Find the perfect Managing Directors in Berlin in minutes from over 15,000 CVs with vetted, available experts and the power of AI.
Bring in interim leadership for restructuring, market entry, fundraising support, or day-to-day control of operations, finance, and stakeholder management. Choose a managing director, interim MD, or Geschäftsführer profile with the right sector focus and get matched fast with vetted, available freelancers.
About the role
Role scope
A freelance Managing Director takes charge when a company needs senior leadership without a long hiring process. This role covers strategy, P&L ownership, team direction, and clear decisions across sales, operations, finance, and people.
Typical work includes:
- Leading the business day to day and setting priorities
- Stabilising performance during change, crisis, or growth
- Aligning leadership teams and board expectations
- Improving commercial focus, delivery, and accountability
- Supporting exits, turnarounds, or new market launches
Core skills
Strong Managing Directors combine business judgement with calm execution. They can step into an existing structure, read the room fast, and make decisions that hold up under pressure.
Key strengths include:
- General management and cross-functional leadership
- Financial oversight and budget discipline
- Stakeholder management with investors, owners, and works councils where relevant
- Clear communication in English and, in Berlin, often German as well
- Experience with interim leadership, turnaround work, or growth scaling
Tools and focus
The best candidates do not rely on one tool. They use the systems already in place and focus on what moves the business. That may include ERP and reporting tools, CRM data, board packs, forecasting models, and KPI dashboards.
Relevant specialisations vary by company type. In Berlin, that can mean tech scale-ups, industrial firms, media businesses, agencies, e-commerce, or international subsidiaries that need local leadership.
When to hire
Companies bring in a freelance Managing Director when they need authority quickly, but not necessarily a permanent executive. This is common during transitions, leadership gaps, post-merger integration, expansion into Germany, or a performance reset.
It also makes sense when the scope is clear but temporary. A strong interim MD can take over the business, keep momentum, and prepare the handover to a permanent leader.
What good looks like
A strong professional is measurable in outcomes, not in title. They set direction, remove blockers, and keep teams aligned.
Look for someone who:
- Makes hard calls without losing trust
- Balances strategy with hands-on execution
- Communicates clearly with owners, staff, and external partners
- Understands the company’s commercial model
- Leaves behind a stable structure, not dependency
Berlin context
Berlin companies often want leaders who can work across international teams, fast-moving product cultures, and more established operating models. A Managing Director may work on-site for critical decisions, then stay remote for ongoing leadership and reporting.
For companies that hire in Berlin, the right fit is usually someone who can operate in English, work with local decision-makers, and adapt quickly to the pace and style of the business.
Meet FRATCH Managing Directors
Piet Quade
Managing Partner
Last position:
IT Project Manager at no release
Industry: Publishing, media Project management for the concept of a RAG-based archive access solution: a secure on-prem or hybrid compute architecture for LLM and embedding operations, pipeline for transcription and automatic tagging, semantic search across audio and video archives. Use case evaluation and make-or-buy together with editorial team, archive, and legal department, taking into account copyright, broadcasting law, and the AI Act. Differentiator: practical LLM infrastructure experience from two own productive platforms combined with C-level program management in regulated industries.
Mirjam Walser
Content & Editing | Webinars | Newsletters & Social Media | Entrepreneur
Last position:
AI Trainer / Data Annotator at DataAnnotation, Outlier
- Review and creation of German-language training data for AI models, with a focus on language quality, tone of voice, and suitability for target groups.
- Design of prompts and evaluation frameworks for quality assurance of AI responses.
- Prompt design and creation of AI training content in German and English.
- Language and voice training for AI models in German.
Maarten Van Der Most
Managing Director
Last position:
Managing Director at House of Code
- Led the end-to-end transformation of a 125+-person development organization, driving full operational integration into the Aviv Group within nine months
- Overhauled finance, HR, IT, and facilities by establishing scalable frameworks and modern governance models
- Introduced structured budgeting and cashflow processes, job leveling, and compensation frameworks to build transparency, accountability, and sustainable growth
- Implemented complete financial restructuring with a strategic budgeting process aligned to group objectives
- Re-engineered and operationalized HR functions, establishing modern talent management and organizational development processes
- Formalized nearshore vendor management by fully integrating partners and processes into Aviv Group’s operational framework
- Scaled IT infrastructure and support capabilities, significantly extending helpdesk services
- Instituted clear on-call and overtime regulations for nearshore partners to enhance service reliability and cost predictability
- Directed facilities and real estate management to ensure productive and efficient work environments
- Achieved a cohesive and accountable subsidiary fully aligned with Aviv’s strategy
Lasse Wagener
Managing Director | Agile Consultant | Scrum Master | Business Analyst
Last position:
Managing Director | Agile Consultant | Scrum Master | Business Analyst at Wagener Consulting GmbH
- Spearheaded the transformation of Telefonica Germany’s cloud journey into a self-service, automated marketplace by leading process analysis and design efforts; facilitated UX/UI collaboration and served as Scrum Master for cross-functional agile teams to ensure timely and quality delivery
- Designed, launched, and managed an enterprise-wide Learning & Development program focused on cloud-native skills, upskilling over 1,500 employees; undertook full vendor management including sourcing, tendering, contract negotiation, and ongoing partnership to ensure curriculum alignment with evolving organizational needs
- Implemented cloud migration processes aligned with corporate compliance and process governance; improved process transparency and audit readiness while reducing operational risks
- Architected and led a cross-divisional communication strategy to enhance organizational engagement; developed multiple channels including newsletters and intranet content, acting as single point of contact for all departmental communications to ensure consistency and alignment
Broder Feddersen
Project Management and Consulting
Last position:
Program Manager - IT Networks Service Management and Transition at Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes
Managing the further development of IT network service management
Overall leadership of the transition, consulting on the transition of IT network services
IT coordination of a tender in the area of IT network services
For (3) Further development of IT network service management Managing follow-up work for the transition (including setup of issue management) Managing and monitoring the performance of external service providers Consulting and managing the further development of IT network service management (processes, procedures, organization, tools)
For (2) Transition of IT network services Overall leadership of the transition (transfer of operational responsibility for IT network services to an IT service provider) Definition and setup of transition governance Planning and tracking of milestones, dependencies and cutover windows Managing the preparation, achieving operational readiness & process/tool integration Carrying out service handovers (cutover, parallel run, stabilization) Ensuring risk management, progress tracking, steering committee and management reporting, stakeholder management
For (1) IT coordination of the IT network services tender Managing all IT work streams of an IT network tender Coordinating the creation of all service descriptions IT review / evaluation of offers IT representative in bidder talks/negotiations Creating presentations/decision papers
Andreas Berents
CEO, CRO
Last position:
Non-Executive Director Supervisory Board at Secta, Autosur
Developed a marketing and acquisition strategy to attract and retain new franchise partners. Coached and advised the executive board and management team.
Benedikt Irsch
AI Transformation Coach & Delivery Enablement Lead (Contract)
Last position:
AI Transformation Coach & Delivery Enablement Lead (Contract) at Digital GmbH
- Drive enterprise AI transformation through alignment of data platforms, AI capabilities, and governance
- Implement scalable Data Mesh architecture to decentralize data ownership and accelerate AI use case development
- Strengthen AI maturity via structural alignment, clarified decision rights, and transparency models
- Coach leaders, product teams, and engineers in AI-enabled decision-making and data-driven product thinking
- Establish governance models for trustworthy AI and measurable business value
- Design flow-based systems (Kanban / Flight Levels) to sustain AI enablement and ensure measurable business integration at scale
- Integrate KPI frameworks, Jira architectures, and BI reporting to enable evidence-based steering of AI initiatives
Peter Merz
Managing Partner without operational duties
Last position:
Managing Partner without operational duties at pt plus GmbH & Co. KG
- full-service marketing agency for global technology companies
Ersin Keser
Founder & Lead Architect
Last position:
Founder & Lead Architect at ORBYNT / 7Style
- Full automation of the software development process: ticket analysis → AI coding agents → pull request → automated code review → deployment
- Multi-tenant architecture with 82 database models and real-time WebSocket monitoring
- Integration of 40+ AI tools with Claude & GPT
- Tech stack: React, TypeScript, Express.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, BullMQ
- Platform in productive use with paying customers
Christian Walter
Founder and Managing Director
Last position:
Founder and Managing Director at regionrise GmbH
- RegionRise helps companies to grow internationally by developing expansion strategies, sales operations and organisational readiness for growth.
- Clients include:
- SedaiNow: Interim Chief Strategy Officer, developing the product and go to market strategy
- Elevated Elements Group: Organisational development and commercialisation of a chemical recycling company
- Swiss Green Fuel: Moving the HQ from China to Switzerland, re-branding & positioning, commercial and fundraising strategy
- Prodeval S.A.: Operational sales to enter the German biogas market
- ParallelWorlds.Ai: European expansion for a digital twin platform
- Nomnio: Market entry and growth strategy for a full-stack IoT solution development company
- Mosaic Venture Labs: Supporting the preparation of Taiwanese startups expanding into the USA
- Viessmann Family Office: Evaluating the DACH market for a digital twin & IoT integration solution in the real estate space
Unnikuttan Velamkudy Vijayan
Managing Director (Co-Founder)
Last position:
Managing Director (Co-Founder) at AathmaSignals
- Spearheading investor outreach and partnership development as founding MD, building the business case and technical narrative needed to attract initial funding and strategic collaborators in the digital health space
- Designing multi-agent AI systems for autonomous biosignal analysis, orchestrating LLM-based reasoning pipelines with domain-specific medical context to enable intelligent, clinical decision support
Philip Ehlers
Interim Lead Growth & Optimization Amazon EU8 & US
Last position:
Interim Lead Growth & Optimization Amazon EU8 & US at Massageliegenhaus
- Marketplace audit for SEO and SEA including deriving optimization measures
- Development of a growth and optimization strategy for 2025
- Operationalization of 2025 goals into concrete actions
- Project setup in Asana and project control in weekly meetings
- 2025 budgeting for EU and US including sales and budget planning
- Setup of a weekly reporting including a plan vs. actual dashboard
- Selection of an SEA agency including requirement briefing and onboarding
- Creation of a full-cost calculation as a decision basis for FBA versus FBM
Mikalai Paulau
Managing Director
Last position:
Managing Director at IPMS UG
- Project and site management in steel production, mining, drive technology, power quality
- Consulting and sales in medical technology, safety equipment and video surveillance
- Wholesale of machinery/technological equipment and medical technology
Mareike Noll
Co-Founder | People, Culture & Workplace Consultant
Last position:
Co-Founder | People, Culture & Workplace Consultant at vianu GmbH
We are experts in people and culture, advising clients on designing their future organizations and work environments across the entire employee lifecycle.
Core areas: Development & coaching; Interim support & sparring; Digitization of HR processes.
Passionate about developing people and value-based organizations.
Afif Fattouh
Managing Director – Technology Advisory
Last position:
Managing Director – Technology Advisory at Hildens Consulting
- Founder of a consulting practice focused on digital transformation and emerging tech
- Built a proprietary framework for evaluating technology startups based on multi-dimensional criteria
- Provide services to clients on matters related to integrating emerging technologies into their business
- Articulate digital transformation strategies and support in the execution activities
- Advise clients on investment opportunities in technology startups using a proprietary startup evaluation framework
- Advise various funds on investment opportunities in the Blockchain and Crypto space
- Speaker on topics related to blockchain, crypto, and digital transformation
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Managing Directors statistics
Typical experience
22 years
Average project duration
3.5 years
Certifications per freelancer
2
Top business areas
Strategy, Project Management, Product Development
Top industries
Information Technology, Professional Services, Media and Entertainment
Most common languages
German, English, French
Bachelor's degree or higher
91%
Master's degree or higher
67%
Doctorate
9%
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 Managing Directors & 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
Have questions? See our quick guide to FRATCH
A Managing Director leads the business at senior level and owns day-to-day performance. That can include strategy, commercial priorities, team leadership, budgeting, and communication with owners or investors. In a freelance setup, the scope is usually focused on a clear business need such as transition, growth, or turnaround.
An interim MD is the better choice when speed and flexibility matter more than a long-term appointment. This is common during leadership gaps, restructurings, acquisitions, or a market entry that needs experienced hands right away. A permanent hire makes more sense when the company already knows the long-term structure and wants a lasting successor.
Not always, but the roles overlap a lot in practice. In German companies, a Geschäftsführer is often the legal managing head, while CEO is more common in international settings. Searchers may use these titles interchangeably, but the exact scope depends on the company’s structure and decision rights.
Look for commercial judgement, leadership under pressure, and the ability to turn strategy into action. A strong interim managing director also needs clear communication, financial understanding, and the confidence to work with owners, finance, operations, and sales at the same time. Sector experience helps, but the ability to lead change is usually more important.
In Berlin, this role often appears in tech, media, e-commerce, agencies, and international subsidiaries that need local leadership. Companies also bring in a Managing Director for growth plans, post-merger integration, or to professionalise operations. English is often essential, and German can be important when the role includes local stakeholders.
The scope should be tied to a clear business problem and a clear decision level. Define whether the person will lead the whole company, a country unit, or a turnaround program, and who they report to. The best freelancers work well when expectations, authority, and handover goals are set from the start.
Focus on outcomes, not just titles. A strong Managing Director can explain what changed under their leadership, how they handled conflict, and how they kept the business moving during uncertainty. Good references, relevant sector context, and a clear plan for the first weeks are also strong signals.
Many parts of the role can be handled remotely, especially reporting, planning, and stakeholder updates. But on-site presence is often valuable at the start, during sensitive changes, or when team alignment is critical. In Berlin, a hybrid setup is common when the company wants both speed and close coordination.
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Philipp Thomaschewski
FRATCH CEO
