I help teams replace slow, manual processes with reliable software.
I work alongside your team to understand the process, scope the project, and build the system that replaces the manual work.
Senior engineer and former Director of Engineering, with production systems in healthcare, EdTech, and SaaS.
How I Work
From the first conversation to the running system, with one person responsible throughout.
1. Understand
I work alongside your team and dive into your needs and processes, to find out what the real need is.
2. Scope
We define the project and pick the first small wins.
3. Build
I build in short loops: your team gets a working version early, tries it, and the feedback shapes the next step. AI models help me write and review the code, which keeps the loops fast. I review every change myself, and automated tests cover the critical workflows.
4. Ship
I deploy the system and bring it into your team's daily work, so it actually replaces the manual steps.
5. Run or hand over
Either I stay on to maintain and improve the system, or I hand it over to your team.
Case Studies
Software Developer, later Group Leader IT & Data Management
Oncotest: study reporting from every two weeks to daily
Challenge: Tumor growth data was collected several times per week, but generating a report took days, so project managers could only report to customers every two weeks.
Solution: Built the lab software to collect and store the data, a lab data warehouse, and visualization tools for in vivo, in vitro and molecular data. Project managers pick a study and get the charts and report right away.
Result: Reports are generated instantly, daily if needed. Customers can react faster when the data means a study plan has to change.
IT Consultant, client since 2016
4HF Biotech: reports without the bottleneck at the scientist's computer
Challenge: Reports for customers and drug research came from scripts that data scientists ran on their own computers. Everyone else had to wait for them.
Solution: Automated the data processing and visualization with R/Shiny dashboards and data pipelines. Integrated the scientists' scripts safely into a central system with centralized data storage, so anyone in the company can generate the reports.
Result: Instant reports for everyone, no dependency on a single person or machine, and one source of truth for the data.
Senior Backend Engineer
CareerFoundry: payment workflow fixed, €100k recovered
Challenge: Missed payments and poor data quality in the payment workflow meant lost revenue and hours of manual adjustments every week.
Solution: Fixed the payment solution, the data processing behind it, and the payment workflow, and improved data quality.
Result: €100k in revenue recovered immediately, and over 10 hours per week of manual processing saved.
Senior Software Engineer
volders: an admin panel the whole team can use
Challenge: Customer numbers grew from hundreds to thousands per day. The internal admin panel was so slow that staff avoided reloading it because it hurt server performance, and only one person could work in it at a time.
Solution: A targeted fix to the admin panel, without rebuilding the whole application: fast page loads, faster bulk actions, faster access to customer data.
Result: The limits on the team are gone. A growing support team can process customer requests in parallel at thousands of customers per day.
What people say
"Florian implemented everything exactly as we envisioned - both at Oncotest and 4HF. He understood our questions deeply and developed excellent programs. Thank you for the many years of collaboration."
"Florian played a central role in shaping our IT & Data Management department. Deep technical expertise, complex systems, commitment to quality. His work on database systems and automation was instrumental."
Working Together
Start with a free call
30 minutes to get to know each other and talk through your problem. You don't need finished requirements. Working those out is part of the job.
Hourly, with a monthly budget
I bill by the hour. We usually agree a monthly budget, so your spending stays predictable, and every month you get a report with the invoice. That fits whether you hand me a whole project to own, or want me to join or lead your existing team.
Client work 4 days per week
I do client work four days per week, shared across my clients. Your monthly budget sets how much of that time is yours.
After launch
Your choice: I keep running and improving the system, billed hourly and on demand, or I hand it over to your team.
Services
Process Automation & AI-Enhanced Workflows
I identify bottlenecks and add intelligent automation (including LLM/NLP) only where it creates measurable impact - always grounded in solid software.
Deliverables: Automated workflows, AI-enhanced features, integration architecture
Custom Software Development
I build maintainable, production-ready web apps and data tools that scale - with built-in efficiency from day one. Ruby on Rails backends & full-stack SaaS, Next.js (React) frontends & modern apps - JavaScript or TypeScript, R/Shiny interactive dashboards & research prototypes.
Deliverables: Deployed Rails backend, production Next.js app (JS/TS), live Shiny dashboard
Dev Team Leadership & Scaling
Hands-on leadership to grow and run effective engineering teams - proven at 2→20+ developers. Architecture decisions, mentoring, agile workflows, CI/CD setup.
Deliverables: Team structure, hiring processes, development workflows, architecture documentation
About Me
15+ years as a software developer and engineering leader - building and scaling production apps in healthcare, EdTech, and SaaS.
Previously Director of Engineering at CareerFoundry, where I grew the team from 2 to 20+ developers. Now Co-Founder of Utterskills, where we teach software engineers the skills beyond code that matter in the AI era. I take on client work 4 days per week.
I ship working code - not just docs. Solid software engineering comes first, with AI where it adds real value.
Education
Diplom-Informatiker (M.Sc. equivalent)
University of Freiburg
Computer Science (major) & Bioinformatics (minor)
2003 – 2009
Thesis: "Development of linguistic comparative methods to analyse data from web forums"
Certifications
ThePowerMBA
Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance
Experience
Software developer and engineering leader - shipping production applications in Ruby/Rails, Next.js, and R/Shiny across EdTech, Healthcare, and SaaS.
Career Timeline
IT Consultant
Freelance
Jul 2015 - Present
Freelance on the side of full-time roles (1-2 days per week), now 4 days per week. Full-stack software development and consulting across healthcare, education, and SaaS. Building production applications in Ruby/Rails, Next.js, and R/Shiny. Process automation and AI integration. Recent: data visualization and automation tools for cancer research at 4HF Biotech.
Co-Founder
Utterskills
Oct 2023 - Present
Co-founded Utterskills, an online academy that teaches software engineers the skills beyond code: deciding what's right, explaining their choices, and owning the outcome. Built the learning platform with Next.js and LLM integration. Received the Forschungszulage (German research allowance).
Director of Engineering
CareerFoundry
Jul 2020 - Jun 2023
Led technical vision and engineering organization. Scaled teams from 2→20+ developers. Oversaw architecture decisions, hiring, mentoring, agile workflows, CI/CD, and production infrastructure on AWS.
Head of Development
CareerFoundry
Feb 2020 - Jul 2020
Led the engineering team, redesigned development workflows, and enhanced system architecture for the online education platform. Implemented agile best practices and mentored developers.
Lead Software Engineer
CareerFoundry
Aug 2018 - Feb 2020
Led development of core platform features, optimized system performance, and mentored junior engineers. Contributed to architecture decisions and collaborated with product and design teams.
Senior Backend Engineer
CareerFoundry
Feb 2018 - Jul 2018
Refactored and enhanced the learning platform (Rails, React), optimized Stripe payment integration, and improved backend performance and scalability.
Senior Software Engineer
volders GmbH
Jun 2016 - Jan 2018
Developed Ruby and Elixir applications, led AWS migration, integrated Braintree payment solution, and optimized database performance for contract management platform. Implemented microservices architecture and CI/CD pipelines for improved deployment processes.
Group Leader IT & Data Management
Oncotest GmbH
Jan 2013 - Jun 2015
Led software development team, migrated Oracle to PostgreSQL, and developed Oncotest Compendium for oncology research. Built custom data visualization tools using R and Shiny for research data analysis.
Software Developer
Oncotest GmbH
Nov 2009 - Dec 2012
Developed software solutions for oncology research data management and analysis. Built database systems, data processing pipelines, and research tools using various programming languages and technologies.
Technology Expertise
Backend & Full-Stack
Frontend
Data & Visualization
Infrastructure & DevOps
Domains
Let's Build Something Solid
Tell me about the process that's slowing your team down. I'll help you work out what to build, and stay responsible for it once it runs.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
Book a free 30-min call - we get to know each other and talk through your problem and next steps.
Schedule Free ConsultationPhone
linkedin.com/in/florian-schmidt-64b4645a
Business Address
Florian Schmidt
Freiburg, Germany
VAT: DE299949804
Website: fkschmidt.com