Chris W. - Freelance Project Manager

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Oberasbach, Germany

Experience

Jan 2025 - Present

11 months

Germany

Hybrid

Lecturer in CRM and Project Management

IU Internationale Hochschule

Freelance lecturer for:

CRM: Customer lifecycle, customer journeys, omni-channel strategies, lead management, churn prediction and churn management, customer satisfaction, NPS, CSAT, deep learning, AI,
(IT-) Project Management: Agile vs. Hybrid vs. Waterfall, PRINCE2, SCRUM, SAFe, stakeholder management, risk management, quality management, change management, project reporting, team development,

Jan 2022 - Present

3 years 11 months

Oberasbach, Germany

Hybrid

Freelance Senior Project Manager

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Digital transformation
(IT-) Project management and PMO leadership: requirements engineering, stakeholder management, project steering, SCRUM, SCRUM Master, SAFe, PRINCE2, program management, project management, communication & change management, JIRA, Confluence, project reporting setup, quality assurance
CRM: strategy, design & implementation, provider selection, design thinking
Lead management: customer journeys, conversion optimization, sales funnel, omni-channel,

Project examples:

Interim customer management lead --> efficiency improvement, restructuring customer service + existing customer sales (retail/online service)
PMO lead of a corporate transformation program with >2000 program employees (telecommunications)
Product owner for international rollout of digital products (retail)
Project manager for partner management & commissioning as part of a corporate transformation (telecommunications): backlog management, requirements engineering, timeline management, stakeholder management
Go-to-market/product management process optimization (telecommunications): BPMN, automation, process optimization from >2 weeks to <24h
Churn prediction and churn management in existing customer management
PMO leadership: post-merger product/customer migration
CRM department setup (automotive manufacturer): team setup, change management, process view instead of product focus, CRM system setup & implementation
Service retention cost optimization (increased CLV, telecommunications) via NBA/NBO logic and commission optimization.

Jan 2019 - Dec 2022

4 years

Managing Director

Rechtecheck

Building and expanding a legal-tech startup with two focus areas
B2C: content & service provider (ISP) for legal questions & issues, including lawyer referral
Setup of the entire funnel/customer experience (internal & as service provider for law firms), including opt-in/consent management.
Conversion and customer journey optimization
Affiliate program/concept setup / performance channels
SEO optimization (including AI-supported content creation)
Traffic increase from 10,000 to >200,000 unique visitors per month
B2B: CRM & lead management software provider (SaaS), including content management.
Head of IT, customer experience, product management, marketing (SEO/SEA, TV, radio, offline campaigns)
Leading 20 employees, managing suppliers
Development of digital products/services/software using SCRUM

Jan 2013 - Dec 2019

7 years

Management Consultant

Iskander Business Partner

(IT-)Project Manager, Product Owner, Scrum Master

Consultant

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: SRC Reduction (Industry: ICT, Duration: 5 months)
Reducing service retention costs for existing customers (CLV-based)
Analysis, solution concept design and implementation
Introduction of a value-based commission model for sales reps in the existing customer environment
Setting up a cross-departmental KPI/performance report for senior management
Designing the optimization of an existing Next Best Offer tool for sales

Interim Manager/Division Head

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: Set up existing customer management (Industry: reservation system provider for restaurateurs, Duration: 6 months)
Reorganization of existing customer management
Loyalty program management; CRM setup & expansion (Loyalty Program, Customer Experience, Consent Management)
End-to-end setup/optimization of customer communication (B2C & B2B) across all channels, incl. loyalty program setup
Setup churn management (including churn prediction, reporting, etc.)

Head of PMO

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: RAITT (Digital transformation program Telco) (Industry: ICT, Duration: 12 months)
Transformation of the entire IT landscape; introduction of Salesforce Vlocity, incl. migration of (customer and telco) data
Optimization of project management (capacity planning, introduction of end-to-end reporting (scope & progress))
KPI setup & implementation for program success measurement (Salesforce / Tableau); Scrum Master
Project management (Scrum + SAFe; scope planning & challenge)
Stakeholder management; decision templates
Governance setup, optimization & implementation

PMO Lead

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: K2 (Industry: ICT, Duration: 6 months)
Took over the project management office as part of migrating the entire tariff portfolio to a new tariff structure, incl. system transition for a telecommunications provider
Adaptation of opt-in/consent setup for contract migration
Budget controlling, risk management, progress measurement, setting up & optimizing governance & process organization
Introduction & setup of project management tool (JIRA/Confluence)
Defining actions & creating decision templates
Managing the PMO
Stakeholder management

Product Owner

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: Virtual Agent (Industry: ICT, Duration: 5 months)
The client wanted to expand their self-service strategy. In this context, a virtual agent was to be implemented on the website to answer customer questions interactively.
Selecting the service provider and defining the scope
Taking on the role of Product Owner on the business side
Leading & managing the project from design (design sprints) through soft launch
Training setup & execution

Project Manager

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: CRM push (Industry: automotive manufacturer, Duration: 6 months)
CRM organization setup: team, IT/infrastructure (Salesforce), OKRs
Setup & optimization of consent management for digital services
Setup of CRM strategy
Loyalty Program Setup
Proposition Development
Introduction of relevant KPIs
Concept: CLV-based next-best-offer logic

Project Manager

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: Hardware 24h (Industry: ICT, Duration: 7 months)
Digitalization & optimization of product and campaign launch processes
Shortening time-to-market by up to 90%
Documentation of current processes & design of target processes
Management of IT projects (5) for process optimization (Scrum Master, multi-project management)

Project Manager, Scrum Master

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: Legal Tech Customer Service (Industry: Legal Tech, Duration: 2.5 months)
Setup/optimization of call center department, including processes, IT & staffing
The client (provider of legal services) needed to scale services & solutions by digitizing & professionalizing customer service
Design of entire customer service processes (lead flow, handling) & organization (team setup, escalation management, etc.)
In this context, the existing CRM and call management software was adapted to new requirements; setup & optimization of the Scrum project management method

Project Manager, Scrum Master

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: JIRA implementation (Industry: ICT, Duration: 4 months)
Introduction of a project management tool
Solution: JIRA, chosen because JIRA was already partly used in the client's organizational units
Analysis and gathering of requirements; technical coordination and implementation for project management
Stakeholder management with other business units and design of a cross-departmental implementation of project management and reporting requirements
Setup & delivery of training for employees

Project Manager, Scrum Master

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: Special Forces Implementation (Industry: ICT, Duration: 5 months)
The client had to manage an increased volume of projects (multi-project management)
Managed 7-8 parallel projects (each with a budget of €50k to €150k)
RTI (Project Manager): feasibility check for a sales automation software (including vendor selection, business case & use-case definition)
Digital Care/eCare: improvement and expansion of eCare offerings for customers, including opt-in management (Scrum Master)
Speech analysis (Project Manager): implementation of a speech analysis tool from test phase to live operation (Scrum Master)

Rollout Manager / Project Manager

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: HoReCa international rollout (Industry: e-commerce / hospitality, Duration: 5 months)
Rolling out the company's first digital products (focus on restaurants/hotels) to country subsidiaries (go-to-market strategy)
Designing and owning the rollout plan, onboarding countries, planning and implementing sales channels, and managing operational support for country subsidiaries
Managing product development for sales and CRM software (Salesforce-based) as product owner
Optimizing customer service processes (B2B)

Support & Sparring Partner for Executive Management

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: NEXT (Industry: ICT, Duration: 7 months)
Set up and design of a subsidiary for IoT and Big Data Analytics business models
Proposition development
Design of finance, HR, operations, IT, and guiding principles

Subproject Lead

Chris Willmanns Consulting

Project: Digital Care (Industry: ICT, Duration: 2 months)
The client wanted to expand their self-service strategy. In this context, the Digital Care project was launched, focusing on digitizing self-service and knowledge management
Took over the "Quick Wins" stream
Conceptualization and prioritization of topics within the stream (Digital Invoice, Set-Up New Phone, Network Problems, Third-Party Blocking)
Training setup & delivery

Summary

I bring over a decade of hands-on experience in project management, digital transformation, and operational leadership. I have built and optimized processes across industries such as ICT, legal tech, e-commerce, and telecommunications. My work spans strategy development, CRM implementation, agile & waterfall project steering, and customer service modernizations, always aiming for efficiency and innovation.

I have led large teams and complex programs, ensuring seamless digital solutions and clear performance guidelines. With a solid background in both consultancy and executive roles, I focus on delivering real value through practical, sustainable change.