Find the right Project Managers in Germany in minutes from over 15,000 CVs with the power of AI
From software rollouts and ERP projects to product launches and turnaround work, freelance project managers keep scope, timing and stakeholders under control. Get fast, precise matching with vetted, available freelancers who can step in with confidence.
About the role
What they run
Freelance project managers take ownership of a defined goal and move it forward. They turn scope into a plan, align people around milestones, track risks, and keep delivery moving when teams are split across functions or vendors.
- Project plans, timelines, and workstreams
- Stakeholder alignment and steering meetings
- Risk, issue, and dependency management
- Status reporting and decision tracking
- Go-live, rollout, and handover support
Typical work
A strong project manager keeps the day-to-day under control without losing sight of the bigger picture. That can mean leading an ERP migration, coordinating a software release, managing an office move, or driving a cross-functional change initiative. In many companies, the freelance project manager also bridges the gap between the project team, management, and external suppliers.
They are often brought in when an internal lead is missing, overloaded, or too close to the topic. They can take the role of project manager, project lead, or PM for a defined scope and keep decisions moving.
Core skills
- Clear planning and priority setting
- Structured communication with business and IT
- Meeting facilitation and follow-up
- Budget, scope, and change control
- Vendor coordination and dependency management
- Calm handling of pressure and conflict
Strong candidates write clearly, ask the right questions, and surface problems early. They do not hide behind slides. They create order, keep ownership visible, and make sure each team knows what happens next.
Tools and methods
Project managers use the tools that fit the setup: Jira, Confluence, MS Project, Excel, Teams, or other planning and reporting tools already in place. The method matters less than the ability to adapt it to the client’s way of working.
Common methods include agile delivery, classic waterfall, hybrid models, and stage-gate steering. In Germany, many clients expect reliable documentation, clear meeting notes, and disciplined follow-up. That is especially true in manufacturing, enterprise IT, logistics, and regulated environments.
When to hire one
Companies bring in a freelance project manager when a project has started but needs structure fast. This is common during system implementations, organizational change, product development, office setups, and recovery projects after delays.
- A project has clear goals but weak ownership
- Several teams must work in sync
- Delivery is blocked by unresolved dependencies
- The internal manager needs relief or backup
- You need support for a fixed project phase
What good looks like
The best project managers are steady, precise, and easy to work with. They keep people accountable without creating noise. They know when to push, when to escalate, and when to simplify.
For companies, quality shows up in reliable plans, visible risks, and decisions that stick. For freelancers, it means understanding the client’s business quickly and stepping into the rhythm of the team. In Germany, language skills and a practical, direct style often matter as much as process knowledge.
Meet FRATCH Project Managers
Marco Steidel
IT Interim Manager | Interim CIO | Transformation Lead | IT Project Manager & Program Manager | Digital Advisory Board Member
Last position:
IT Interim Manager & Digitalization Consultant at paarprojekt GmbH
- Project management and consulting services with a focus on IT interim management: digitalization of business management including processes and applications
- Assessment of the entire IT infrastructure including applications, core processes, and contracts, including cost optimization
- Evaluation and implementation of solutions to advance digitalization in the company in the areas of: property management, CRM, invoice review and approval processes, smart metering, DMS, time tracking
- Digitization of filing cabinets and introduction of SharePoint and Microsoft Teams as central document and communication platforms
- Design and delivery of an AI workshop including rollout of AI tools to increase efficiency and transparency in key business processes
- Creation of training materials and delivery of user training for newly introduced digital processes and solutions
Chris Wolf
IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT | PROGRAM MANAGEMENT | STRATEGY CONSULTING
Last position:
Senior Strategy Advisor, Transformation Lead – program realignment with target picture, governance, and priority steering at Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe | S-Communication Services
In-house consulting provider and driver of transformation within the group, multi-stakeholder environment and C-level.
Realignment and stabilization of a cross-functional transformation and scaling program within the group. Sharpening the target picture, priorities, and set of measures, as well as building reliable governance, planning, and steering structures. Structuring roles, responsibilities, and strategic initiatives while including AI and IT automation ideas.
Designed program realignment and project portfolio management
Developed strategy model and target picture for IT projects
Structured portfolio, roadmap, and priorities
Established governance and regular meetings
Worked out operating model for flagship projects
Assessed AI and automation ideas
Clarified roles and responsibilities
Implemented change measures
Developed, moderated, and evaluated workshops
Transformed 17 initiatives into a steering model
Increased transparency and decision-making ability
Strengthened commitment in steering
Sharpened the operating model structurally
Integrated three top-5 institutes
Involved over 80% of stakeholders
Governance
Portfolio steering (PPM)
Change management
Artificial intelligence
Workflow automation
AI use case assessment
Confluence
Jira
Stakeholder management
Peter Sachs-Witzel
Project Manager for SAP GTS Trade Services, edition for SAP 4/HANA
Last position:
Project Manager for SAP GTS Trade Services, edition for SAP 4/HANA at ETENGO AG
- Creation of detailed concepts for all relevant GTS modules (compliance, pricing, customs clearance, Intrastat, preferences)
- Planning and conducting workshops, including scheduling and documentation
- Development and consulting of the organisational structure and its master data
- Setup and customisation of compliance functions: sanctions list review, embargo, legal control, US re-export
- Uploading and maintaining sanction and commodity lists
- Implementation and validation of integration tests
- Setup and customisation of the modules: pricing (including uploading of customs tariff numbers and STAWN data), customs clearance (including application for test operation with customs), Intrastat and preferences (including preference calculation and LLEs)
- Development and presentation of prototypes
- Derivation of insights for the final concept
Ornel Franck Wora Yeno
Purchasing Manager, Logistics, IT Manager & Software Architect
Last position:
Purchasing Manager, Logistics & IT Manager at Onlinehandler
Proactive support of management in business field development & innovation management
New development of a suite of business applications for analyzing valuation, P&L, and market price risk data
Automation of all internal and external business and work processes
Development of AI-based and AI-supported ETL processes as well as data analysis
Business use-case development
Business and work process optimization
Enterprise architecture management
Sales data analysis and forecasting as well as capture
Inventory management & reordering
Supplier management and communication
Customs processing & clearance
Shipping handling & warehouse coordination
Interface management
Technologies used: Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams, JTL-Wawi, JTL-WMS, OTTO Partner Connect (OPC), Amazon Seller Central, DHL Global Forwarding, Jira, Draw.IO, Java (8,17,21,25), Jenkins, SonarQube, Git, Gitea, Spring Boot, Spring Batch, Vaadin, H2, PostgreSQL, Docker, Local LLMs, Postman, JasperSoft Studio, JasperReports
Sebastian Zwiesler
Project Manager & Business Consultant AI & CX
Last position:
CRM Consultant at Adevinta / kleinanzeigen.de
- Goal: Development and optimization of loyalty and CRM measures for a leading e-commerce platform
- Solution: Identification of promising users, increase in engagement, and long-term retention to drive revenue growth
- Definition of local CRM direct communication for specific segments
- Translation of research insights into actionable recommendations
- Planning and implementation of CRM campaigns in close collaboration with marketing and product teams
- Identification of optimization potential in direct communication
- Collaboration with external agencies on creative solutions, prototyping, and UAT
- Measurement and reporting of key KPIs
Matthias Schneider
Senior Project Manager
Last position:
Overall Project Coordinator at Bundeswehr Informatik (BWI GmbH)
- PMO lead for Security Clearance 2 (SÜ2) cleared
- Reporting to sub-program management GMN
- System maintenance 25+
- Functional control and coordination of Jira setup
- Preparation of decision papers (e.g. project planning, steering model, communication plans, controlling models, role and responsibility matrices)
- Development of program-wide knowledge management using Confluence, creation of Jira concept
- Development of an access concept for all project tools
- Analyzing existing processes, identifying improvement potential, and designing solutions to increase efficiency and effectiveness
- Development of a concept for introducing automation approaches in existing tools
- Creating intranet articles as project marketing
- Responsible for project governance through reporting and resource planning in the sub-program
- Agile further development of the project method
- Gathering customer requirements (requirements engineering)
- Preparation and support of contract negotiations (7-year term, budget of over 500 million)
Thomas Polanski
Project Manager, Product Owner & AI Consultant, AI Transformation - ERP · Shop · Marketing
Last position:
Project Manager & Product Owner – M&A Integration at voxa c/o IC Music and Apparel GmbH
- Project management of the legal and system-side integration of Taschenkaufhaus into the Voxa group: conversion of all contracts, accounts, and system access rights on the defined cutover date
- Migration from Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 to 2013: analysis of all existing interfaces, redefinition of processes, and coordinated go-live without interrupting operations
- Integration of the complaints and returns process into MS Dynamics NAV 2013; major process simplification through standardization
- Introduction of a new POS system (Shopify POS) in all stores: requirements analysis, configuration, rollout, and employee training
- Use of n8n automation workflows for data reconciliation between marketplaces and ERP; manual processes significantly reduced
Peter Fleischer
Subproject Manager and Solution Architect - Microsoft 365 Transformation
Last position:
Subproject Manager and Solution Architect - Microsoft 365 Transformation at Automotive Industry
Integration of highly regulated countries such as China and South Korea into a company-wide M365 tenant.
Technical contact for integrating special requirements for the executive board and German subsidiaries that are subject to BaFin compliance requirements.
Subproject management.
Coordination of requirements within the overall architecture.
Design of the use of DLP features from Microsoft Purview.
Design of special access restrictions via Entra ID Conditional Access.
Support in designing the provisioning of Teams teams and SharePoint sites with higher compliance requirements.
Technical support for implementing information classification with sensitivity labels for SharePoint Online and Teams.
Technical support for the subproject introducing CoPilot for M365.
Skills: M365, Purview, DLP, Entra ID, Sensitivity Labels, CoPilot, Teams, SharePoint Online.
Christian Pestel
Project Manager
Last position:
Project Manager at Kreis Segeberg
- WiNOWiG extensions (digitalization & organization)
- Project management for the WiNOWiG project (regulatory offenses)
- Process optimization and coordination
Fred Schröder
Partnermanagement; Project Manager
Last position:
Partnermanagement; Project Manager at Schröder Consultants UG
- Finalized partner contracts with application providers for portfolio management (OnePlanTM) and project controlling (ForProjectTM), with ongoing online qualification in the use and implementation of the tools
- Project management for the relaunch of the company website with a focus on these applications
- Development and implementation of about 60 PM standard methods according to ICB4 and PMBoK8 in the Microsoft scenario as CLAUDE - AI Agents (Agentic AI) and a database application, integrated in M365 and MS Project on CLAUDE.
- Definition of PMSP Project Management Standard Process, CMSP Change Management Standard Process, QMSB Quality Management Process to automate PM processes with the goal of launching in the cloud.
- Application development of an organizing system (table of contents TOC) for ChatGPT chats and projects.
- Tools: LinkedIn, ChatGPT, Gemini, Infinity, MS CoPilot, OnePlan, EVMS, Power Automate, SQLDB, O365, MS Project, MS Cloud, ICB4, PMBoK7, CLAUDE, GEMINI, CHATGPT
Alexander Philipp Herbst
Senior IT and Software Project Manager | Program Manager
Last position:
Software Project Leader for Brake Control Units at ZF Friedrichshafen / ZF Active Safety GmbH
- Project management for software projects in the brake control unit area with a focus on deadlines, costs, and quality.
- Planning, control, and reporting of project progress, risks, dependencies, and work packages.
- Planning and tracking of work packages using PTC Integrity.
- Organizing and moderating customer meetings as well as coordination with internal departments, external suppliers, and third parties.
- Creating and maintaining project documentation according to Automotive SPICE requirements as well as management reporting.
Thorsten Henneberg
Construction, Sales and Project Manager SiGeKo
Last position:
OCM (Overall Construction Manager) for HVAC at Engie Deutschland GmbH
- Overall planning and supervision of the relevant HVAC and sanitation installations across multiple construction phases.
- Leading installation teams and subcontractors.
- Ensuring adherence to schedules, budgets and quality standards.
- Coordination with other trades.
- Lean Construction Management, preparing and moderating the Last Planner Method.
- Supporting schedule planning and moderating workshops in the IPA project environment.
- Planning, organizing and supervising all HVAC and sanitation work on site.
- Managing own installers and coordinating subcontractors.
- Ensuring that all work meets quality standards, safety regulations and the schedule.
- Aligning with other trades, authorities and the client representative.
- Creating plans and reviewing invoices.
- Monitoring the proper application of construction techniques and compliance with safety regulations.
Michael Rosens
Project Manager
Last position:
Project Manager at Payone GmbH (Worldline AG)
- Goal/Motivation: PAYONE urgently needs a 360° view of its customers. So far, PAYONE has no overall master data strategy. It is not possible to identify customers across all relevant systems.
The organization is to be enabled to identify customers across all relevant systems. Creating the foundation for master data management at PAYONE
- Challenge: Due to acquisitions, the system landscape is very heterogeneous. The company is very dynamic and burdened with many system harmonization and integration projects, so resource bottlenecks and changes in project priorities are again and again almost impossible to handle.
Due to BaFin findings, the project has a central task and role. The first focus is on migrating all customers from the master-data-leading backend systems with their AML/KYC data to Salesforce. This is intended to resolve one of the largest findings and establish the corresponding ODD/EDD processes.
In addition, customer data must be harmonized in Salesforce. Previous migrations led in some cases to duplicate customer records. In the end, only one customer should be maintained in Salesforce and, with the corresponding information from the backend systems, it should also be possible to recognize which products and in which processing systems the customer uses Payone services.
Project: ONE Customer
Budget: €1.5 million
Team: 10/30 employees (full-time/part-time); 4 vendors/providers
Integration: 8 (subsystems/interfaces)
Applications: Salesforce; SAP S4/HANA; custom developments
Tools: MS Office; Jira, Confluence, SharePoint
Methods: Hands-on; Agile (SAFe); Prince2
Gerhard Kolar
Senior Project Manager and Construction Manager
Last position:
Senior Project Manager and Construction Manager at HENSOLDT Optronics GmbH
- Building the data center in Oberkochen (defense area)
- Planning the fiber optic ring, simulation of Wi-Fi coverage
- Cable routing plan for WAN and LAN cables for office and production (infrastructure)
- Adaptation of the SAP system (R3) for the Oberkochen site (software)
- IT transformation of the SAP system to SAP HANA
- Planning network infrastructure and server technologies in the SAP environment
- Pré-sales support and setting up change management
- Independent coordination of utilities according to time, budget and quality
- Mapping the project in MS Project and SERVICENow
- Development and design of hardware and software
- Demand management and portfolio management
- Building a risk register and migration plan
- Preparation of payment-supporting documents in coordination with the responsible finance and commercial functions
- Budget: 5 Mio. - 34 FTE
Joachim Auster
Project Manager HubSpot, Tracking + Analytics Expert
Last position:
Project Manager HubSpot, Tracking + Analytics Expert at Swiss Post
- Create a tracking concept for Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics including data layer, events, triggers, and reporting
- Manage the project team (developers, designers, performance specialists)
- Serve as communication interface between stakeholders and digital departments
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Project Managers statistics
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
100 years
Position duration
5.3 years
Positions per freelancer
14
Top business areas
Project Management, Information Technology, Operations
Top industries
Information Technology, Professional Services, Manufacturing
Certification focus areas
Project Management, Information Technology, Product Development
Bachelor's degree or higher
86%
Master's degree or higher
50%
Doctorate
9%
Certifications per freelancer
3
Most common languages
German, English, French
Speak two or more languages
95%
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 Project Managers & 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 Project Manager turns a goal into a workable plan and keeps delivery on track. That includes planning tasks, coordinating people, managing risks, reporting status, and making sure decisions are followed through. On many client projects, the role also covers vendor coordination and stakeholder communication.
A freelance project manager makes sense when the need is tied to a specific project, a missing gap, or a time-critical phase. It is a practical choice for launches, migrations, restructurings, and recovery work where speed matters more than long-term headcount. It also helps when the internal team lacks capacity or neutral leadership.
A project manager usually owns a defined project scope, timeline, and delivery plan. A project lead may focus more on subject matter leadership within the team, while a program manager typically coordinates several linked projects at once. In client searches, the titles are sometimes used loosely, so the actual scope matters more than the label.
Look for structured planning, clear communication, and strong follow-up. A good PM can handle stakeholders, track dependencies, and keep the team aligned when priorities change. Experience with the relevant delivery model, such as agile, waterfall, or hybrid, is also important.
Freelance project managers are often used in Germany for IT rollouts, ERP changes, process improvement, plant or site work, and organizational change. They are also useful in environments with many internal stakeholders, external vendors, or tight coordination needs. In German companies, clear documentation and direct communication are often essential.
Many project management tasks can be done remotely: planning, reporting, coordination, and steering meetings. On-site presence is useful when the project involves workshops, sensitive stakeholder situations, or hands-on coordination with operations and local teams. The right setup depends on the project type and how the client team works.
A strong project manager asks precise questions about scope, stakeholders, risks, and decision paths. They should be able to explain how they would structure the work, what they need from the client, and where projects usually go off track. Look for concrete examples, not generic process talk.
Freelance project managers can expect fast context switching, direct stakeholder contact, and a clear need for ownership. Clients often want someone who can step in, stabilize the setup, and make progress without long onboarding. Good freelancers are comfortable with ambiguity and know how to create structure quickly.
The average hourly rate for Project Managers in Germany is 111 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 891 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers working as Project Managers in Germany, 86% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 50% hold at least a Master's degree, and 9% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers working as Project Managers in Germany have 100 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 5.3 years.
The most common languages among freelancers working as Project Managers in Germany are German (100%), English (94%), and French (27%).
The most common industries among freelancers working as Project Managers in Germany are Information Technology (71%), Professional Services (58%), and Manufacturing (52%).
The most common business areas among freelancers working as Project Managers in Germany are Project Management (99%), Information Technology (74%), and Operations (68%).
FRATCH Project Managers 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.
Request a Free Demo
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Philipp Thomaschewski
FRATCH CEO
