About
About Jakob Lange
Independent consultant working at the intersection of AI engineering, data sovereignty and human behaviour — for organisations that need their systems to hold up in production, under audit and with real people.
I am an independent consultant based near Leipzig, working with organisations across Germany and the EU. My work sits where three things meet that are usually handled by three different departments: the engineering of AI and platform systems, the regulatory and sovereignty questions those systems raise, and the behaviour of the people who have to operate and trust them.
Background
My path into this field was interdisciplinary from the start. I have worked in government-funded research projects that combined technical development with social science methods — studying how people interact with complex, security-critical systems, and how responsibility, decision-making and trust are distributed between humans and machines. That research background still shapes how I work: measure before you recommend, observe before you design, and document as you go.
Alongside research, I have spent years in product and project management, UX research and design, and security-awareness work for interdisciplinary and intercultural teams. Since 2022 I have operated as an independent consultant under Sustainable Solutions Group, gradually shifting my focus from digital presence and design towards the questions that now define my practice: how to build AI systems that are sovereign, compliant and actually used.
What I believe about this work
Technology decisions are organisational decisions. The best architecture is worthless if the team cannot operate it, the regulator cannot understand it, or the staff work around it. That is why every engagement I take on combines the technical with the human: an AI system ships with its evaluation and its documentation, a security programme starts with an assessment of behaviour, a platform comes with the runbooks and the training to own it.
I am deliberately vendor-independent. I do not resell licences, I do not take referral fees, and I will recommend the boring option when the boring option is right.
How to work with me
The practical details are in the readout beside this text. I take on a small number of engagements at a time so that each one gets real attention. The easiest way to start is an email describing your situation in a few sentences — what you are trying to do, what is in the way, and what would make the next quarter a success. I reply personally, usually within two working days, and the first conversation is always free of charge.
Principles
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Sovereignty by default
Data, models and infrastructure stay under your control unless there is a deliberate, documented reason otherwise. EU hosting is the baseline, not the premium tier.
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Evidence over hype
Every AI recommendation comes with an evaluation, a cost model and a failure analysis. If the numbers do not support it, I will say so.
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Humans in the loop
Security fails at the keyboard, not in the firewall. Systems are designed around how people behave under pressure, and people are trained for the systems they get.
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Build for the audit
Documentation is a product, not a chore. Decisions, controls and tests are written down as they happen — readable by your auditors and by your coding agents.
Contact
Start with a conversation.
No forms, no funnels. Write me a short note about your situation — I answer personally, usually within two working days.
Mon – Fri, 18:00 – 20:00 CET