Fractional Delivery Leadership for Life Sciences Technology Programs

I'm Stefan Koch.

I bring operational excellence discipline to technology delivery in life sciences - as the delivery leadership that life sciences companies need to get complex programs across the line, and the operational infrastructure that services providers need to scale without losing margin or quality.

Most digital transformation programs fail to achieve their objectives. The culprit is almost always structural. Decision-making slows, priorities lose focus, quality becomes reactive, and teams spend more time fighting fires than delivering outcomes.

Software delivery at this scale is a specialized discipline. Most life sciences companies aren't in the business of building that capability internally, and there's no reason they should be.

Whether you're a life sciences company executing a critical platform implementation, or a services provider scaling delivery across a growing client base, the symptoms look the same: missed commitments, frustrated teams, eroding trust, and programs that feel harder than they should.

That's where I come in.

Who I work with

Life Sciences Companies

You've committed to a major platform investment. You need someone independent who can see the full picture.

Your SI has a commercial interest in the story they're telling you. Your internal team is stretched. And a delayed go-live in a regulated environment is a validation and production risk.

I step in as delivery leadership on the buyer side: setting governance and a structured delivery approach, holding vendors accountable, and giving your executives a clear view of what's actually happening.

Technology & Services Providers

You're growing, but margin is eroding and delivery quality is getting inconsistent.

The infrastructure underneath your PS organization hasn't kept up with headcount. Delivery is personality-dependent. Escalations are too frequent. Referenceable clients are getting harder to point to.

I've built PS organizations that scale - at Vineti, Körber, and Frontwell. Now I do that fractionally, without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive.

My Services

Delivery System Review and Executive Advisory

For life sciences companies & service providers

Executive clarity on what's limiting delivery and what to do about it.

When delivery starts to feel slower, noisier, or harder to control, most organizations sense something is wrong but lack a clear, objective view of where the system is breaking down.

I provide a short, focused delivery system review for leadership teams who need clarity.

I come in as an independent executive advisor to examine how delivery operates today - across leadership behaviors, decision flow, quality integration, team structure, execution cadence and vendor dynamics. The goal is to identify the structural constraints that are limiting speed, quality, revenue realization, and the ability to scale.

What you get

An executive-level diagnosis of what's limiting delivery
Clear, prioritized findings that explain why delivery behaves the way it does today
Actionable recommendations to improve predictability, quality, and time to value
Explicit options for how to move forward: internal correction, leadership intervention, or structural change

This engagement is deliberately short and outcome focused. It gives leadership a clear basis for decision-making without committing to a longer-term engagement upfront.

Click here to see examples of how I’ve identified delivery constraints and improved execution.

Delivery Leadership

For life sciences companies

Embedded delivery leadership for high-risk technology programs.

Many digital transformation programs stall not because of technology, but because governance breaks down: decision-making slows, priorities shift, vendors drift, and teams stay busy without delivering. My role is to step in as a delivery leader, cut through noise, and establish a clear execution system that restores focus, momentum, and predictability.

I take end-to-end accountability for delivery on complex digital programs - SAP, MES, LIMS, and similar platform implementations in regulated environments. That means setting the governance and operating models, clarifying decision rights, integrating quality early, holding the SI accountable, and giving your executive team a clear, measurable and honest view of program status.

I bring both technical depth and operational authority. I can go far enough into the weeds to know when a vendor's story is plausible versus cover - and translate what I find into something your board can govern from.

What you get

Independent delivery leadership with no vendor agenda
Scope, risk, and change management that works
Executive visibility into what's real, not what's optimistic
SI accountability without blowing up the relationship

Click here to view selected Delivery Leadership examples.

COO as a Service

Build the delivery infrastructure that lets you scale without losing margin or quality.

For services providers

Growing PS organizations eventually hit a ceiling. Delivery becomes personality-dependent, margin leaks on every engagement, and quality gets inconsistent because there's no repeatable system underneath. These are structural problems. Adding headcount doesn't fix them.

I've built and scaled PS organizations in GxP environments at Vineti, Körber, and Frontwell. I embed at the operating level to redesign how work moves through the organization - accountability structures, execution cadence, quality integration, and the discipline required to grow without constant escalation.

What you get

A delivery model that scales with headcount
Healthier margins through operational discipline
Consistent quality that protects client trust in regulated markets
COO-level leadership without the full-time cost

Click here to see my past Operations Leadership experience.

About Me

I've spent my career building delivery organizations that work.

As VP of Professional Services at Vineti, Head of Projects at Körber, and EVP Americas at Frontwell, I built PS organizations from the ground up - the kind that scale without losing quality, retain client trust in demanding regulated environments, and deliver outcomes instead of just activity.

Before moving into delivery leadership, I was a software engineer. That background shapes how I approach delivery at a fundamental level. I think in systems, look for opportunities to automate and eliminate friction, and make decisions on signal rather than noise, combining hard data with the pattern recognition that comes from having seen these programs fail and succeed across a range of environments.

It also means I can go deep enough to know when a vendor's technical story holds up, and when it doesn't. Most delivery leaders can do one or the other. Bridging both is where I'm most useful.

I lead from the front and take accountability for outcomes, not just process. Part of that is deliberately shielding delivery teams from the organizational noise, politics, and escalations that pull people off course. When teams can focus on the work rather than managing distractions, the quality of what they deliver changes noticeably.

I work fractionally with a small number of clients at a time. It's the only way to do this kind of work without diluting the attention it requires.

Outside of work, I live in Massachusetts with my wife and daughter. I stay active outdoors - mountain biking, hiking, and exploring new trails whenever I can.

Please visit my profile on LinkedIn for more information on my background.

If this sounds like the gap you're dealing with, let's talk.

A short, informal conversation is usually enough to know whether there's a fit.

Or schedule a call:

Schedule a free introductory call

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