Dr. Florian Schmidt Portrait

Dr. Florian Schmidt

International Tech Executive
Scaling R&D • Strategic P&L Leadership • Global Tech Transformation

Trained as an engineer, I ended up running P&L instead of writing code. Fifteen years scaling R&D organizations across Germany, China and the US taught me that the hard part is rarely the technology — it's turning good engineering into a business that holds together.

Executive Core

Bridging the gap between Tech Vision and Commercial Growth by establishing high-performance delivery cultures.

Corporate Turnaround

Managing high double-digit million P&Ls. Focused on post-merger integration and restructuring R&D-driven business units for long-term scalability.

Tech-Industrialization

Turning fragmented R&D structures into standardized, automated operations — with overhead reduction that shows up on the P&L, not just in a process diagram.

Global Scaling

Hands-on experience building tech hubs from scratch, including three years running the Asia business out of Shanghai and coordinating US-DE corporate matrix environments.

Experience Track Record

2024 – 2026 UL Solutions

P&L Turnaround & Post-Merger Integration

General Manager Software Intensive Systems (Erlangen / US)

Orchestrated the integration of acquired R&D entities into a cohesive global division (approx. 400 HC). Executed a strategic shift from legacy consulting to high-margin tech services, navigating a complex US-DE corporate matrix while increasing operational efficiency.

2023 – 2024 Elektrobit

Strategic Operations

Head of Strategic Operations & Chief of Staff to Managing Director

Returned to Elektrobit after Webasto to lead strategic operations and drive transformation initiatives at Managing Director level, ahead of the transition into the UL Solutions integration.

2022 Webasto SE

Global R&D Consolidation

Vice President Global R&D EE (Stockdorf)

Consolidation of decentralized electronics & software engineers (approx. 600 HC) to mitigate the global supply chain crisis. Complexity reduction through hardware harmonization and establishment of a scalable Global Tech Center in Pune, India.

2014 – 2022 Elektrobit

Agile Transformation & Market Expansion

Chief of Staff / Head of Connectivity / CC Director China

Drove strategic transformation and go-to-market initiatives. Scaled the Asian business unit from near-zero to double-digit million revenue over 3 years in Shanghai. Transformed stagnant R&D units into flagship agile organizations delivering to global Tier-1 OEMs.

Note for Florian: check the exact month of the first Elektrobit→Webasto handover if it matters for a specific application — I only had year-level confidence on that boundary.

Leadership Philosophy

Enablement & Structure

I establish clear technical guardrails (Automation, CI/CD) to break micromanagement cycles. Structure is not bureaucracy; it is the backbone of speed and end-to-end responsibility.

Direct, Both Ways

I discuss architecture at eye level with engineers and defend the business case at board level, in the same terms. Consistency between those two rooms is what makes transformation stick.

Intercultural Synergy

Scaling global teams requires more than tools. I've spent enough time in German, Chinese and American working cultures to know that most cross-border friction is a translation problem, not a disagreement.

Ready to discuss your next transformation?

I'm open to General Management, CTO and VP-level mandates, interim and permanent, in the international tech domain.

Get in touch LinkedIn Profile