Your Role

The tax consulting industry is facing its biggest upheaval in decades: succession wave, consolidation, technological disruption. Most students read about this in case studies. Here, you'll be at the table where decisions are made.

Vogel advises several thousand medium-sized companies on tax, commercial, and strategic matters. Based on this, we are building a consulting platform for the German Mittelstand, organically and through acquisitions, with a common setup into which every new entity is integrated. Vogel is owner-managed, and you will work directly on the management's tasks.

You are in an advanced Bachelor's or Master's program, or in a Gap Year. Your field of study is secondary; what's important is that you have excelled. You don't want a trainee program with fixed rotations, but rather to know how decisions are actually made: with incomplete data, under time pressure, between people with different opinions.

The internship lasts three to six months full-time. You will be responsible for one to two of your own projects and work directly with management.

Your Responsibilities

Analysis and Decision Proposals

• You will take an open question from management, structure it, and provide an answer on two pages, with your own assessment. Your standard: Whoever reads the proposal should be able to make a decision afterward.

• You will build analyses from our results per unit, client structures, utilization, growth drivers. You will retrieve the data yourself, documenting your assumptions.

• You will verify assumptions that are considered set within the company and factually determine if something is no longer correct.

Own Projects from Question to Result

• You will take ownership of your own projects from start to finish and present the results yourself to management.

• You will participate in ongoing initiatives across the company: integration of an acquired firm, development of a new consulting field, implementation of a tool across all units.

Internal Steering and Culture

• You will contribute to the formats used to steer the company: reporting lines, key figures, decision proposals, internal communication.

• You will be responsible for events where our culture becomes tangible, from Town Halls to the Summer Party, in collaboration with the Growth team.

• You will be involved in recruiting: screening, your own assessment of candidates, participation in the application process.

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 final result.

• Several of your decision proposals will have led to actual decisions.

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

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

• Department heads will approach you directly when they need an analysis.

Where the position can lead:

In a few months, you will see how a growing company makes decisions and gain a working method that will be valuable in any future role. Those who impress will remain in consideration.

What You Bring

Experience & Track Record

• An advanced Bachelor's or Master's degree with very good grades: Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Law, Natural Sciences, or a field in which you have demonstrably excelled.

• Initial practical experience in a demanding environment is a plus: Consulting, Investment Banking, Private Equity, Scale-up, Founders' Office, or your own startup.

• Profiles that do not fit this mold but possess sharp thinking and execution power are explicitly invited. We evaluate based on contribution, not labels.

Skills & Work Style

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

• You use AI as a natural tool for research, analysis, and drafting. You see repetitive tasks as an opportunity for automation.

• With an openly formulated task, you make your assumptions explicit, choose a direction, and adjust along the way.

Mindset & Personality

• You can handle close collaboration with management: fast iteration, high autonomy, and also tasks that may not look glamorous on a CV.

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

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

What You Won't Find With Us

• No Corporate Strategy Department. What you write goes into a decision that will be made this week.

• No Ivory Tower. A recommendation without responsibility for implementation is not a delivery here.

• No Internship with a Rotation Plan. You will get your own projects and thus the consequences of your decisions.

• No Supporting Role for an Intermediate Level. You will present your results directly to management.

FAQ

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

Vogel is one of Germany's leading consulting firms for medium-sized businesses – since 1959, owner-managed in the second generation, with its own capital – and is building the leading consulting platform for the Mittelstand from this base. We operate at three locations: Aalen as our established headquarters, Bopfingen in the core business, and Munich as our new hub. At all three, we are looking for people across functions – from tax consulting and management consulting to the teams that build the foundation underneath.

2. How are the salary bands to be understood?

Intentionally broad – and indicated at each 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 indicated range is not room for negotiation, but a profile scale – two people with similar experience can earn differently with us. What determines the upper end is maturity, not years of experience, and not negotiation skills.

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

We measure by what you achieve, not by hours. But it's also honest: those looking for 9-to-5 are not our first choice. We seek individuals who work intensively out of their own motivation because the tasks are worthwhile. How you manage your time is largely up to you. What we share: We work together in person and usually 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; individual remote days are not a problem.

4. What is the application process like?

Lean, fast, transparent – and tiered by profile. Typically, there are four steps: a written assignment in which you take a position on eight questions – AI is explicitly allowed, we only ask for a brief self-disclosure about its use; a half-hour conversation; a joint working session on a real problem from our daily work; and an on-site meeting with the team and a shared meal. How many steps there actually are depends 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 afternoon work session is added. In advance, you can book a ten-minute call where you only ask questions. Typically, you will hear back from us within 48 hours after each step.

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 based on six criteria: Impact, Judgement, Communication, Execution, Growth, and Values.

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

Two active paths: the IC (Individual Contributor) career (technical depth, expert path) 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 both do not necessarily lead upwards: someone who stays at a level and continues to deepen their expertise is just as welcome with us. You choose your direction after onboarding, usually in years 1-3. Starting your career is not a special path, but an early part of the same journey – from a working student or intern to an Associate, for the best candidates without a new application process.

7. Team, Culture, Vacation?

The communal lunch is the daily anchor point – those who are in the office eat together; it's expected, not controlled. Dinner is the same offer without any expectation. Both are free of charge. In addition, there are social events and offsites 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 a nice-to-have, but what makes intensity sustainable over years: exam support with a €25,000 qualification budget and three months' leave, 100% coverage of childcare costs, EGYM Wellpass, company pension plan, 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 without budget caps. Vacation: 28 days.

Compensation: €4K per month

• Internship / Intern • €4K per month

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