Freelancer profile translated to English.

Description

Interim CTO & R&D Transformation Consultant with 15+ years of experience in power electronics, BESS, and AI-driven product development.

• Led international teams (up to 40 FTE, DACH/India), P&L responsibility > €15 million

• Brought 8 product families to market, 60% material cost reduction, 25% faster development

• Technical due diligence & innovation strategy for investors and corporates (raised €1.7 million in funding among others)

• Author of 4 technical books, editor of 4 newsletters on AI & R&D management

• ASPICE, Functional Safety according to ISO 61508, ISO 26262, Scrum

Successes:

- Situation: Restructuring of an international development department (40 FTE, DACH/India)

- Task: Cost reduction and time-to-market optimization under high competitive pressure

- Action: Introduction of agile methods, AI-driven process automation, cross-functional teams

- Result: 60% material cost reduction, 35% lower development budget, 8 new product families in 12 months, €7 million in revenue

Available for:

Interim management, technical due diligence, innovation projects (hybrid, DACH).

References & case studies on request. Contact me for a non-binding initial consultation!

Industry field of expertise

Languages

German
Native or bilingual
English
Fluent
French
Basic

Workplace preferences

Can work on-site

Reutlingen (up to 50km)

REFU Drive GmbH,
Head of Development Department
July 2019 - Today (7 years)
740 series product family: - 60% material costs, -35% project budget; Market launch and establishment in the market. Market launch of 8 products (620/730 series): End-to-end ownership from concept to market. Development of high-performance inverters up to 320 kVA (750 kVA peak) and DC/DC/fast charging technology up to 200 kVA. ASPICE-compliant processes, ISO 26262 introduced; widespread Scrum (HW/SW); digital traceability platform; DevOps/process digitalization. Management of an international development organization (approx. 40 employees); site expansion (Pune); IT management and carve-out management; ~ €3 million development budget; €1.3 million in funding.
REFU Elektronik GmbH,
Head of Development Department
TECH
March 2015 - July 2019 (4 years and 4 months)
Pfullingen, BW, Germany
Setup/restructuring of the development organization.
Founding of R&D site Pune.
Management of cross-continental teams.
Development of inverters with innovative 3-level topology; BMS development.
Implementation of digital workflows/PM tools.
Lean development methods.
Funding acquisition of €1.7 million.
Brand/portfolio integration.
Brand relaunch: Integration of the product portfolio and market launch of REFUsol.
End-to-end product development from conception to market launch.
Bosch Power Tec (Zusammenschluss der Bosch Power Tec GmbH, Böblingen und der voltwerk electronics GmbH, Hamburg, einer Ausgründung der Conergy AG))
Team Leader / Project Manager Innovation / Program Manager Storage Systems
ENERGY AND UTILITIES
June 2007 - March 2015 (7 years and 9 months)
Hamburg, Germany
Development of the first Li-ion solar storage system for self-consumption: innovation and system ownership. Reorganization of the electronics department; establishment of the SW testing department; introduction of formal quality structures/standards. CI/CD pipelines and automated test environments established. Million