Daniel Engelhardt

Daniel Engelhardt · Interim CTO & AI Transformation

Engineering leadership and AI transformation, when you need it.

I help companies ship faster and become genuinely AI-native - from hands-on engineering leadership to full team transformation.

No account managers, no bench of consultants - you work directly with me.

Get in touch View services

15+

Years in tech

~30%

Faster delivery

0 → 7

Team built

100%

Uptime maintained

Services

Three ways I can help

Interim / Fractional CTO

Experienced CTO leadership without the full-time hire. I step in to stabilise, structure and scale your engineering - from day one.

  • Engineering team setup, hiring and mentoring
  • Architecture, delivery process and CI/CD
  • Roadmap alignment with product and management
  • Hands-on: I still write code

AI Consultancy

Practical guidance on where AI actually helps. I cut through the hype and help you pick the right tools, integrate LLMs, and stay GDPR-compliant.

  • LLM/GPT integration into your product
  • Self-hosted model deployment on EU infrastructure
  • AI tooling selection (Cursor, Claude Code, agents)
  • GDPR-compliant AI architecture

AI Transformation

I take engineering teams from fully manual to genuinely AI-native - not by mandate, but by building a real enablement culture.

  • AI-first development workflow and tooling
  • Automated AI code reviews and quality gates
  • Enablement culture: AI Fridays, knowledge sessions
  • Measurable output: ~30% faster delivery achieved

How I work

Hands-on from day one

01

Understand

I start by getting close to the work - the codebase, the team, the delivery flow. No assumptions, no generic playbooks.

02

Assess & Prioritise

I identify what is actually blocking delivery and where the highest leverage is. Clear priorities, no noise.

03

Enable & Build

I work alongside the team - writing code, setting up systems, introducing AI tooling - to build capability, not dependency.

04

Ship & Sustain

Predictable releases, stable infrastructure, a team that owns its work. I leave things better than I found them.

Results

Outcomes that matter

~30%

Faster delivery after AI transformation

~1 Mio.

ARR grown from 0 to ~1 Mio.

1.2M €

Funding rounds supported

100%

Uptime - zero outages

Evolute (2022 – 2026)

Took the product from MVP to a reliable B2B SaaS for manufacturing. Built and led the team from zero to seven, grew ARR from 0 to ~1 Mio., supported two funding rounds, and led the full shift to AI-native development - cutting delivery time by ~30%.

Read the full case study →

Assessory (ongoing)

Built and launched an AI tool for engineering hiring - multi-layer pipeline (syntax-tree parsing across 30+ languages, static security analysis, contextual AI review), GDPR-compliant on EU infrastructure. Live and in use.

Daniel Engelhardt

About

Daniel Engelhardt

Interim CTO · AI Transformation · Düsseldorf

I am a technical co-founder and engineering leader with more than 15 years in tech - from hands-on IT infrastructure and sysadmin work, through product management, to CTO roles in startups. I still write code. I like staying close to the work, helping teams take more ownership, and shipping quickly without breaking things.

Most recently at Evolute I took the whole company from manual development to an AI-first way of working - cutting delivery time by about 30%. That shift is now what I help other companies do.

Available for new engagements

Contact

Let's talk

Got a challenge that needs engineering leadership or an AI push? Drop me a message.

Send an email

Location

Düsseldorf, Germany