Joachim Umlauf manages European projects for the Goethe-Institut Bucharest, where he served as director until September 2025. Previously, he was the director of the Goethe-Institut in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. He teaches cultural management at the University of Bucharest, Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, and the University of Lorraine (Metz).

He is a permanent member of the Duitsland Instituut in Amsterdam. He has published several books, including Lexikon der deutsch-französischen Kulturbeziehungen nach 1945 and Im Schatten der Versöhnung (Steidl, 2019), co-authored with Nicole Colin.