The four roles at a glance
Each role answers a different gap. All four are delivered by me personally, either full-time as an interim engagement or on one or two fixed days a week as a fractional arrangement. What separates them is not the job title but the question of what is actually missing in your company right now: the leadership, the sparring, or the processes.
Interim HR Manager
Full HR ownership, full-time, for three to eighteen months: team, works council, employment law, payroll governance, leadership meeting. See the role
HR Business Partner
Sparring for the managing director and line managers: organisation, compensation, difficult people decisions. Without running the HR team day to day. See the role
HR Operations
Processes, systems, payroll governance, global mobility, reporting. When HR runs but does not scale. See the role
The fourth option is not a separate role but a different scope: Fractional HR brings any of the three roles into the company on one or two fixed days a week, from three months with an open end.
Which role fits which gap
Three questions are usually enough to pin down the role. You do not need the answers before the first call, but having them shortens the conversation:
Interim or Fractional?
Interim is full-time, usually three to eighteen months, for a vacancy, a growth phase, or a restructuring. Fractional is one or two fixed days a week, from three months with an open end, for companies that need experienced HR leadership permanently but not at full-time volume. Switching between the two is possible when your situation changes.
From the first call to day one
The path into an engagement is the same for all four roles, and it is short. Between the first call and the first working day there are usually two weeks, four for fractional arrangements.
30 minutes, directly with me. You describe the situation, I tell you which role fits and from when I can start.
Role, scope, term, day rate, notice periods. One page, not forty.
Services contract, confidentiality, system access. In parallel, first conversations with line managers.
The assessment begins, day-to-day HR continues from the first week.
Who this is for
Mid-sized companies and scale-ups with 50 to 500 employees, including German subsidiaries of larger international groups. The typical trigger is a vacancy, a growth spurt, or a restructuring at a moment when the managing director or COO has no strong HR lead in-house. AI is a differentiator in how I work, not a topic you need to buy separately.
Six industries I know from my own line responsibility: software scale-ups, industrial and manufacturing, consumer goods and retail, logistics, financial services, and international subsidiaries. Regionally: on-site in Frankfurt and Rhine-Main, hybrid in the major German cities, remote across DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland).
Direct, not through a provider
Interim providers place people from a pool and charge a margin on the day rate for it, typically 20 to 35 percent. Contact runs through the provider, and the profile you see has been filtered. With me, you speak from the first minute with the person who will take on the engagement. What you do not get is a pool of candidates to compare. When a provider still makes sense is covered under Interim HR Manager or provider.
Alongside the roles, I take on scoped engagements with a clear start and end: restructuring, carve-out, post-merger integration, project sprint. Overview under Projects.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the three roles?
The Interim HR Manager takes on full HR leadership when that position is vacant. The HR Business Partner is a sparring partner for leadership and line managers without running the operational HR team. HR Operations covers processes, systems, and payroll governance when HR works but does not scale. All three follow your gap, not a fixed job title.
What does Fractional mean in practice?
The same three roles, but on one or two fixed days a week instead of full-time. It suits companies that need experienced HR leadership without a full-time position. Minimum term three months, four weeks' notice on both sides.
Which companies is this for?
Mid-sized companies and scale-ups with 50 to 500 employees, including German subsidiaries of international groups. The buyer is usually the managing director or COO without a strong in-house HR lead.
How quickly can an engagement start?
Usually within two weeks of signing. On the first call I tell you whether, and from when, I am available for your situation.
Can I switch between Interim and Fractional?
Yes. Many engagements start full-time and continue on fixed days once the acute phase is over, or the other way round when a restructuring comes up. The switch is agreed within the running contract, no restart.
What if I do not yet know which role fits?
That is exactly what the first call is for. You describe the situation, I match it to a role and a model, or I tell you that I am not the right person.