Jan B. - Freelance Project Manager

Aachen, Germany

Experience

Jan 2023 - Present

3 years

Germany

Freelance Project Manager

SDE

Provide strategic consulting and lead technical projects in the energy and IT sectors.
Develop smart grid concepts including microgrids and charging infrastructure.

Jan 2023 - Dec 2024

2 years

United Kingdom

Technical Consultant

Smart District GI

Developed a scalable microgrid solution tailored to the residential housing sector focusing on decarbonization and local energy autonomy.
Created foundational concept, defined technical specifications for an RFI, and assessed suppliers based on technical presentations and expertise.
Resulted in a successful RFI process and technical groundwork for microgrid deployment.
Collaborated with consulting team, client, and multiple suppliers.

Jan 2020 - Dec 2025

6 years

Germany

Project Manager and District Lead

SmartQuart

First 'Reallabor der Energiewende' in Germany for autonomous energy supply across heat, electricity, hydrogen.
Development of three smart districts designed to maximize energy self-sufficiency through efficiency measures, enabling virtual energy exchange via market mechanisms (e.g. VPP).
Served as national blueprints for climate-neutral urban development.
Role: Dual responsibility as project manager for the EMS, and district lead for Essen-quarter.
Result: New foundation for municipal energy business models and B2B products.
Team: Cross-functional agile teams across 9 consortium and multiple external partners.

Jan 2020 - Dec 2023

4 years

Product Owner & Team Lead TPM

gridX

Led SaaS and IoT product development for the energy sector.
Engaged in feature negotiation, prioritization, and market rollout.
Introduced new project management standards to improve coordination and quality.

Jan 2018 - Dec 2022

5 years

Germany

Product Manager and Developer

2nd Brain

Developed an integrated project and knowledge management platform tailored to the customer’s industrial setting, enabling more efficient internal collaboration and structured process oversight.
Responsible for design, backend implementation, and coordination with external development contributors.
Deployed a functional MVP used productively by the client.

Jan 2017 - Dec 2019

3 years

Germany

Team and Project Lead

Next R5

Developed novel materials for plain bearings, including manufacturing processes and full industrialization for automotive applications.
Led internal R&D and production teams under direct leadership.
Achieved successful series production and resolved manufacturing issues in both Germany and India.

Jan 2017 - Dec 2019

3 years

Germany

Manager, Materials Development

Rheinmetall

Managed development from R&D to mass production.
Provided disciplinary team management and established SCRUM practices in the testing lab.
Optimized budget control.

Jan 2013 - Dec 2017

5 years

Germany

Post-Doc & Researcher, Materials Science

Forschungszentrum Jülich

Developed high-performance coatings and streamlined manufacturing processes for the energy industry.
Coordinated international research partnerships.

Founder, Lead Developer and Writer

nosy.science

Founded and led development of a science communication platform about automation, natural language processing, and personalized content delivery for researchers, institutions, and hobbyists.
Designed the platform to make complex research topics accessible and engaging.

Summary

Over 10 years of experience managing large scale complex industrial and IT projects
Delivered to 23 business-customers on 4 continents
14 products shipped – both hardware and software
Flexible through expertise Energy, IT, HR, automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, research…
10 international and interdisciplinary teams built, and managed