Your Role

The visual appearance of almost all consulting firms in Germany is interchangeable. The same boring stock photos, the same typography, the same color palette. Whoever has their own visual language in this industry and consistently adheres to it will be immediately recognized.

Vogel is one of the most successful medium-sized consulting firms in Germany — several thousand medium-sized companies trust us with their tax, commercial, and strategic matters. Building on this, we are creating the leading consulting platform for the German Mittelstand: We are growing organically and through acquisitions, consolidating a fragmented market, and integrating each new entity into a common setup. We have our own design foundation and are currently building the entire system on it: Corporate Design, visual world, events, videos, websites. This role is one of the first of its kind with us.

You have completed a design degree or a design apprenticeship and do not want to work in an agency where you serve twelve different styles for twelve clients. You want to develop a brand over years and see how individual designs become a system that others can use. At Vogel, you will find a foundation that supports you, and at the same time, a lot of uncultivated territory.

Your Responsibility

Brand Management and Visual System

• Further develop our visual system — typography, color, grids, visual language, application logic — and maintain its consistency across all applications.

• Create templates that allow colleagues without a design background to achieve results that meet the standard. Your benchmark: The system must hold up even when you are not standing next to them.

• Document design rules in a way that they are applicable. A manual that no one opens is not brand management.

Design in Application

• Design our documents and applications — presentations, client information, reports, printed materials, signage at our locations.

• Develop the visual implementation for our channels and for our events, from individual motifs to spatial design.

• Work on our website — design, structure, implementation together with our developers.

Collaboration and Design Standard

• Work closely with editorial and moving image teams so that text, image, and design speak the same language.

• Represent design decisions to colleagues with arguments, not assertions of taste — and correct yourself if the counter-argument is better.

• Maintain high execution quality. At our company, performance is seen and not hidden, and poor execution stands out just as much as good execution.

Your Prospects

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

• You will have expanded our template system for the most important applications, and it will actually be used in-house.

• You will have completely designed at least three major applications — event, publication, or website.

• You will be the first point of contact for design-related questions in the company.

What you will have delivered after 12 months:

• Our appearance will be recognizable as a cohesive whole across all channels, and you will be able to show why.

• You will have documented our design rules and trained at least one session in the company.

• You will have developed design elements that attract attention across industry boundaries.

What you will have delivered after 24 months:

• You will independently manage our visual brand identity and participate in decisions on fundamental design issues.

• You will have mentored interns and passed on your standards.

• You will be a candidate for the next management position in Brand Design.

Where the role is heading:

The next step is a management role in Brand Design. This requires a self-developed and internally supported design system, not additional years of professional experience. From there, two paths lead further: the specialist career path with design depth and multiplier effect, or the management career path with your own team.

What You Bring

Experience & Track Record

• You have studied Communication Design, Graphic Design, Media Design, or a related field — or have completed a design apprenticeship.

• You have a portfolio that shows a distinct style. We look at the work, not the grade.

• You have already designed for a real client whose requirements you did not set yourself.

• Profiles that do not fit the above criteria but possess design substance are explicitly invited — we evaluate based on contribution, not label. Specifically: self-taught individuals with a convincing portfolio without formal training; people from architecture or interior design with a strong sense of systematic thinking; career changers from the printing trade with a feel for typography. The stated range refers to the primary profile. Those with a different background will start at a different market price and converge to the role level after twelve months of proven performance — the logic behind this is outlined in our remuneration principles.

Skills & Work Style

• You are proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud applications and Figma and work cleanly with layers, components, and systems.

• You master typography. In an industry full of text, this is the most important single skill in this role.

• You use AI as a natural tool — draft variations, image editing, masking, speeding up routine work. The design decision remains with you.

• You think in systems, not in individual pieces. A good motif is nice, a good template is valuable.

Mindset & Personality

• You have taste and recognize when something is right without having to state the rule for it.

• You can tolerate technically excellent people without a design background commenting on your work — and you distinguish between good and bad objections.

• You pay attention to details down to the last millimeter without losing sight of the deadline.

• You strive to set the highest standard in everything you deliver — not because someone is checking, but because mediocrity personally bothers you.

What You Won't Find With Us

• No agency setup with twelve clients in parallel. You work on one brand, for years, in depth.

• No pure execution job according to a finished manual. You develop the system yourself, instead of implementing requirements.

• No glossy agency workflow. We iterate in short cycles and tweak the details ourselves — even the day before an event.

• No corporate corset where you wait for promotions. Growth here comes from contribution, not years of service.

• No environment without contradiction. Your designs will be discussed, including by people without a design background. You need arguments, not just taste.

FAQ

1. What is Vogel — and where do you work?

Vogel is one of Germany's leading consulting firms for medium-sized businesses — a family company since 1959, based in Aalen — and is building the leading consulting platform for the Mittelstand. We are growing at several locations: in Aalen/Ostwürttemberg as our established headquarters and in Munich as our new hub. At both locations, we are looking for people across all functions — from tax consulting to advisory and the strategic teams building the platform.

2. How should the salary bands be understood?

Intentionally broad — and specified at every point. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on degree: scarce, highly sought-after profiles at the upper end, less scarce ones at the lower end. We calibrate exclusively on the market — two people with similar experience can earn differently with us.

3. How much — and how — do people work at Vogel?

We measure by what you achieve, not by hours. But it's also true: if you're looking for 9-to-5, we're not the first choice. We're looking for people who work intensely out of their own drive because the tasks are worth it. How you manage your time is largely up to you. What we share: We work together in person — culture, sparring, and the best ideas emerge from daily proximity. We are not a remote company and do not have extensive home office policies; individual remote days are not a problem.

4. How does the application process work?

Lean, fast, transparent — and tiered by profile. For entry-level roles (internship, working student, entry-level professional), usually two interviews and a short work sample are sufficient; experienced roles are a bit more extensive. For selected senior roles, we are exploring incorporating a joint workday in the future so that both sides can get to know each other better. Always applies: scheduled appointments, swift decision, substantial feedback — regardless of the outcome.

5. How does variable compensation work?

Tied to performance quarterly, evaluated qualitatively. The scale increases with level: up to 20% Associate, 27.5% Manager, 35% Senior Manager, 42.5% Director, 50% VP. The expected value with good performance — you meet the requirements, set your own accents, pass the keeper test — is around 50% of the maximum; the maximum bonus is not the norm. The focus is on a holistic assessment by your manager: ownership, quality, learning curve, collaboration, impact.

6. How do I develop myself — what career paths are there?

Two active paths: Mastery (technical depth, expert career) and Pioneer (leadership, management). You choose the direction after onboarding, usually in years 1–3. Entry-level professional is not a special track, but the early part of the same journey — from working student or intern to Associate, for the best without a new application process.

7. Team, culture, vacation?

A shared lunch is an open daily offering — not mandatory; whoever wants to can join, everyone can eat at any time. In addition, dinners, social events, and offsites at regular intervals — not as a mandatory program, but because a good team also shares time outside of work. Benefits: well-thought-out and substantial, not symbolic. Vacation: 28 days.

8. I know someone — is there a referral bonus?

Yes — €2,500 for every successfully filled position (no internships). A brief context is enough: who you have in mind, for which role, why. Doesn't have to be perfect, but should be substantial.

Compensation: €57.6K – €72K • Fixed: €48k – €60k · Bonus: €9.6k – €12k · EV: €54.72k – €68.4k

• • €57.6K – €72K • Fixed: €48k – €60k · Bonus: €9.6k – €12k · EV: €54.72k – €68.4k

Find more English Speaking Jobs in Germany on Arbeitnow