Apache Beam running Pipeline from DoFn throws NoSuchMethodError - google-cloud-dataflow

Question

I am running an Application on Google AppEngine which generates Dataflow-Templates and starts them. In one of those pipelines, inside a DoFn, the process generates another pipeline and waits for it to finish, before it continues its work. Until a few days ago, that was not a problem. But now, I get a NoSuchMethodError when pipeline.run() is called.
The stacktrace:
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.beam.sdk.common.runner.v1.RunnerApi$FunctionSpec$Builder.setPayload(Lcom/google/protobuf/ByteString;)Lorg/apache/beam/sdk/common/runner/v1/RunnerApi$FunctionSpec$Builder;
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.repackaged.org.apache.beam.runners.core.construction.WindowingStrategyTranslation.toProto(WindowingStrategyTranslation.java:224)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.repackaged.org.apache.beam.runners.core.construction.WindowingStrategyTranslation.toProto(WindowingStrategyTranslation.java:299)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.repackaged.org.apache.beam.runners.core.construction.WindowingStrategyTranslation.toProto(WindowingStrategyTranslation.java:285)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator.serializeWindowingStrategy(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:129)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator.access$1500(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:114)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator$5.groupByKeyHelper(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:806)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator$5.translate(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:784)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator$5.translate(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:781)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator$Translator.visitPrimitiveTransform(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:442)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:663)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:655)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:655)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:655)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:655)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:655)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy$Node.access$600(TransformHierarchy.java:311)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.runners.TransformHierarchy.visit(TransformHierarchy.java:245)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.Pipeline.traverseTopologically(Pipeline.java:446)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator$Translator.translate(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:386)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineTranslator.translate(DataflowPipelineTranslator.java:173)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowRunner.run(DataflowRunner.java:537)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowRunner.run(DataflowRunner.java:170)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.Pipeline.run(Pipeline.java:303)
at org.apache.beam.sdk.Pipeline.run(Pipeline.java:289)
at com.mycompany.projectsign.dataflow.dofn.downloads.something.RunDownloadPipeline.processElement(RunDownloadPipeline.java:150)
The referenced line of my code is the pipeline.run()
When I look at the maven-dependencies in Eclipse, the right dependencies (and versions) are added in the project and the RunnerApi.FunctionSpec.Builder.setPayload(com.google.protobuf.ByteString) method exists, too. I continued enforcing the versions with dependencyManagement:
<dependencyManagement>
<dependencies>
....
<dependency>
<groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
<artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
<version>3.2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
<artifactId>grpc-core</artifactId>
<version>1.2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
<artifactId>grpc-protobuf</artifactId>
<version>1.2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
<artifactId>grpc-stub</artifactId>
<version>1.2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.beam</groupId>
<artifactId>beam-sdks-common-runner-api</artifactId>
<version>2.2.0</version>
</dependency>
.....
</dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>
When running in AppEngine or creating the pipeline from localhost (running directly on Google Dataflow) the templates can be created and started without a problem, but running the created Pipeline inside the DoFn throws the same error.
However, when I run the Pipeline as a local pipeline directly on my computer (with DirectRunner), the pipeline runs without a problem and creates the other pipelines on GoogleDataflow.
I updated the beam-version to 2.2.0.
If some Googler is reading this, this is one of the failing JobIds: 2017-12-11_07_01_17-3122752092943950314
What might be the reason for the NoSuchMethodError? Could it be a conflicting dependency or something else?
Any help is highly appreciated :-)