Find the perfect Heads of Innovation in Germany in minutes from 15,000 CVs with the power of AI
Bring in leaders who can shape innovation strategy, run discovery workshops, and turn ideas into testable roadmaps. Useful for new venture scouting, digital product pilots, and cross-functional transformation programs. Get fast, precise matching with vetted, available freelancers.
About the role
What they do
A Head of Innovation defines where new value can come from and how to get there. In freelance projects, they align leadership, business units, and technical teams around a clear innovation agenda. They move from opportunity scan to concept, test, and rollout.
Typical deliverables
- Innovation strategy and priority themes
- Workshop formats for discovery and ideation
- Opportunity assessments and business cases
- Pilot plans, roadmaps, and governance models
- Partner or ecosystem scouting
- Internal change and adoption plans
Core skills
Strong Heads of Innovation connect strategy with execution. They know how to run design thinking sessions, customer interviews, and portfolio reviews without losing focus on impact. Many also work as an innovation director or innovation lead, depending on the company setup.
- building innovation funnels and decision criteria
- facilitating executive workshops
- translating market signals into testable initiatives
- coordinating product, R&D, sales, and operations
- presenting clearly to senior stakeholders
Tools and methods
The work often combines structured methods with practical delivery. Common approaches include lean startup, design thinking, service design, and trend scouting. Depending on the mandate, they may also use roadmap tools, experiment tracking, and stakeholder maps.
In Germany, they are often brought into industrial firms, mobility companies, healthcare providers, and larger B2B organizations that need new growth paths or faster internal innovation. Some projects are mostly remote; others need workshops and steering meetings on site, especially when many teams are involved.
When to hire one
A freelance Head of Innovation makes sense when you need senior guidance without adding a permanent layer. Companies hire them when they must:
- launch an innovation program from scratch
- restart a stalled portfolio of ideas
- validate new business models quickly
- support a transformation or venture build
- cover a gap while hiring a permanent leader
What strong people bring
The best professionals do more than collect ideas. They choose where to focus, create momentum, and keep teams honest about what is worth testing. They understand how to balance novelty with feasibility, and how to turn concepts into decisions that executives can support.
Meet FRATCH Heads of Innovation
Robert Lebherz
Interim Head of Innovation
Last position:
Interim Project Leader at Ebm-Papst Group
Project Manager for Business Unit Efficiency Program
Current contributions to the overall situation Project management of the business unit efficiency program
- Project leadership
- Importance and integration within the group network
- Clarifying topics around global production structures in the project
Implementation
- Team building, planning, definition of goals and KPIs
- Integration into the organization
- Regular communication within the team and with the steering committee
Marcel Wolfangel
Head of Strategy & Innovation
Last position:
Head of Strategy & Innovation (In-House Consulting Mandate) at Mercedes-Benz Group
- Project focus: Strategic realignment of global market clusters and design of future-proof data architectures.
- Results & achievements:
- TOM design SEA & General Distributors: Development of a hub-and-spoke operating model for Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore) including site evaluation. Goal: Achieving significant savings in FTE and EUR.
- Data Intelligence Architecture: Conceptualization of a "Data Intelligence Unit" and a Central Data Hub for Europe, including role and process definition.
- AI-Driven Knowledge Management: Implementation of AI-based knowledge management in after-sales to consolidate heterogeneous sources.
Christian Wolf
Head of Innovation
Last position:
Head of Innovation at C. Josef Lamy GmbH
- Full-time: Hybrid home office/Berlin/Heidelberg
- Set up an innovation division at the new Berlin location, recruited the core team, and defined a repeatable innovation process in just 2 months
- Designed 4 innovative digital product concepts beyond the writing instruments range in just 3 months
- Fully developed a complex product (software/hardware) to boost productivity and mental health of creative workers (kōno), handled business planning, ran market tests independently, and provided strategy recommendations for the launch
Tiffany Hart
Co-Founder | Innovation Facilitator | Creator
Last position:
Co-Founder | Innovation Facilitator | Creator at GrowGetters
- Built a global podcast and platform, with 150+ episodes and 35,000+ downloads in 20+ countries.
- Launched a paid membership (GrowGetters Club), growing sustainable revenue through one-off workshops and monthly membership fees.
- Earned €20,000 in incubation support via Media Lab Bayern and became a finalist (top 5) in XATHON (program by Henkel) in 2021.
- Facilitated marketing and innovation workshops for Microsoft, Figma, CreativeMornings Munich, the University of Wollongong, and local governments in NSW, Australia.
- Led content strategy, podcast production, business development, and platform growth.
- Scaled GrowGetters Club to 40+ paid members, generating a consistent revenue stream for the business.
Martin Geck
Head of AI Innovation • AI Product Owner • AI Specialist
Last position:
Head of AI Innovation • AI Product Owner • AI Specialist at Prompting Birds
- C-Level AI strategy consulting for companies in software development, transport and logistics, industry, medical technology, automotive, e-commerce, and event marketing.
- Leading the launch of new AI products and services.
- Analyzing use cases in R&D, sales, marketing, and service.
- Introducing AI solutions into everyday work.
- Technologies: Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Azure OpenAI, AWS S3, Jira, Confluence.
Tom Rudolph
Head of Innovation Electronic Systems
Last position:
Head of Innovation Electronic Systems at Miele & Cie. KGaA
- Responsible for concept development, architecture (HW/SW/Mechatronic), development and realization of new strategic future projects as POC up to miniseries
- Business case design and development for future cloud-based services based on Miele appliances
- Prototyping support for all product units and central design department regarding hardware, software, display/opacs and mechanical design for various appliances
- Responsible for competitor analyses and reverse engineering regarding architectures, systems, process, and detailed cost analyses
- Driving definition, POCs and implementation of various AI tools for product definition, development, test etc. to improve process and development efficiency
- Responsible for IT Department and Process Management Office
Marcel Meyer
Cloud-Architect, Senior Solution Architect, Senior Software-Engineer
Last position:
Cloud-Architect, Senior Solution Architect, Senior Software-Engineer at Assignment of KPIs for the service landscape to record and analyse costs per user
- Technologies: GoLang, JavaScript, TypeScript, AWS, Terraform, Git
- Conception of AWS infrastructure and existing services
- Analysis of IAM accounts and roles
- Setup of Cost Explorer and CloudWatch monitoring
- Setup of DynamoDB and S3 persistence of collected information
- Reporting and cost calculation
- Conception of Terraform deployment
Sven Hamann
Director Recycling Technology / Authorized Representative
Last position:
Director Recycling Technology / Authorized Representative at FormaTurf GmbH
- P&L shared responsibility
- Leading FormaTurf’s global strategy
- Responsible for all technical departments (R&D, production, engineering, HSE, quality)
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Heads of Innovation statistics
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
21 years
Position duration
3.1 years
Positions per freelancer
11
Top business areas
Product Development, Project Management, Strategy
Top industries
Manufacturing, Professional Services, Information Technology
Certification focus areas
Product Development, Strategy, Business Intelligence
Bachelor's degree or higher
100%
Master's degree or higher
100%
Doctorate
43%
Certifications per freelancer
5
Most common languages
German, English, Spanish
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 Innovation & 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
Want to learn more? Find helpful information about FRATCH
A Head of Innovation sets the innovation agenda, structures the pipeline of ideas, and helps teams decide what to test first. In practice, that can mean workshops, concept development, pilot design, and steering the work toward a clear business case. The role is less about brainstorming and more about turning uncertainty into decisions.
The strongest profiles combine strategy, facilitation, and delivery. They should be able to run executive workshops, interview customers, frame experiments, and align product, R&D, and business teams. A solid Head of Innovation also knows how to communicate clearly with senior stakeholders and keep the scope realistic.
Not always, but the terms are often used for similar work. An innovation manager may focus more on operational coordination, while an innovation director can be broader and more senior in scope. A freelance Head of Innovation usually steps in to define direction, lead a program, or accelerate a specific transformation effort.
A freelancer makes sense when you need senior leadership quickly, for a defined program, or to bridge a gap before a permanent hire is in place. It is also useful when the company wants an outside perspective on a stalled innovation portfolio. That way you get focused expertise without long onboarding cycles.
This role fits new venture scouting, innovation program setup, portfolio reviews, and pilot-to-scale initiatives. It also works well for companies that need help with design thinking, service innovation, or internal transformation. In Germany, these projects often sit in industrial, mobility, and B2B environments where cross-functional alignment matters.
Both models work. Remote collaboration is fine for strategy work, research synthesis, and roadmap development, but on-site time helps with workshops, stakeholder alignment, and change work. For German clients, a hybrid setup is often the most practical choice.
Look for a track record of moving from ideas to pilots and from pilots to decisions. Strong candidates explain how they choose priorities, handle stakeholder conflict, and measure progress without relying on vague language. Ask for examples of innovation programs, workshop formats, and business outcomes they helped shape.
A Head of Innovation should clarify decision rights, expected outcomes, and who owns execution after the concept phase. It also helps to define whether the work is advisory, hands-on, or both. Clear scope prevents a strategy assignment from turning into open-ended consulting.
The average hourly rate for Heads of Innovation in Germany is 150 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 1,202 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers working as Heads of Innovation in Germany, 100% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 100% hold at least a Master's degree, and 43% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers working as Heads of Innovation in Germany have 21 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 3.1 years.
The most common languages among freelancers working as Heads of Innovation in Germany are German (100%), English (100%), and Spanish (25%).
The most common industries among freelancers working as Heads of Innovation in Germany are Manufacturing (75%), Professional Services (75%), and Information Technology (63%).
The most common business areas among freelancers working as Heads of Innovation in Germany are Product Development (100%), Project Management (100%), and Strategy (100%).
FRATCH Heads of Innovation 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
