Dr. Franziska Horn

Clarity, from Concept to Code.

Freelance Consulting

I mentor R&D teams through the full machine learning lifecycle—from tailored models to sustainable production systems.

The Challenge

R&D teams often have strong domain knowledge but face recurring issues when working on data science projects:
  • Promising models stall as prototypes and never make it into production.
  • Codebases accumulate technical debt, slowing development and blocking progress.
  • Project goals and architectural design are unclear, leading to wasted effort and rework.
  • MLOps practices are missing, so even working models can't be sustained over time.
As a result, valuable ideas often fail to deliver real-world impact.

A Better Way

I help your team avoid these pitfalls by combining deep machine learning expertise with software engineering and MLOps best practices.
My approach delivers concrete results while ensuring long-term sustainability:

The outcome: projects move beyond prototypes to provide lasting impact while your team gains valuable skills.



What I Offer

I work with teams in a flexible, hands-on way—providing immediate value while setting them up for long-term success.

Core Offering: Long-Term Mentorship

The main way I work is by joining your team part-time (around 20h/week for 6–12 months). I support projects end-to-end: from early experimentation through production deployment and beyond. Along the way, I level up your team through code reviews, architectural guidance, and hands-on help where needed.

Entry Packages

To start working together, I offer two short, focused engagements. These provide immediate results and let us test whether a longer collaboration is the right fit.
  • Use Case & Concept Workshop (1-2 weeks)
    For teams beginning a new ML or data-driven project. We define the use case, clarify scope and requirements, and design a solid architecture from the start. The outcome is a shared plan that avoids wasted effort and sets the foundation for clean, production-ready development.
  • ML Systems Audit & Roadmap (2-4 weeks)
    For teams with prototypes that haven't made it into production. I review your codebase, data pipelines, and ML workflows to identify weaknesses in architecture, code quality, and maintainability. You receive a clear roadmap for refactoring and strengthening the system so it can scale reliably into production.

Why Me



Ready to Work Together?

Whether your team is starting a new ML project or struggling to move a prototype into production, I can help you deliver results that last. Send me an email at hey@franziskahorn.de to discuss which entry package makes sense as a starting point.