A freelance senior software engineer for Berlin startups, with most of your day in common

MVP sprints, Laravel and Next.js builds, AI features and fractional CTO help for Berlin startups, with your morning in my afternoon and most of the working day shared.

Time zone: UTC+1 / UTC+2
Shared hours: 13:30–22:30, Mumbai time, in January
Region: Berlin, Germany
Invoices: EUR

Why Berlin teams bring me this work

If you run a Berlin startup, you may need senior engineering before you can hire it: a first version to raise on, an AI feature the roadmap already promises, or a technical lead for the months between the founding engineer and the first CTO. I work under your contract with a GDPR data processing agreement, everything I build lives in your repositories from day one, and the German specifics, from cookie consent under the TDDDG to the accessibility law, are part of the build rather than an afterthought.

What teams across the European Union bring me

You need senior capacity for a few months without adding headcount.
Your stack has to pass a GDPR review: data maps, processor terms, transfers and retention.

Working with teams in the European Union

The hours we share with Berlin

Berlin is on Central European Time: your 09:00 is 13:30 in Mumbai in winter and 12:30 in summer, so your morning falls in my afternoon and most of the working day is shared. A question asked at your stand-up is usually answered the same afternoon.

Each city's 09:00–18:00 working day on the clock in Mumbai (UTC+5:30), in January and in July, so daylight saving is accounted for.

Shared hours with Berlin
City	In January	In July
BerlinUTC+1 / UTC+2	13:30–22:30	12:30–21:30

Clocks Central European Time (UTC+1) in winter, Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, under Directive 2000/84/EC; clocks change at 01:00 UTC.

Rules a Berlin team's software meets

The supervisory authority

Private companies based in Berlin are supervised by the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, BlnBDI). In Germany, the Länder authorities supervise private-sector bodies (BDSG § 40).

Source: BlnBDI: Über uns

The Federal Data Protection Act

Germany's Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG) of 30 June 2017 supplements the GDPR and has applied since 25 May 2018.

Source: Gesetze im Internet: BDSG

Cookies and device access

Under § 25 of the Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG), storing or reading information on a user's device needs consent unless it is strictly necessary. The law has carried that name, previously TTDSG, since 14 May 2024.

Source: Gesetze im Internet: § 25 TDDDG

Accessibility law

Germany transposed the European Accessibility Act through the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) of 16 July 2021, in force since 28 June 2025. Microenterprises that provide services, with fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million in turnover or balance sheet, are exempt from the service requirements.

Source: Gesetze im Internet: Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG)

Across the European Union: GDPR · European Accessibility Act · AI Act, Article 50

This is engineering guidance, not legal advice: confirm what applies to your business with your counsel.

Contracts and invoicing

Invoices in euros, per milestone, paid through Wise or Payoneer. I can work under your contract, with a GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement and Standard Contractual Clauses for any transfer of personal data to India.

More on working with teams in the European Union is on the European Union page.

Tax and legal treatment depends on your company and country: confirm it with your accountant or counsel.

Where Berlin teams usually start

MVP Sprint
A production-grade first version of your product, at a fixed price and on dates fixed after the scoping week.
Price
Fixed price, agreed at the end of the scoping week
Timeline
Set at the end of the scoping week
AI features in your product
LLM features that work on your real data, measured before they ship.
Price
Fixed-price scoping sprint, then a fixed-scope quote
Timeline
A scoping sprint first, then a timeline agreed per project
Fractional CTO
Senior technical leadership a few days a month, without a full-time executive hire.
Price
Monthly retainer
Timeline
Ongoing; days per month agreed with you
Laravel development and upgrades
Laravel applications and APIs built, upgraded and kept current by an engineer whose main stack is Laravel.
Price
Fixed quote per stage after reading the code
Timeline
Scoped on a first call; upgrades are planned one major version at a time

Case studies

Case study: Digital Wardrobe · AI pipeline
average time per image, upload to result
3–8 s
Case study: Exhibit Social · B2B SaaS platform
influencers indexed
10,000+
Case study: InfluencerX · Real-time voting platform
users over the campaign
1.6M+

Questions from Berlin teams

What hours do we share with Berlin?

Your 09:00 is 13:30 in Mumbai from late October to late March and 12:30 in summer, so your morning and early afternoon fall in my working afternoon. Stand-ups, reviews and pairing all fit in the shared hours.

Who supervises a Berlin startup's data protection?

The Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BlnBDI): in Germany the authority of each Land supervises private companies, under § 40 of the BDSG. In the product itself, the rule that comes up first is § 25 TDDDG: anything stored on or read from a user's device needs consent unless it's strictly necessary. Confirm what applies with your counsel.

Do you have an office in Berlin?

No. I work remotely from Mumbai under your contract, with no office or staff in Germany, and I don't offer in-person meetings in Berlin. Most of our working day is shared, so video calls carry the work.