Dr. Franziska Horn

Clarity, from Concept to Code.

Freelance Consulting

I mentor teams working on ML and generative AI solutions—from tailored models to sustainable production systems.

The Challenge

Even experienced teams face recurring issues when working on data science and AI projects:
  • Promising models stall as prototypes and never make it into production.
  • Project goals and architectural design are unclear, leading to wasted effort and rework.
  • Systematic performance evaluation is lacking, making it hard to iterate with confidence.
  • Codebases accumulate technical debt, slowing development and blocking progress.
  • 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 learns 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 AI 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.
  • AI 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, struggling to evaluate whether your AI system actually works, or trying to move a prototype into production, I can help you deliver results that last. Send me an email at [email protected] to discuss which entry package makes sense as a starting point.