Your Role

Tax advisory services are facing their biggest upheaval in decades—succession wave, consolidation, technological disruption. Most new entrants read about this in case studies. Here, you'll be at the table where decisions are made.

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 issues. Established clients, long experience, strong growth basis. On this foundation, we are building the leading consulting platform for the German mid-market: organically and through acquisitions, with a unified setup into which every new unit is integrated. Vogel is owner-managed—Joachim and Moritz Vogel make the decisions themselves, and you will work directly on their matters.

You have completed your studies with a discernible focus or are about to. Whether in business, industrial engineering, law, natural sciences, or something else is secondary. What matters is that you have stood out. You don't want a trainee program with fixed stations, nor an entry into an intermediate layer where you prepare material for the level above you. You want to know how decisions are actually made: with incomplete data, under time pressure, among people with differing opinions. This is exactly where you will work, from the first month.

The role has two entry points. As an internship for three to six months during studies / Gap Year—or directly as a full-time entry-level position. The scope is the same in both cases; the difference lies in the horizon: in the internship, you are responsible for one to two own projects, and in the entry-level position, for your own area of responsibility. Those who deliver during the internship will receive an offer for an entry-level position—this is the explicit purpose of this path.

You will report directly to the management and work across all departments—tax advisory, corporate development, operations, finance. The natural progression leads to a role with development responsibility for a complete business unit within 24 to 36 months.

Your Responsibility

Analysis and Decision Proposals

• Take an open question from management, structure it, and provide an answer on two pages—with your own assessment, not just a compilation of material. Your benchmark: whoever reads the proposal must be able to make a decision afterward.

• Build analyses from our data—location results, client structures, utilization rates, growth drivers. You will gather the data yourself and document your assumptions.

• Verify assumptions that are taken for granted within the company. Part of this work consists of factually stating that something is no longer correct.

Own Projects from Question to Result

• Take ownership of your own projects from start to finish and present the results yourself—to management, not through an intermediate level.

• Work on ongoing projects across the company: integration of an acquired location, development of a new consulting field, introduction of a tool across all locations.

• Document in such a way that someone can continue working after you. What exists only in your head has not been delivered.

Internal Steering, Culture, and Company Building

• Contribute to the formats used to steer the company—reporting lines, key performance indicators, decision proposals, internal communication. What you build once will then be implemented at every location.

• Take responsibility for the occasions where our culture becomes concrete—Town Hall, Summer Party, Christmas Party, Off-sites, Location Meetings. You decide what an occasion should convey and how it proceeds; in implementation, you work with colleagues from Growth who handle the event routines. Culture is not created in a mission statement, but in interaction.

• Participate in recruiting: screening, personal assessment of candidates, contribution to formats for the application process.

• Contribute your own observations. We are hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication—whoever sees something says it, regardless of how long they have been here.

Your Perspectives

What you will have delivered after 3 months:

• You will have been responsible for and presented two of your own projects from the initial question to the result.

• You will have written several decision proposals that have led to actual decisions.

• You will know the locations, the numbers, and the people—not from documents, but because you were on-site.

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

• You will be responsible for your own defined area, where management no longer needs to follow up.

• Department heads will approach you directly when they need an analysis—without going through management.

• You will have been responsible for at least one internal event or taken responsibility for a recurring internal format.

• You will have successfully proposed and implemented at least one of your own ideas, overcoming initial resistance.

What you will have delivered after 12 months:

• You will have built in-depth expertise in an area where you are the go-to person internally.

• You will be mentoring interns and new entrants, and making professional assessments of them.

Where the role is developing:

Both a specialist career path and a management career path are open—the decision is based on your strengths, not on a predefined ladder. What you receive is determined by your contribution; years of service alone do not advance you here.

What You Bring

Experience & Track Record

• You have completed a very good degree or are in an advanced Bachelor's or Master's program—Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Law, Natural Sciences, or a field in which you have demonstrably excelled.

• You have gained initial practical experience in a demanding environment—consulting, investment banking, private equity, scale-up, a founders' office, or your own startup.

• You have verifiable proof that you are better than average in your field: above-average grades, a publication, an initiative you shaped, a personal project.

• You speak and write German and English at a level suitable for client and investor materials.

• Profiles that do not fit the above criteria but possess sharp thinking and execution capabilities are explicitly invited—we evaluate based on contribution, not label. The stated range is not a negotiation leeway but a profile scale: the lower end signifies direct entry after graduation; those who can independently handle the standard tasks of this area start in the upper third. Those with a different background 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 compensation principles.

Skills & Work Style

• You write clearly and concisely. Two good pages are more valuable to us than twenty complete ones.

• You use AI as an integral tool—for research, analysis, drafting, pattern recognition in operational data. Repetitive tasks are a challenge for you to automate, not a destiny.

• With an openly formulated task, you make your assumptions explicit, choose a direction, and adjust along the way. Those who stand still without instructions will have a hard time here.

• You work on multiple topics in parallel without letting any fall by the wayside—and communicate early if one is at risk.

Mindset & Personality

• You can handle direct reporting to management—rapid iteration, high autonomy, and tasks that might not be glamorous on a resume.

• You accept criticism as material for your development, not as a personal attack.

• You have the humility to learn from practitioners. A tax advisor with 20 years of experience knows things about her clients that are not captured in any model.

• 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 corporate strategy department that produces slides for others. What you write goes into a decision that will be made this week—not into material for the next department head.

• No strategic ivory tower. You work as a problem solver, not a concept producer. A recommendation without immediate implementation responsibility is not considered a delivery here.

• No purely analytical work. The tasks of management also include occasions where the company comes together. We believe that culture is the crucial difference between mediocre and outstanding companies. In this role, you will contribute to building this culture.

• No trainee program with fixed stations. You will be given areas of responsibility, not a rotation plan—and with that, the consequences of your decisions.

• No "you'll get to work independently someday." From day one: you do, you own, you will be corrected if necessary—but you will not wait.

• No corporate corset where you wait for promotions. Growth here is driven by contribution, not by years of service.

FAQ

1. What is Vogel – and where do you operate?

Vogel is one of Germany's leading mid-market consulting firms—since 1959, owner-managed in the second generation, with its own capital—and is building the leading consulting platform for the mid-market from this foundation. We operate at three locations: Aalen as the established headquarters, Bopfingen in the core business, and Munich as a new hub. At all three locations, we are seeking candidates across all functions—from tax advisory and consulting to the teams that build the underlying foundation.

Consciously broad—and indicated at every point before you apply. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not by degree: scarce, highly sought-after profiles at the upper end, less scarce ones at the lower end. The stated range is not a negotiation leeway but a profile scale—two individuals with similar experience can earn differently with us. What determines the upper end is the level of maturity, not the number of years of service or negotiation skills.

We measure by what you achieve, not by hours. However, it's also true: those looking for 9-to-5 are not our primary focus. We seek individuals who work intensely out of their own drive because the tasks are worthwhile. How you manage your time is largely up to you. What we share: we work together in person and typically see each other in the office daily—culture, sparring, and the best ideas emerge from daily proximity. We are not a remote company and do not have extensive home office policies; occasional remote days are not a problem.

Lean, fast, transparent—and staggered by profile. Typically, there are four steps: a written assignment where you take a position on eight questions—AI is explicitly allowed, we only ask for a brief self-disclosure about its use; a 30-minute conversation; a joint working session on a real problem from our daily work; and an on-site meeting with the team, including a shared meal. The number of steps may vary depending on the role: for internships and working student positions, the on-site meeting is omitted; for student jobs, a conversation is sufficient; for senior roles, a joint work afternoon is added. Before applying, you can book a ten-minute call where you only ask questions. Typically, you will hear from us within 48 hours after each step.

Tied to performance quarterly, assessed qualitatively. The scale increases with 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 priorities, 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 supervisor based on six criteria: Impact, Judgment, Communication, Execution, Growth, and Values.

Two active paths: the IC career (technical depth, expert career) through the stages of Expert, Senior, Lead, and Principal—and the management career (leadership, personnel responsibility) through Manager, Senior Manager, Director, and VP. Both are compensated equally, and neither necessarily leads upwards: those who remain at a certain level and deepen their expertise there are just as welcome with us. You choose your 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 performers without a new application process.

The communal lunch is the daily anchor point—those who are in the office eat together; it's an expectation, not a control. Dinner is the same offer without any expectation. Both are free of charge. In addition, there are social events and off-sites at regular intervals—not as a mandatory program, but because a good team also shares time outside of work.

Benefits with us are not just extras but what makes intensity sustainable over years: exam support with a €25,000 qualification budget and three months of leave, 100% coverage of childcare costs, EGYM Wellpass, company pension scheme, job ticket with a 90% subsidy, home office equipment and a device of your choice from our catalog, one book per month from the Vogel canon—and AI tools without token limits and budget caps. Vacation: 28 days.

Compensation: €55K – €66K • €11K – €13.2K Bonus • Multiple Ranges

• Entry Level • Base Salary €55K – €66K • €11K – €13.2K Bonus
• Internship • OTE €2K – €4K per month • Internship duration: minimum 3 months, ideally 6 months. During Bachelor's degree: monthly salary, gross: €2,000 / month. After Bachelor's degree / During Master's degree: monthly salary, gross: €3,000 / month. After Master's degree: monthly salary, gross: €4,000 / month.