When an Interim HR Manager is the right answer
Finding a new head of HR in Germany takes four to six months on average, and in Rhine-Main, with its dense employer market, often longer. HR does not pause while you search. Contracts still need signing, terminations still have statutory deadlines, open roles still need filling, and the works council (Betriebsrat, the elected employee representation that most German companies above a certain size have) still expects answers within legal time limits. Companies that bridge those months with someone from their own team pay for it later: topics left lying, attrition, and in the worst case a claim before the labour court. An Interim HR Manager closes that gap without the managing director having to run HR on the side.
The model is not a stopgap but an instrument in its own right, with its own rules: there is a date on which I start, a brief that describes responsibility and scope, and a date on which I am gone again. In between, I carry the role as if it were permanent, with one difference: from the first week I am working towards the handover.
Three situations in which my engagements typically begin:
The vacancy
Resignation, parental leave, long-term illness. The position is empty from a fixed date, the search is running, but nobody carries the responsibility.
The growth phase
From 60 to 200 employees in two years. There is an HR team but no HR lead who builds processes instead of solving individual cases.
The restructuring
Downsizing, carve-out, integration after an acquisition. HR work that happens once and that nobody in the building has done before.
What I take on as Interim HR Manager
I take on the role in full, not a list of tasks. That means I sit in your leadership meeting, I lead your HR team, I am the counterpart for the works council, line managers and employees, and I own the results. In concrete terms that covers:
I am just as clear about what is not included: I do not place candidates for a fee, I do not represent you before the labour court, and I do not build HR departments for groups with several thousand employees. For companies between 50 and 500 employees, though, the role is the right size: large enough that HR needs its own leadership, small enough that one person can carry it.
How an interim engagement runs
An engagement has a clear start, a reliable rhythm and a planned end. None of it is improvised. The sequence I keep to in every engagement:
30 minutes, directly with me. Within one working day I tell you whether and from when I can help.
Open roles, ongoing cases, deadlines, works council, line managers. Day-to-day HR keeps running from day one.
Hiring is moving, processes go digital, a weekly one-page report to the managing director.
Documented processes, open items with status, and on request the onboarded successor.
The weekly report to the managing director is not a formality. It is the instrument you use to steer the engagement: one page on what is done, what is next, and where I need a decision. Read it for four weeks and you will know whether the engagement is working, without having to get into the HR detail.
Works council and employment law: this decides an engagement
Most interim engagements do not fail for lack of HR knowledge. They fail because a works council was bypassed, or because a deadline was missed that nobody was watching. Both are avoidable. I have delivered a reorganisation across nine countries in three months at a software company, in full compliance with employment law and co-determination (Mitbestimmung, the works council's statutory right to be consulted or to consent on defined HR matters under the Works Constitution Act, BetrVG), covering planning, committees, communication and the conversations themselves.
In practice this means: in the first week of an engagement I meet the works council in person, before the first consultation hearing is due. I keep statutory deadlines in a calendar the managing director can see. And I say beforehand what is legally possible and what is not, rather than after it has become expensive.
For matters beyond daily business, such as a reconciliation of interests with a social plan (Interessenausgleich and Sozialplan, the two negotiated documents that govern a German restructuring) or a conciliation committee, I work alongside your employment law firm instead of replacing it. What such a project looks like is under Restructuring and Social Plan.
Results from past roles
I only quote numbers I was responsible for. A region scaled from 70 to over 100 employees as HR Manager at a consumer goods company. A reorganisation across nine countries in three months at a software company, and in the same company manual HR administration cut from 30 to 5 hours a week with Excel VBA and AI routines. Operational HR work across twelve countries at a bank with heavy documentation requirements. All of it in permanent roles.
The detailed examples, anonymised, are under Case Studies. What they have in common: each one began by taking stock instead of arriving with a ready-made concept, and each one ended with something that kept running without me.
On-site in Rhine-Main, remote across DACH
I am based in Frankfurt am Main. In Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Mainz and Offenbach I am regularly on-site, with fixed presence days according to what the engagement needs. For Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart I work hybrid: fixed on-site days combined with remote days, agreed with the works council and the leadership team. Companies without a fixed office or with distributed teams I lead fully remotely, across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
How much presence makes sense depends on the engagement, not the postcode. A restructuring with works council negotiations needs more on-site time than building HR processes at a software company. Details by region under Interim HR Manager Frankfurt and Interim HR remote across DACH.
Interim HR Manager or Fractional HR leadership?
Both are delivered by me personally. The difference is scope. Interim is full-time, for a vacancy or a restructuring. Fractional is one or two fixed days a week, for companies that need an experienced HR lead but not a full-time position. Switching between the two is possible when your situation changes.
In full: Interim, Fractional, or a permanent hire compared · Fractional HR
How the cost is made up
I work on a day-rate basis under a services contract that sets out the brief, the term, the scope and confidentiality. The day rate depends on responsibility and duration and is named on the first call, so you can compare it with what it replaces: the salary of a permanent hire plus recruiting costs, or a provider's day rate plus its margin of typically 20 to 35 percent. Travel outside Rhine-Main is agreed separately.
The full logic with a worked example is under What an Interim HR Manager costs, the difference from an intermediary under Interim HR Manager or provider.
Frequently asked questions about the Interim HR Manager
How quickly can you start?
Usually within two weeks of signing the contract. As a sole practitioner without a provider in between, there are no internal approval loops. I will tell you on the first call whether a start on your preferred date is possible.
Do you work remotely or on-site?
Both. In the Rhine-Main region I am regularly on-site. Beyond that, remote or hybrid across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I have led international teams mostly remotely, in English.
How do you work with our existing HR team?
I lead it, I do not replace it. Your team keeps its responsibilities and gets decisions, priorities and backing. The processes and routines I build stay with the team after the engagement.
What happens if it does not work out?
The first four weeks are a mutual trial period with a short notice period. After that, the agreed notice periods apply. An orderly handover is part of the engagement in every case.
Do you also recruit the permanent successor?
On request, yes. After a few weeks I know the role better than any job description, I sit in on the interviews, and I onboard the new head of HR during the final weeks of the engagement.
Do you take engagements outside Frankfurt?
Yes, across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, hybrid with fixed on-site days or fully remote. The regional pages show what that looks like per location.
What sets you apart from an interim provider?
With a provider you speak to an intermediary who selects from a pool and adds a margin to the day rate. With me you speak from the first minute with the person who takes on the engagement, with no mark-up and no filter in between.