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Hire the best Heads of Engineering in Germany from over 15,000 CVs with the power of AI

Bring in a Head of Engineering for team scaling, delivery management, architecture reviews, and stronger engineering processes. Get fast, precise matching with vetted, available freelancers.

About the role

Engineering leadership A Head of Engineering sets direction for product delivery and the way teams build software. This role connects business goals, product needs, and technical decisions. In many companies, the person also works as an engineering manager, VP of Engineering, or interim tech lead when the org needs sharper leadership.

What they deliver

  • Clear delivery plans across squads or product teams
  • Better team structure, ownership, and hiring priorities
  • Technical decision-making for architecture, quality, and delivery flow
  • Coaching for engineering managers and senior developers
  • Stronger rituals for planning, review, and incident response

Core skills A strong Head of Engineering combines people leadership with deep software judgment. They need to read code reviews, challenge trade-offs, and spot weak points in delivery before they block the roadmap.

  • Team leadership and hiring
  • Architecture and system design
  • Agile delivery and dependency management
  • Stakeholder communication with product and business leaders
  • Practical use of tools like Jira, Confluence, GitHub, GitLab, CI pipelines, and observability stacks

When companies bring one in Companies hire a freelance Head of Engineering when a team is growing quickly, a leader has left, or delivery has become inconsistent. It is also a fit during restructurings, platform changes, major releases, or when founders need an experienced sparring partner without adding a permanent executive too early.

Germany context In Germany, this role often sits close to product, operations, and enterprise clients. Freelancers may work remote with regular leadership calls, or on-site when the team needs stronger alignment, workshop facilitation, or hands-on support with local stakeholders. Clear English is often enough, but German can help in companies with mixed teams or customer-facing engineering groups.

What good looks like Strong professionals do more than manage tasks. They create clarity, remove blockers, and raise the quality of decisions.

  • They can explain technical trade-offs in plain language
  • They build trust with developers, product managers, and executives
  • They improve delivery without adding process for its own sake
  • They know when to mentor, when to decide, and when to delegate

Meet FRATCH Heads of Engineering

Niko Schmuck

Niko Schmuck

Developing Architect / Solution Architect

Hamburg

Last position:

Developing Architect, Technical Lead "gridlytics" at HH Energienetze

  • Building a data integration platform for high, medium, and low voltage assets for contextual analysis of time series with master data from the SCADA control system (IEC 60870 104), INIS, and SAP.
  • Responsibility for the architecture and implementation of the solution, as well as sparring partner for the Product Owner.
  • Use of Kotlin, Spring Boot, Maven, TimescaleDB, PostgreSQL, liquibase, Elements IoT, Docker, Kubernetes, Grafana, Python, jupyter, and various API gateways.
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Thomas Übermeier

Thomas Übermeier

Innovative Fintech & Blockchain Leader · Head Of Engineering

Berlin

Last position:

Head of Engineering - Midnight at IOG / Midnight

IOG (IOHK), is one of the world's pre-eminent blockchain infrastructure research and engineering companies.

  • Converted a lingering R&D project into a cohesive, production-ready testnet; built and scaled the 35-member engineering team (Core, QA, SRE) to achieve this goal.
  • Defined strategic direction and aligned technology development with business objectives as a key member of the leadership.
  • Optimized software development processes and implemented agile methodologies, enhancing operational efficiency and code security.
  • Delivered projects in a fast-paced startup environment through effective project management and resource allocation.
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Markus Gattermann

Markus Gattermann

Interim Project Manager / Head of Engineering & Operations | Mechanical & Special Machinery Engineering | Turnaround & Series

Borken

Last position:

Managing Owner at GEC-Solutions

Interim management, project leadership and technical consulting in mechanical and plant engineering for projects in mechanical engineering with a focus on automotive, e-mobility and series production

  • Taking over and stabilizing critical projects in special machine construction and the automotive sector (SMEs, OEM, mechanical engineering, automotive)
  • Supporting companies facing project delays, scheduling issues and operational challenges
  • Leading engineering and project teams and managing complex project structures
  • Optimizing processes in development, production and project execution
  • Focus on on-time delivery, efficiency, quality and series readiness

Skills:

  • Automotive
  • Interim Management
  • Mechanical Engineering Project Management
  • Special Machinery Construction
  • Engineering Management
  • Operations Management
  • Series Ramp-up
  • Production Optimization
  • Project Stabilization
  • Turnaround Management
  • Troubleshooting
  • Automotive
  • E-Mobility
  • CAPEX Projects
  • Project Management
  • Process Optimization

I take on responsibility as:

  • Project Manager
  • Engineering Manager
  • Operations Manager
  • Interim Manager

Industries:

  • Automotive
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • E-Mobility

I take on responsibility at short notice in critical mechanical and plant engineering projects and bring schedules, costs and organization back under control.

Complex projects are part of my daily routine. As a senior mechanical engineering expert, I am used to working in the dynamic automotive environment.

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Benjamin Rähmer

Benjamin Rähmer

Electrical Engineer (M. Eng.)

Frankfurt am Main

Last position:

Technical Director at maincubes Holding & Service GmbH

  • Development and implementation of technical guidelines for electrical and mechanical systems
  • Development of the electrical safety organisation as responsible electrician (gVEFK)
  • Implementation and oversight of DCIM and related technical software solutions
  • Design of technical solutions for lifecycle infrastructure and customer projects
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Michael Seliger

Michael Seliger

Technical Lead, Development and Requirements Gathering

Jena

Last position:

Technical Lead, Development and Requirements Gathering at Decoupled frontend for a website in the pharmacy sector

  • Ongoing support and further development.
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Peter Jehle

Peter Jehle

Interim Teamlead

Zingst

Last position:

Interim Teamlead at Somnomedics

  • Interim Teamlead to setup a project with STM32 and NORA Bluetooth module.
  • Customer is planning new hardware to replace existing hardware with Bluetooth communication instead cable connection.
  • Project was already started but the requirements were not defined.
  • System based on STM32 and Nora B106 CPU.
  • Analyzing the existing available code base.
  • Checking for possible solutions to get the project working.
  • Defining the requirements.
  • Applying some rules to improve the team communication.
  • Working with the NRF tools to get the custom board based on NORA B106 (NRF5340) working.
  • Implementation of a simple device communication by Bluetooth.
  • Preparation of documentation.
  • Leading communication meetings.
  • Conducted discussions with customer.
  • Tools used: JIRA, OneNote, Git, Confluence, Nordic NRF, Nora B106.
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Shiqing Fan

Shiqing Fan

Vehicle Software and OS Expert

Munich

Last position:

Technical Director at EmotionPool GmbH

  • Spearheaded the EU market entry strategy for L3/L4 autonomous logistics vehicles, driving the technological localization and deployment of the parent company’s smart robotics portfolio.
  • Orchestrated technical alignment between top-tier autonomous driving suppliers across China and Europe, translating complex client requirements into precise engineering specifications compliant with EU standards.
  • Cultivated strategic joint R&D initiatives with leading European universities, research institutes, and enterprises, accelerating the transition of cutting-edge robotic concepts into commercial products.
  • Directed the end-to-end architecture of intelligent warehousing solutions, guiding cross-functional teams in optimizing hardware integration for autonomous vehicles & robots, and overall system performance.
  • Led the R&D of high-fidelity simulation and AI algorithms using NVIDIA Isaac Sim & Lab, establishing robust "Sim-to-Real" pipelines to train and validate dynamic path planning optimization, intelligent obstacle avoidance, and complex navigation stacks prior to physical deployment.
  • Maintained hands-on oversight of the core system architecture, focusing on bottom-level performance tuning, AI model inference acceleration with TensorRT/ONNX Runtime, and sensor integration.
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Gavrilo Olah

Gavrilo Olah

Head of Software Development

Erkelenz

Last position:

Head of Software Development at Davidsmeyer & Paul GmbH

  • Strategic project development, realisation, and implementation with internal and/or external development team
  • Multi stakeholder management
  • Planning new projects, cost calculation, risk calculation
  • AI project for the electrical components production
  • Building management systems integrations (BACnet, Modbus, etc)
  • Inhouse BACring system architecture and development (control system for fire protection and smoke extraction systems)
  • Inhouse MES system architecture and development
  • Project management
  • Agile-SCRUM project development
  • Solution architecture and processes analytics (UML)
  • Business application development
  • Jira project management
  • Reporting and documentation
  • Recruitment process for the IT staff
  • Software architecture, project development, costs, risks
  • Education IT staff (internal and external)
  • Responsibility for 5 development/DevOps/QA teams
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Patrik Garten

Patrik Garten

Technical Lead Conversational AI

Dortmund

Last position:

Technical Lead Conversational AI at CANCOM

  • Technical lead of a team developing agentic chatbot solutions (React, TypeScript, Python, FastAPI)
  • Architecture design for multi-LLM dialog systems - focus on maintainability, UX, and autonomous execution
  • Stakeholder alignment, CI/CD processes, and AI integration at enterprise level
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Carlos Medina

Carlos Medina

Implementation in Pimcore/Shopware

Stuttgart

Last position:

Implementation in Pimcore/Shopware

  • Consulting, design, analysis, software architecture and development
  • Designing, developing, and implementing a Pimcore environment and connecting multiple external API systems in a Kubernetes environment, as well as various PIM and ERP systems
  • Technologies: Unix environment, design, Symfony development, PHP 8+, software architecture, MySQL/SQL, shell scripting, Git DevOps tasks, AI coding support, Pimcore 12, Shopware 6
  • Team size: >10 people
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Holger Glutsch

Holger Glutsch

SaaS & Platform Transformation | Cloud, AI & Data | ERP & Enterprise Integration | Enterprise Technology Leadership

Karlsruhe

Last position:

Senior Vice President of Engineering at Uptempo GmbH

  • Responsible for development, architecture, QA, BI, AI and cloud operations across a global engineering organization of 150+ engineers in 21 teams across 6 countries
  • Led the transformation from legacy single-tenant architecture to a cloud-native multi-tenant SaaS platform using AWS, Kubernetes and event-driven architectures
  • Established engineering operating models, architecture governance and DevOps practices across multiple international teams
  • Introduced Generative AI capabilities (Azure OpenAI, RAG) to enable AI-driven product features and secure enterprise data access
  • Responsible for cloud infrastructure strategy, security and compliance (ISO 27001, SOC1/2) and cloud cost optimization (FinOps)
  • Led enterprise integrations with ERP, CRM and commerce systems for global customers
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Kyung Park

Kyung Park

Senior Semiconductor Technical Leader

Munich

Last position:

Expert, Design-to-Mask Preparation at Robert Bosch Semiconductor Manufacturing Dresden

  • Led end-to-end tape-out and photomask preparation for a 300mm automotive semiconductor program, ensuring manufacturability, data integrity, and compliance with automotive quality standards, frame generation, multi-die placement
  • Identified and mitigated manufacturing-readiness risks during technology transfer (TI / TSMC 45nm) by implementing reticle, kerf, and alignment optimizations, reducing re-spin exposure, creating alignment, overlay markers, metrology targets, CD-control features, PDM cell
  • Coordinated cross-functional stakeholders across design, lithography, manufacturing, and mask vendors to deliver a production-ready mask set under strict schedule constraints
  • Performed and calibrated model-based OPC for the 110 nm node, leveraging RET strategies in collaboration with the photolithography modeling team
  • Impact: Enabled on-time production release of a safety-critical automotive semiconductor by mitigating tape-out and manufacturability risks under strict quality and yield
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Andrej Getze

Andrej Getze

Head of Engineering

Pliezhausen

Last position:

Head of Engineering at Pumpenfabrik Wangen GmbH (part of Atlas Copco)

  • Led the engineering organization with 25 employees across series development, order engineering/master data, documentation, and project management/certification
  • Managed an annual budget of €2.5 million
  • Restructured the department by merging teams, streamlining processes, and significantly increasing overall efficiency
  • Established a dedicated project management & certification department, enabling successful audits (including 3A) and completion of long-standing development projects
  • Drove platform and product standardization, reducing complexity and increasing scalability across the portfolio
  • Reduced lead times by up to 60% through modular design principles, process optimization, and industrialization efforts
  • Built a high-performing R&D team from the ground up and successfully launched two new products within the last two years
  • Lowered employee turnover from 24% to below 5% during restructuring by implementing a new leadership culture, clear responsibilities, and targeted talent development
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André Görst

André Görst

IT Consulting Project Management / Engineering Subproject Management

Berlin

Last position:

IT Consulting Project Management / Engineering Subproject Management at T-Systems (on assignment for government agencies)

  • Projects for federal networks (NdB).
  • CR management, EoL change requests, design and documentation according to ITSCM.
  • Data center planning.
  • Project management and engineering subproject management.
  • Software development for virtual server environments according to BSI.
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André Schumann

André Schumann

Product and Business Developer

Grimma

Last position:

Chief Technology Officer at ACSYS Lasertechnik GmbH

Overall responsibility for the company's technical division with a focus on innovation, quality and efficiency. Member of the management board, responsible for the strategic and operational management of all development activities to secure technological leadership and competitiveness. Leading an interdisciplinary team of 21 development engineers from engineering, software, robotics, research & development and product management. Responsible for product and portfolio development, including product management, R&D as well as software and laser process development. Successfully managed the design of standard and special machines, electrical design and technical documentation. Responsible for efficient use of resources within development work and further development of the self-initiated budget tracking system for transparency and tracking of project costs – initially for own area of responsibility, later planned as a company-wide model. Promoted future-oriented technologies and implemented customer-oriented solutions through efficient project planning and proposal development.

  • Developed several new products within a few months and successful presentation at AMB 2024. These market-ready developments in machine design, robotic automation and software communication form the basis for the future development of the entire product portfolio
  • Developed a technology roadmap for long-term planning and alignment of technology with company goals
  • Strategically aligned the technical departments to a common vision
  • Recruited and developed junior staff and key positions to ensure seamless and clear collaboration
  • Significantly increased efficiency and effectiveness through improved cross-functional collaboration among technical teams
  • Designed and implemented a product configurator for the entire portfolio with seamless ERP and CRM integration
  • Introduced and optimized numerous new processes to ensure a robust and future-proof company structure
  • Modernized and standardized the IT infrastructure across departments
  • Represented the company in industry associations, with partners and clients
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Discover over 15,000 top freelancers

Heads of Engineering statistics

Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.

Experience

22 years

Position duration

3.3 years

Positions per freelancer

12

Top business areas

Product Development, Information Technology, Project Management

Top industries

Information Technology, Manufacturing, Automotive

Certification focus areas

Information Technology, Project Management, Product Development

Bachelor's degree or higher

86%

Master's degree or higher

41%

Doctorate

7%

Certifications per freelancer

2

Most common languages

German, English, French

Speak two or more languages

96%

Daily Rate Distribution

0 10 20 30 40
<€800 €800-1200 €1200-1600 €1600+

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 Engineering & Seniority distribution

Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.

1000
750
500
250
Rate comparison chart
Daily rate avg. 837 €

The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.

1000
750
500
250
Rate comparison chart
Median rate 800 €

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.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Looking for clear information? Everything important about FRATCH is here

A Head of Engineering shapes how software teams work day to day and how they deliver against product goals. The role covers team setup, technical direction, delivery flow, and communication with founders, product leads, or senior management. In many projects, the freelancer also helps define hiring needs and leadership routines.

A freelance Head of Engineering is a strong option when you need leadership now, but the long-term org design is still changing. That can be during growth, after a leadership gap, or around a major platform shift. It lets you move quickly without rushing a permanent appointment.

A strong Head of Engineering should combine people leadership with solid software judgment. Look for experience with architecture decisions, team coaching, delivery management, and stakeholder communication. They should be able to work with senior developers without micromanaging them.

The title Head of Engineering often sits between hands-on team leadership and broader department leadership. Compared with an engineering manager, the scope is usually wider and more strategic. Compared with a VP of Engineering, the focus is often more direct on execution, team health, and technical alignment, though responsibilities can overlap.

Most Heads of Engineering need to work fluently with planning, code review, and delivery tools such as Jira, GitHub, GitLab, and CI systems. They should also be comfortable with documentation and async coordination in tools like Confluence or Notion. Good candidates can switch between strategy sessions and hands-on operational follow-up.

Yes, remote work is common for a Head of Engineering in Germany, especially when the team is distributed or the scope is advisory. On-site work can still help for workshops, leadership alignment, or sensitive change processes. The key is to agree early on how often the person should join in person.

Ask for examples where the Head of Engineering improved delivery, resolved team friction, or helped a product group make harder technical choices. Good answers are concrete and show ownership, not just theory. References from founders, product leaders, or senior engineers are especially useful.

A freelance Head of Engineering should clarify scope, reporting lines, decision rights, and which problems are truly urgent. It also helps to agree on whether the role is mainly strategic, operational, or a mix of both. That avoids confusion once the work starts and keeps expectations realistic.

The average hourly rate for Heads of Engineering in Germany is 105 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 837 € based on an 8-hour working day.

Of the freelancers working as Heads of Engineering in Germany, 86% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 41% hold at least a Master's degree, and 7% hold a doctorate.

On average, freelancers working as Heads of Engineering in Germany have 22 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 3.3 years.

The most common languages among freelancers working as Heads of Engineering in Germany are German (100%), English (96%), and French (20%).

The most common industries among freelancers working as Heads of Engineering in Germany are Information Technology (78%), Manufacturing (52%), and Automotive (46%).

The most common business areas among freelancers working as Heads of Engineering in Germany are Product Development (93%), Information Technology (81%), and Project Management (67%).

FRATCH Heads of Engineering 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

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Philipp Thomaschewski

FRATCH CEO

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