A Central Office has been set up at the Foundation's headquarters to support the work of the bodies, the Scientific Advisory Boards and the employees in the institutes. This office is headed by the Executive Director, who represents the Foundation in and out of court.

The Executive Director is responsible for the operation of the Foundation within the stipulations of the law or statute. The incumbent represents the institute’s administration vis-à-vis the authorities in Germany and stipulates instructions for the personnel administration of employees subject to German labour, tax and social security laws.

Further tasks include:

Budget, Personnel, Law

• Legal advice,
• Compilation, implementation and closure of the Foundation’s budget duly considering the component budgets of the institutes,
• Personnel administration,
• Administrative support in establishing and developing institutions of the Foundation,
• Third-party funding consultancy.

Research Infrastructures, Libraries, IT

• Technical establishment and provision of a digital publication platform,
• Bundling of foundation-wide activities in the area of basic and research-driven infrastructures,
• General IT applications,
• Operation of the publication platform perspectivia.net, research data management and services of national and European research infrastructures (e.g. NFDIs, OPERAS, DARIAH, CLARIN),
• Coordination of cross-cutting library services.

Quality Assessment, Public Relations, Support Opportunities

• Organisation and guidance of external evaluations in line with the procedure conceived by the Foundation Council,
• Monitoring-Reports,
• Public relations work in Germany,
• Organization and monitoring of the foundation programs, information and advice to the institutes.