Michaela Matschy
Summary
Commercial and Legal executive with extensive experience in the rail and energy sector. Expert contract negotiator, deal and cash focused to ensure the best outcome for the business. Expert in set-up, negotiation and close of PPPs, including risk management, ensuring deals are commercially and legally sound. Global experience with a proven track record in Asia, Australia and Europe. Agile and emotionally intelligent leader having coached multicultural teams in different countries, acted as a trusted advisor to peers and been an integral member of senior leadership teams.
Overview
21
21
years of professional experience
Work history
Global Head of Bids Services
Stadler Rail AG
Bussnang
2024.08 - 2026.05
- Leading 25+ FTE, spanning Bid Management, Costing, and Solution Management, delivering railway service tenders with a bid pipeline exceeding EUR 1.8bn.
- Secured major service and maintenance contracts over EUR1.5 bn in new orders, exceeding the annual budget by 55% in 2025.
- Identified gaps in technical, commercial and regulatory expertise specific to railway and building a structured, scalable team to address these needs.
- Building and leading a Bid Management function from the ground up, defining strategic vision, operating model, and resourcing requirements. Identify capability gaps, workload demands and governance structures enabling the creation of a high performing, saleable team.
- Authored and rolled out bid management guidelines and directives, aligning stakeholders around clear roles, responsibilities and decision-making protocols supported by standardized templates.
- Designed and implemented end-to-end bid processes within the Sales function tailored to railway procurement requirements including the introduction to a structured bid governance and robust gate reviews.
Senior Legal Counsel
Alstom Pty Ltd
Sydney
2022.07 - 2024.07
- Successfully negotiated a major works contracts and ancillary contracts (direct deeds, amendments to D&D, A&M, DSAPT and ETCS Contracts, IC Deed, Escrow Deed) valued at MAUD 230 for the reset of the QNGR PPP with the Department of Transport and Roads.
- Review, legal risk analysis and negotiation of D&C and TSSSA Contracts for the Western Sydney Airport tender with D&C and O&M Joint Venture - total project cost including infrastructure around AUD 11 billion;
- Drafting and negotiation of downstream supply contracts reflecting the PPP requirements for major key suppliers including gap risk analysis to achieve the best commercial outcome upstream with Australian customers and downstream with Suppliers from jurisdictions outside of Australia;
- Advise project and contract managers on claim management, strategies on dispute settlement and other commercial issues arising during the course of performing contracts; increasing the bottom line of projects (advancing of payment milestones, assessment and mounting of EOT claims, negotiations of deed of amendments to protect the project margin, license agreements, settlement agreements);
- Providing training to internal stakeholders and conduction of regular reviews to ensure all known business drivers are reflected towards customers including commercial support to sales teams on tender activities and negotiation.
Senior Legal and Commercial Manager
NEXTracker Inc.
Sydney
2019.01 - 2022.06
- Establishment of a commercial and contract management culture introducing best practices, corporate policies and procedures, streamlining tenders in the transformation process of NEXTracker from a start – up technology company to a global leader, directly reporting to the Vice President Australia and dotted line to the General Counsel in the US HQ.
- Responsible for the risk assessment, commercial review, negotiation, finalization, and subsequent implementation of all Supply Agreements for 4 GW of capacity in the APAC region consistent within NEXTracker’s risk profile.
- Development and implementation of contract handover and deliverables matrix for the Operational teams optimizing the management of contractual issues associated with project delivery. Shaping the commercial management culture including training and developing legal and commercial best practices.
- Managing all litigations and claims in the APAC region led by external legal counsels.
Head of Legal Affairs and Contracts
Bombardier Transportation
Bangkok
2016.09 - 2018.12
- Accounting for the commercial, risk and regulatory issues of bid activities and projects in execution with a team of 7 FTE in the Asia-Pacific region based in Shanghai, Malaysia and Bangkok.
- Led the commercial and legal negotiations for the Bangkok monorail project, a PPP of EUR 900 million over 33 years and ensured full commercial, financial and legal viability while managing complex stakeholder structure both internally and externally (Thai government, Thai rail operator, international suppliers and potential partnership with the largest rail company in China).
- Spearheaded the commercial and legal review and negotiations for the Queensland New Generation Rollingstock Project (PPP) ensuring that the payment structure led to positive cash flow while minimizing Bombardier’s exposure caused by non-compliances.
- Analysis of client requirements in the APAC region (India, China, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia) identifying commercial requirements of different markets and training the Sales function respectively.
- Managing corporate affairs and compliance matters in APAC.
- Reduction of annual legal fees by 20% and reduction of project costs by restructuring securities by MEUR 54.
Senior Legal Counsel and Commercial Manager
Bombardier Transportation
Bangkok
2014.09 - 2016.08
- Responsible for the negotiation of competitive offers for complex projects achieving the client’s commercial requirements whilst remaining compliant with Bombardier’s risk and governance policies.
- Analysis and Identification of legal risks of tender documents in a cross functional environment and subsequent negotiation of the supply and service agreements, and securities followed by coordination of inter-regional/divisional agreements and key-supplier agreements.
- Legal support to Project Management during the life cycle of a project for commercial and contractual aspects including customer, partner & supplier claims ensuring the project is delivered to budget and potential risks and opportunities are identified.
- Responsible for legal matters such as research & development agreements, and transfer of technology agreements.
Legal Counsel
Bombardier Transportation
Vienna
2010.08 - 2014.08
- Legal lead the end-to end legal and commercial negotiations with EPC partners for turnkey projects (Sydney Light Rail PPP, Liège (Belgium)).
- Spearheaded contractual and commercial negotiations of supply agreements for projects in France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Turkey.
- Positive closure of claims in the amount of EUR 750.000.
Associate
Fellner Wratzfeld and Partners
Vienna
2009.01 - 2010.06
- Restructuring of the Constantia Privatbank and Due Diligence of a Private Investment Bank.
- Successful clearance of a merger at the European Commission according to the EU Merger Regulation.
Legal Internship
Hasch & Partner GmbH
Linz
2005.10 - 2008.12
- Co-author of the book “Finding the suitable structure for a company transfer – Asset or Share Deal and consequent legal implications”.
Education
Master of Laws - undefined
Johannes Kepler University
Linz, Austria 2002.01 - 1 2007
Financial Management Certificate - undefined
SMP, School of Management
St. Gallen, SwitzerlandLanguages
German
English
French
Custom Section
Flexible
Personal Information
- Title: CORPORATE COMMERCIAL EXECUTIVE
- Availability: Flexible
Timeline
Global Head of Bids Services
Stadler Rail AG
2024.08 - 2026.05
Senior Legal Counsel
Alstom Pty Ltd
2022.07 - 2024.07
Senior Legal and Commercial Manager
NEXTracker Inc.
2019.01 - 2022.06
Head of Legal Affairs and Contracts
Bombardier Transportation
2016.09 - 2018.12
Senior Legal Counsel and Commercial Manager
Bombardier Transportation
2014.09 - 2016.08
Legal Counsel
Bombardier Transportation
2010.08 - 2014.08
Associate
Fellner Wratzfeld and Partners
2009.01 - 2010.06
Legal Internship
Hasch & Partner GmbH
2005.10 - 2008.12
Master of Laws - undefined
Johannes Kepler University
2002.01 - 1 2007
Financial Management Certificate - undefined
SMP, School of Management