, and execution without losing the thread.
They often work in Figma, FigJam, Miro, and handoff workflows tied to product teams. In Munich, this is especially useful for companies with international product teams, mobility brands, SaaS products, or corporate innovation units that need clear English collaboration and fast alignment.
When companies hire freelance
Companies bring in a freelance Head of Design when the team needs senior oversight for a defined period, such as a rebrand, a product relaunch, or a design team reset. It also helps when there is a gap between strategy and day-to-day execution, or when an internal team needs experienced guidance while hiring is still open.
- Brand or product direction is unclear
- A design system needs cleanup or governance
- The team needs interim senior leadership
- Product, marketing, and engineering disagree on priorities
- A project needs a fast start without long onboarding
What strong talent brings
The best Heads of Design do more than review screens. They connect user needs, business goals, and delivery constraints, then keep the team focused on what matters. They can lead through ambiguity, make trade-offs visible, and raise the quality bar without slowing the work down.
In practice, that means clear critique, calm leadership, and the ability to explain design choices to non-design stakeholders. For German-based teams, including those in Munich, it also helps if the freelancer can work smoothly with local teams and international partners alike.
Meet FRATCH Heads of Design
René Kunkel
Senior UX/Product Designer
Last position:
Head of UX & Design at EXPERIOR DIGITAL
- UX and product strategy
- digital transformation
- digital brand strategy
- customer experience platforms
- stakeholder workshops
- design leadership
Jan Korsanke
UX Designer & Design Director
Last position:
UX Designer & Design Director at Freelance
As an experienced creative and leader, I have a deep understanding and experience in design, its processes and methods.
This allows me to research and create meaningful interactions, services or products for you and your users.
A history of complex and interdisciplinary environments enable me to get familiar, navigate and create meaningful impact in new contexts and challenges quickly.
Jan Korsanke
UX Designer & Design Director
Last position:
UX Designer & Design Director at Freelance
- As an experienced creative and leader, I have a deep understanding and experience in design, its processes and methods.
As an experienced creative and leader, I have a deep understanding and experience in design, its processes and methods.
This allows me to research and create meaningful interactions, services or products for you and your users.
A history of complex and interdisciplinary environments enable me to get familiar, navigate and create meaningful impact in new contexts and challenges quickly.
This allows me to research and create meaningful interactions, services or products for you and your users.
A history of complex and interdisciplinary environments enable me to get familiar, navigate and create meaningful impact in new contexts and challenges quickly.
Martin Steiner
Product Design
Last position:
Product & Design Lead at Premium Technology
- Led product & design (5 reports), hiring and development of team
- Implemented product squads, innovated around data ingestion and analysis.
- €0.5M to €4M ARR in 18 months
Martin Steiner
Product Design
Last position:
Product & Design Lead at Premium Technology
- Led product & design (5 reports), hiring and development of team
- Implemented product squads, innovated around data ingestion and analysis.
- €0.5M to €4M ARR in 18 months
- Led product & design (5 reports), hiring and development of team
- Implemented product squads, innovated around data ingestion and analysis.
- €0.5M to €4M ARR in 18 months
René Schiebelhut
UX and Design Lead
Last position:
UX and Design Lead at 50 Hertz Transmission GmbH
- UX strategy & analysis: analyzing requirements and research results as a basis for creating structured user journeys in the "MCCS" project (realtime data/data governance).
- Design & prototyping: transforming the journeys into a consistent UI design and interactive prototypes using Figma while meeting technical requirements.
- validation & documentation: conducting usability tests with follow-up design refinements and creating detailed technical documentation.
- Tools: Figma, Confluence, Lovable, Miro, Design Systems
René Schiebelhut
UX and Design Lead
Last position:
UX and Design Lead at 50 Hertz Transmission GmbH
- UX strategy & analysis: analyzing requirements and research results as a basis for creating structured user journeys in the "MCCS" project (realtime data/data governance).
- Design & prototyping: transforming the journeys into a consistent UI design and interactive prototypes using Figma while meeting technical requirements.
- UX strategy & analysis: analyzing requirements and research results as a basis for creating structured user journeys in the "MCCS" project (realtime data/data governance).
- Design & prototyping: transforming the journeys into a consistent UI design and interactive prototypes using Figma while meeting technical requirements.
- validation & documentation: conducting usability tests with follow-up design refinements and creating detailed technical documentation.
- Tools: Figma, Confluence, Lovable, Miro, Design Systems
- validation & documentation: conducting usability tests with follow-up design refinements and creating detailed technical documentation.
- Tools: Figma, Confluence, Lovable, Miro, Design Systems
Seisho Freelancer
Design Advisory
Last position:
Design Advisory at Pliant
- Supporting all design-related topics including rebranding projects
- Hiring designers and establishing a cross-functional collaboration model
Seisho Freelancer
Design Advisory
Last position:
Design Advisory at Pliant
- Supporting all design-related topics including rebranding projects
- Hiring designers and establishing a cross-functional collaboration model
- Supporting all design-related topics including rebranding projects
- Hiring designers and establishing a cross-functional collaboration model
Paul Feher
UX/UI Senior Engineering Consultant (UX/UI Design Lead)
Last position:
UX/UI Senior Engineering Consultant (UX/UI Design Lead) at ALTEN GmbH
- Design lead, introduction and workshop for Figma
- BMW SP25 and validation of MGU22
- Sixt branch software concept and design
- PVA Tepla software UX/UI
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Heads of Design statistics
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
17 years
Position duration
4.7 years
Positions per freelancer
8
Top business areas
Product Development, Strategy, Information Technology
Top industries
Information Technology, Media and Entertainment, Advertising
Bachelor's degree or higher
100%
Master's degree or higher
20%
Certifications per freelancer
1
Most common languages
German, English, Italian
Speak two or more languages
100%
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 Heads of Design & 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 Head of Design leads the design direction across product, brand, and user experience. They make sure the team works from one standard, from early concepts to final handoff. In freelance work, they often focus on audits, structure, and high-stakes decisions rather than day-to-day pixel work.
Hire a Head of Design when the problem is leadership, not just output. If you need alignment across teams, a design system reset, or support for other designers, a head-level profile is the better fit. A senior designer usually owns execution on a narrower scope.
A strong Head of Design needs product thinking, visual judgment, and the ability to lead people. They should know how to run critiques, shape design systems, and translate business goals into design decisions. Communication matters as much as craft, because the role sits between product, engineering, and leadership.
These titles often overlap, but the scope is not always the same. A Design Lead may focus on one team or stream, while a Design Director often covers broader strategy or multiple teams. The Head of Design usually sits closer to ownership of the whole design function and its standards.
Freelance Heads of Design are a strong fit for rebrands, product launches, design system work, team restructuring, and interim leadership. They are also useful when a company needs a clear voice to resolve design issues quickly. This is common when the internal team is stretched or still being built.
Both models can work well. Remote collaboration is fine for strategy, reviews, and system work, while on-site time in Munich can help during workshops, stakeholder alignment, or team reset phases. The best setup depends on how closely the freelancer needs to work with product and leadership.
Look for clear examples of leadership, not just polished visuals. A good Head of Design can explain how they improved decision-making, raised quality, or aligned teams around a shared system. Ask for case studies, critique examples, and evidence of how they work with product and engineering.
Freelance Head of Design work is usually broad and collaborative. You may be asked to define standards, coach designers, support hiring, or help a team through change. The best projects give enough authority to make decisions and enough context to make them well.
The average hourly rate for Heads of Design in Munich is 101 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 810 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers working as Heads of Design in Munich, 100% hold at least a Bachelor's degree and 20% hold at least a Master's degree.
On average, freelancers working as Heads of Design in Munich have 17 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 4.7 years.
The most common languages among freelancers working as Heads of Design in Munich are German (100%), English (100%), and Italian (33%).
The most common industries among freelancers working as Heads of Design in Munich are Information Technology (100%), Media and Entertainment (67%), and Advertising (50%).
The most common business areas among freelancers working as Heads of Design in Munich are Product Development (100%), Strategy (83%), and Information Technology (67%).
FRATCH Heads of Design main locations
Our freelancers and interim experts are at home across the DACH region — available on-site in the major business hubs or fully remote. Choose a location to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
Berlin Hamburg 
Munich Cologne Frankfurt Stuttgart Dusseldorf Leipzig Dortmund Essen Bremen Dresden Hanover Nuremberg Request a Free Demo
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Philipp Thomaschewski
FRATCH CEO
