Public Projects

My employer, RWTH Aachen University, charges at cost for human resources, plus around a 50% overhead for administration and facilities.

Costs are standardized for German public employees by the Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst (TVöD) pay scale, which incorporates qualifications and experience.

For projects that I lead, I book (at maximum) at the E14 Stufe 3 rate, which is 5,928 €/month as of January 2026. This means that a contract, with overhead, can be roughly estimated at 9,000€/month, or 52€/hour.

While it would be more lucrative to run projects privately, I currently prefer to run projects through the university as funding is tied to career progression towards the rank of professor.

Privacy and Non-disclosure Agreements

I am able to participate in (mutual) non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for university-scoped projects through the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University.

I am also able to privately sign NDAs, but not in parallel with nor before a university NDA, i.e., it’s not possible to sign a personal NDA for development of a project that would be run through the university.