Being a Freelance UX Designer is great but finding your first projects can be daunting. In this article, you’ll find some helpful links as well as tips and tricks to get your next freelance gig.
Recruitment Agencies
One easy way to find work is to get in touch with a recruitment service provider. They will save your profile in their database and contact you as soon as they have a suitable request. This is a good way to work for bigger companies, which often don’t hire freelancers directly. The recruitment agency will take care of most of the paperwork and serve as a middleman between you and the client. They earn money by charging the client a higher daily rate than what they pay the freelancer. Here’s a list of recruitment agencies, who refer freelancers to companies and have an office in Munich.
Konzepthaus
Specialized team from Munich, who know the design scene very well and maintain close personal contact with clients and contractors. They also run the “Moodboard” podcast, in which they often interview designers from Munich.
Solcom
One of the big recruiting players in Germany, focused on IT and engineering.
Lawrence Harvey
International recruiting agency for IT talent.
Hays
International company with offices all over Germany and recruitment agency for many large corporations.
Austin Fraser
Recruiting agency for the US, UK and Germany with an office in Munich.
Avantgarde Experts
Local recruiting specialist from Munich with a focus on tech and design.
Academic Work
International recruiting agency focused on young professionals with an office in Munich.
Paratus People
International recruiting agency operating in the fields of IoT and Broadcast Technology with an office in Munich.
Contractor
Consulting and recruiting company with an office in Munich.
Freelance Networks & Agencies
Freelance networks are hybrid organizations that blur the lines between design and recruitment agencies. They either provide jobs for individuals (similar to a recruitment agency) or assemble cross-functional teams to work on a client project from start to finish (similar to an IT company or design agency). In any case, they have an extended network of specialists from all kinds of disciplines. There is a growing number of freelance networks with ties to Munich:
ekkiden
European innovation consulting and recruitment company with an office in Munich. They also run an online community called “Together by Tech” .
Casana
Product studio with a small core team and an extended network of tech and design specialists.
Elsa & Co
Small design agency that focuses on working together with mothers on a part-time basis.
functionalaesthetics
Freelance network in Munich and Berlin with a pool of designers, developers and consultants.
UX Engineering
Small freelance network from Munich.
THE DEEP BENCH
Small innovation consulting agency from Munich with a large network of “expert players” to configure the perfect team for each project
Online Platforms
Besides the professional social networks LinkedIn and Xing there are online platforms that focus specifically on connecting companies and freelancers such as Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancermap, Bettertalkto, and Freelance.de. Sometimes the matching process of these platforms is manual, sometimes aided by algorithms. In most cases, you can set up a profile and also view existing projects and requests. It’s also interesting to use those websites to do research on how other freelancers market themselves and what their daily rate is. Of course, online platforms are not bound to a specific location but some of them nevertheless have an office in or around Munich:
malt
One of the biggest platforms in Europe with a very slick website and various additional services for freelancers such as the Malt Academy.
GULP
Recruitment service provider focused on IT, engineering and finance.
luzid
Platform focused on connecting companies and designers with the help of AI.
talent.io
Europe-wide platform to find freelance jobs.
lyncronize.com
Matching based on detailed skill profiles with the help of AI.
The Connectory by Bosch
Online platform to connect freelancers with projects in the Bosch Group
Cold Acquisition & Networking
There are over 450 companies in Munich, who design and develop digital products. They come in all shapes and sizes from small startups to international corporations. Many of them have an internal UX design team but often there is more work than they can handle. As a pro-active UX freelancer, you can pick the companies that interest you the most, and approach them directly. This is a bit cumbersome, and might not lead to a project directly but it doesn’t hurt to put yourself on their radar. Who knows, maybe they will have a job opportunity in the future and remember you? You can use the interactive map of UX companies in Munich to get an overview and look for interesting firms.
Another great way to get to know people and look for jobs is to become part of the local community. There are plenty of groups, meetups, and events in Munich that revolve around topics related to user experience design. Going there and meeting people is always a good idea. If you’re up for it, you can even give a talk at a meetup and share your knowledge. My blog post on the UX Community in Munich can help you get started.
When you have successfully acquired a client and a project, take a look at my post on how much to charge as a UX freelancer.
