Stefan Walcz
Fractional CTO for mid-sized companies and scale-ups: technical direction, delivery and vendors steered to outcomes, AI put into operations. Ex-VP Products.
Operating focus
Industry experience
SaaS · Telecommunications · Media and publishing · E-commerce · Public sector
Company stages
Growth · Scale-up · Owner-led mid-sized · Corporate · Turnaround
Operating regions
Germany · DACH · UK and Europe
Languages
German · English · Danish · Spanish
Executive statement
Part-time technology leadership for mid-sized companies and scale-ups. Thirty years in software and operations: twelve years as founder and CTO of an internet services company (33 staff; e-commerce, CMS and hosting platforms for ARTE, EHAPA/Disney, Springer, LAMY), three years as Vice President Products at NFON AG, a listed European cloud telephony provider (40 staff across seven locations, reporting to the CTO), strategy advisor to owners and boards since 2007, and since 2024 architect and operator of local AI systems. What I take on as Fractional CTO: technology strategy and architecture decisions (target picture, system map, platform standards, technical-debt prioritisation, make-or-buy); implementing and replacing core systems from tender and vendor selection to go-live (ERP, e-commerce, BSS/CRM, CMS, BI); steering delivery across internal teams and external partners with Scrum, Kanban or SAFe and measurable delivery fidelity; bringing AI into operations with local and hybrid architectures, RAG on own data and a business case behind every automation; and building, rebuilding and handing over engineering and product-owner teams, including recruiting the permanent CTO. Quantified outcomes: rebuilt a 40-person product organisation into a controllable end-to-end process with a reliable roadmap and higher delivery fidelity; introduced a new business support system that digitised the customer lifecycle end-to-end; replaced a commercial video-transcoding stack at Deutsche Telekom with open source (success rate 80 to 99 percent, throughput up 50 percent, licence costs eliminated); recruiting automation that cut cost per hire by 47 percent; AI application that removed 60 percent of the effort in an M&A screening process; industry-specific RAG system running fully offline on commodity hardware; acquisition and post-merger integration of a software company to expand engineering capacity. How I work: business first, then technology; decisions with a business case, not with preferences; steer vendors rather than replace them so knowledge stays in-house; make delivery fidelity and capacity visible before optimising; handover is part of the mandate. Executive MBA in Digital Information Systems, M&A certificate, qualified negotiator. Based in Mannheim, Germany; remote-first, on site in the Rhine-Neckar and Rhine-Main regions, hybrid across Germany. German native, English C2.
Leadership scope
Largest team: 40 people (7 direct reports) across seven locations in Portugal, the UK, Italy, Austria and Germany as Vice President Products at NFON AG, a listed cloud telephony provider with ~500 employees and €80m revenue; reporting to the CTO, co-owner of the group and product strategy with the C-level, decision rights over portfolio, roadmap, make-or-buy and product budget; planned and executed a restructuring with mandated headcount reduction during the strategy shift to profitable growth. Board exposure: strategy work with CEO/CTO and supervisory-board-driven restructuring. As founder and managing partner I carried full P&L, hiring and operations responsibility for companies of up to 33 staff for over 25 years, including an acquisition with post-merger integration. Since 2024 I advise owners and CEOs of mid-sized companies and build a local AI platform as founder and architect.
Selected outcomes
- Rebuilt a 40-person product organisation across 7 locations into a controllable end-to-end process: reliable roadmap, transparent capacity planning, higher delivery fidelity (NFON AG, listed).
- Introduced a new business support system digitising the customer lifecycle end-to-end; set up a C-level portfolio process and a make-or-buy rule set for the group (NFON AG).
- Replaced a commercial video-transcoding stack with open source at Deutsche Telekom: success rate 80% to 99%, throughput +50%, licence costs eliminated.
- Built a recruiting automation that cut cost per hire from EUR 15,000 to 8,000 (-47%); AI application for M&A screening removed ~60% of process effort (2024-2025).
- Acquired and integrated a software company (Onwerk GmbH) to expand engineering capacity; built a 7-person product-owner unit from scratch (NFON AG).
- Founded and ran an internet services company for 12 years as CTO (33 staff, 24/7 hosting): first web platforms and online shop for Springer, ARTE, EHAPA/Disney, LAMY.
Profile verified 2026-09-09. Direct contact details are shared only after a mutual introduction.