Your Role

The consulting industry in Germany looks the same everywhere. Same imagery, same stock photos, same shades of blue, same language. Brand is practically unoccupied in this market.

Vogel is one of the most successful medium-sized consulting firms in Germany — several thousand medium-sized companies entrust us with their tax, commercial, and strategic matters. Established clients, long experience, strong growth basis. From this, we are building the consulting firm for the German Mittelstand, and we are building it fast. This market is not won by whoever writes the better specialist paper, but by whoever is permanently present as a brand and leads the market — among entrepreneurs just as much as among the people we want to win over. This is precisely the brand we are building: iconic, unmistakable, and it doesn't exist in this industry yet. Design is therefore not a department at the end of the chain: what we build is conceived from a design perspective.

You are a graphic designer with an exceptional visual flair and a portfolio that speaks for itself. You come from an agency, your own studio, or from a brand with a strong visual system. You are making a change because you were only responsible for a part of the process there — a campaign, a relaunch, a series within the system — and never had full responsibility for the brand as a whole, including the experience behind it. This is exactly what you want: full visual responsibility, with a client who doesn't take away your judgment. At Vogel, you will find both: structures that support you, and a setup that moves forward every day. No corporate corset. No build-up promise without substance.

You will be responsible for the entire visual system of Vogel and other brands that will emerge alongside it — print, digital, space, motion graphics, experience. You will implement it yourself and bring in partners where capacity or specialization requires it. You will report directly to management. The role is based in Munich, on-site. The natural development will lead to the professional leadership of the Design and Brand department within 24 to 36 months.

Your Responsibility

Visual System and Brand Management

• You are responsible for Vogel's design system — typography, color, imagery, layout principles, components — and you develop it further, rather than just managing it.

• You translate the system into content: social media, publications, white papers, presentations, recruiting materials. The system is only complete when others in the company can work with it without asking you.

• You will set up the visual systems for other brands that are created at Vogel.

• Your benchmark: If you see three of our touchpoints side-by-side, you recognize them as Vogel without a logo.

Design Across All Media

• Print: Publications, business stationery, client communication, campaign motifs — from the initial sketch to print approval, in your hands.

• Web Design: You will further develop vogel-beratung.com and its associated pages, in direct exchange with our web developer. Furthermore, you will be responsible for the web design for all locations and companies of the Vogel Group.

• Event Design and Spatial Design: Locations, stages, own event formats, trade fair appearances. You design how Vogel feels when you are in the space.

• Experience Design: You conceptualize the journey of clients and applicants as a designed sequence, not as a collection of individual assets.

Creative Control, Partners, and Juniors

• You manage agencies, creative partners, photographers, and freelancers — briefing, selection, quality assessment, approval. Capacity is supplied, but the creative touch remains yours.

• You manage motion design from concept to acceptance and ensure that motion graphics come from the same system as everything else.

• You will professionally mentor our design interns and junior professionals, provide feedback on their craft, and build your own team in the long term.

• You work in an environment that is hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication, and autonomous in execution. Performance is celebrated, not hidden — those who want to advance because they are good will find the space here, without political camouflage and without consensus theater.

Your Perspectives

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

• You will have expanded the visual system — typography, color, imagery, and components will have visibly developed, not just been inventoried.

• You will have revised vogel-beratung.com, the new pages will be live.

• You will be the central point of contact for all design topics within the company — inquiries will come to you, rather than landing with external parties.

• You will deliver consistent output of assets across all channels, without topics being left behind.

• The brand will begin to bear your signature.

What you will have delivered after 12 months:

• The design system will be set up in Figma so that content, growth, and recruiting teams can produce cleanly from it without you.

• Daily assets from consulting work — presentations, slides, client documents — will be automatically generated by AI based on your design system. The success of this depends on clean documentation and a robust technical setup: both are your responsibility.

• The design system and assets for all sub-brands of the Vogel Group will have been expanded and applied — each brand will have its own visual foundation, clearly stemming from the same logic.

• Your partner setup will be in place: selected agencies and creative partners, clear briefing standards, quality judgment residing with you.

• Motion design will run as its own production stream under your management.

What you will have delivered after 24 months:

• Vogel will be visually unmistakable — recognizable in the market without needing a logo.

• You will be able to set up a new brand visually in weeks, not months — the system will support this without you building every asset yourself.

• You will have hired at least one junior designer, onboarded them, and brought them to a level where they can handle their own projects.

Where the position is developing:

The next step is the professional leadership of Design and Brand across all brands (IC career) — this requires a visual system that works without you, not just additional years of experience. If you want to build and lead the team, the management career path will also open up. We know of no automatic progression of "more experience equals higher level."

What You Bring

Experience & Track Record

• You have a portfolio of the highest quality — graphic design, typography, branding systems, visual storytelling. The portfolio decides, not the CV.

• You have produced in a professional setup: an agency with a design or branding focus, your own studio, or in-house at a brand with a strong visual system. Years of experience are an indicator for us, not a criterion — we decide based on work and execution ability.

• You have studied communication design, graphic design, visual communication, or a comparable field — or you have taught yourself the craft and can prove it with work that replaces a degree.

• Profiles that do not fit the above criteria but possess visual judgment and depth of execution are explicitly invited — we evaluate based on contribution, not label. Specifically: designers from a small studio without big names, whose work is better than what large agencies deliver; art directors from a field far from B2B — fashion, culture, gastronomy, music — with systemic thinking; architects or stage designers with a pronounced feel for typography and space; self-taught individuals with their own magazine, label, or project that has visual impact. The stated range is for the primary profile. Those with a different background will start at a different market price and converge to the role's level after twelve months of proven performance — the logic behind this is in our compensation principles.

Skills & Work Style

• You master the Adobe Creative Cloud at a production level — InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop — and Figma as a system tool.

• You can hand over web design in a way that is implementable. A basic understanding of HTML and CSS is helpful, but not a prerequisite.

• You have motion fundamentals — enough to brief, manage, and evaluate results. More is welcome.

• You work with AI as a natural tool — image generation, variant exploration, retouching, quick testing of layout directions. You conceptualize a design system in such a way that an AI can reliably produce from it. Repetitive tasks are a challenge for automation, not a fate.

• You produce in short cycles and show unfinished work early. You don't need long coordination loops and presentation choreography.

Mindset & Personality

• You have taste and recognize when something is good without anyone giving you criteria — and you can still justify your decision, rather than hiding behind taste.

• You hold a design position when you are convinced, and you drop it when the counterargument is better.

• You want to work with people who understand design and don't need to be convinced that it matters. Feedback sessions here are about the substance, not about taste politics.

• You have the ambition 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 job where you hand over design to agencies and review reports. You produce yourself. Partners are brought in where capacity or specialization is lacking — not instead of your creative touch.

• No glossy agency workflow. We iterate in short cycles, decide on the screen, and tweak the details ourselves. Those who need lead time, coordination cascades, and presentation rituals will be working against the rhythm here.

• No greenfield design in an empty room. Vogel has an existing corporate identity, ongoing client communication, and a website that is productive. What you build must function alongside ongoing operations.

• No marketing corset where you wait for promotions. Growth here comes from contribution, not from years of service — and not from how many people report to you.

• No exit into a 40-hour week and no remote-first setup. The intensity remains high, directed differently, and with significantly more ownership. This role requires presence in Munich — design happens here in the room with others.

FAQ

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

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

2. How should the salary bands be understood?

Intentionally broad — and specified at each point. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on qualifications: 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 you work at Vogel?

We measure by what you achieve, not by hours. However, it's also true: those looking for 9-to-5 are not our first choice. We are looking for people who work intensively out of their own initiative because the tasks are worthwhile. How you distribute your time is largely up to you. What we share: we work together in person — culture, sparring, and the best ideas arise 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 according to profile. For entry-level roles (internship, working student, career start), two interviews and a short work sample are usually sufficient; experienced roles are a bit more extensive. For selected senior roles, we are exploring the possibility of incorporating a joint working day to allow both sides to get to know each other better. The rule is always: scheduled appointments, swift decisions, substantial feedback — regardless of the outcome.

5. How does variable compensation work?

Tied to performance quarterly, assessed qualitatively. The scale increases with the level: up to 20% Associate, 27.5% Manager, 35% Senior Manager, 42.5% Director, 50% VP. The expected value for 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 — what are the career paths?

Two active paths: Mastery (professional depth, expert career) and Pioneer (leadership, management). You choose the direction after onboarding, usually in years 1-3. Entry-level positions are not a separate 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 offer — not mandatory; whoever wants to join, can, and everyone can eat anytime. In addition, dinners, social events, and offsites are held regularly — 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 each successfully filled position (no internships). A brief context is enough: who you are thinking of, for which role, why. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it should be substantial.

Compensation: €79.5K – €102K • Fix: €62k – €80k · Bonus: €17.05k – €22k · EV: €72.54k – €93.6k

• • OTE €79.5K – €102K • Fix: €62k – €80k · Bonus: €17.05k – €22k · EV: €72.54k – €93.6k

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