Frequently Asked Questions

I am available for new mandates from 18 October 2026 – without restriction and including full-time. Getting started is then quick: I'm spontaneous by nature, and if the situation requires it, I can be on a plane or in the car within a few hours. For most mandates, a start within a few days is realistic.

No. I see myself as a service provider who helps where help is needed – not someone who clings to a position. Once a programme is running stably, I hand it over in a structured way.

Mainly an unvarnished view of the status quo. I'm not pursuing an internal career or promotion, so there's no incentive to downplay problems, avoid conflict, or make decisions with an eye on my own position. I can raise uncomfortable facts openly, without worrying about internal politics. What counts is the mandate's success, not my own advancement inside the company.

Yes, explicitly. I enjoy training in my (internal) successor so the organisation keeps running independently after I leave – that's part of how I see my role as an interim manager.

Automotive OEM/Tier-1 is my strongest reference industry, but I've equally worked in aviation security (Smiths Detection) and industrial equipment (AL-KO). My focus is complex technical programmes, regardless of industry.

Both – and the choice is yours. I work remote-first because that tends to be the most efficient mode on distributed programmes, but I equally work on-site with you whenever you prefer it: during the opening phase of a mandate, around critical milestones and escalations, or throughout, if the project calls for it. Locations worldwide. I have travelled extensively, professionally and privately – including a test-drive assignment for Mercedes on the Busan–Seoul–Busan route – and am accordingly comfortable with travel at short notice and unfamiliar environments.

Remote, my rate is between EUR 85 and 110 per hour. Where exactly within that range depends on how much responsibility I take on, how critical the situation is and how far the mandate takes over the working day: a clearly scoped project with free time management sits at the lower end, a crisis mandate with leadership responsibility and continuous availability at the upper. For on-site assignments I deliberately quote no flat rate: it is set by the project location and covers the additional cost the on-site work brings with it – travel, accommodation and time on the road. That is why it is quoted per project. Get in touch directly – you will normally hear back within 24 hours. Or book a free intro call directly.

Both – in practice it is almost never an either/or decision. In regulated environments the teams develop in an agile way, while releases, supplier contracts and customer milestones still have to be steered through phase gates. My job is the governance layer in between: one shared milestone calendar, one source of truth for requirements and status, clearly assigned decision rights. Described in full under Insights.

ASPICE (up to Level 2), ISO 26262 for functional safety, UN R155/156 for cybersecurity and software update management, plus V-model/SPICE as well as Scrum, Kanban and hybrid delivery models. What matters to me is the practice rather than the paperwork: I have applied these models in live series programmes, under deadline pressure and through real assessments – not only in process documentation.

First an honest inventory: who decides what, which commitments actually hold, where the schedule and reality diverge. Then the things that show an effect immediately – a schedule that holds, a change and escalation process that works, reporting that management can believe. Only then the longer-term topics. The roadmap behind this is set out in full under Insights.

In person and early – and with considerably more listening than directing in the first days. The information that matters is rarely spoken in the status meeting; it is spoken at the coffee corner, in the corridor, in the five minutes before a meeting starts. Those conversations are not small talk, they are the way in to what the team actually believes is realistic. On distributed programmes I deliberately create the same space in Teams: be there before the meeting proper, leave the call open afterwards, hold one-to-ones with no agenda. On top of that, an external is eyed at first as a consultant with unrealistic ideas – my technical background as an electrician, state-certified technician and several years as a development and test engineer helps more here than any method: I can push the team and stay technically realistic while doing it.

When a programme is already off track, or at acute risk of getting there – dates are slipping, responsibilities are unclear, management no longer trusts the reporting. A conventional project manager drives a programme according to plan; an interim manager first restores the conditions under which working to plan is possible again: a status you can rely on, clear decision rights, an escalation path that works. Rule of thumb: if the organisation is already debating whether it needs someone from outside, that is usually the right moment.

Normally a service contract on an hourly basis, limited to the project in question. Framework agreements via staffing providers or project brokers are equally possible and common in practice. I do not take permanent employment.

Discreetly, and under an NDA before the project starts where you prefer that. After 25+ years in OEM and Tier-1 environments I am used to handling confidential programme information, supplier terms and internal escalations – which includes not carrying findings from one mandate into the next.

The quickest routes are phone or email – or a free intro call that you can put straight into my calendar. If you would rather form your own view first, the project health check gives you a first read in two minutes. For the call itself a rough outline is enough: the situation, the timeframe and the scale of the programme. Everything else – scope of the role, extent of responsibility, terms – we settle in conversation.