Your Role

In the next ten years, a significant portion of German consulting firms will change ownership. The succession wave is here, but the buyers are not yet. Whoever buys strategically and integrates cleanly now will determine what this industry looks like in ten years.

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. On this basis, we are building the leading consulting platform for the German Mittelstand: we grow organically and through acquisitions, consolidate a fragmented market, and integrate each new entity into a common setup. We are currently building the Buy-&-Build track ourselves, with which we operate this. You will work on real transactions, not case studies.

You are still studying and are interested in transactions—perhaps because you want to go into Corporate Finance, perhaps because the question of what a company is actually worth appeals to you. You don't want to spend three months maintaining comparables in an investment banking internship, but rather accompany a transaction from initial contact to closing. This role offers you exactly that—with the caveat that you will also do the unglamorous parts because they are part of it.

You will report to the M&A Lead and work closely with management. Those who deliver in this internship will receive an offer for a full-time position in Corporate Development.

Your Responsibility

Target company research and outreach

• Research target companies in the German consulting market and build the database from which our outreach is conducted—size, locations, age structure of owners, specialization.

• Prepare and accompany initial contact. Anyone approaching an owner whose life's work is up for debate needs sensitivity and not a sales routine.

• Keep the pipeline clean. A transaction that fails due to a lost contact is the most expensive avoidable mistake in this business.

Valuation and Due Diligence

• Build valuation models for target companies—normalized earnings, multiples, purchase price bridge.

• Analyze data rooms: annual financial statements, business evaluations, personnel structure, client structure. No reliable decisions are made on unreliable data.

• Prepare decision proposals for management, with a clear personal assessment of opportunities and risks.

Post-Closing Integration

• Support the integration of acquired locations—recording the current state, reconciling processes, handover to our operations.

• Track whether what was assumed in the valuation materializes. The honest comparison between assumption and result is the part that most people skip.

• Document what went well and what went wrong in the transaction. Every transaction should make the next one better.

Your Perspectives

Where the position is heading:

The usual path leads to a full-time position in Corporate Development and from there to the Manager level. Both specialist and management career paths are open. Advancement requires independently managed transaction work, not additional years of experience.

What you bring

Experience & Track Record

• You are in an advanced Bachelor's or Master's program—Economics, Finance, Industrial Engineering, Business Law, or a comparable field.

• You have seriously engaged with valuation, accounting, or corporate finance—during your studies, in an internship, or on your own initiative.

• You have delivered above-average results in any field and can prove it.

• Profiles that do not fit the above criteria but possess analytical substance and numerical understanding are expressly invited—we evaluate based on contribution, not label. Specifically: Tax assistants with ongoing studies who know financial statements from the inside; Mathematics or Physics students with an interest in company valuation; Students who have built or sold their own company on the side. The stated range refers to the primary profile. Those with different backgrounds will start at a different market price—the same logic as for everyone else applies to the transition to permanent employment: compensation follows contribution. This can be read in our compensation principles.

Skills & Working Style

• You master Excel beyond pivot tables—valuation models, scenarios, clean data architecture.

• You read a financial statement and recognize what needs explanation.

• You use AI as a natural tool—research on target companies, evaluation of data room documents, drafting.

• You write in a way that makes a recommendation recognizable. Analyses without conclusions are unfinished work here.

Mindset & Personality

• You have a natural aversion to inaccuracy. A transposed digit in a valuation is not a cosmetic flaw.

• You have respect for entrepreneurship. On the other side of the table sits someone who has invested thirty years into this company.

• You treat confidential information as confidential, without being told to do so.

• 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 investment banking internship with comparable maintenance as the main task. You will accompany transactions end-to-end, from initial contact to post-closing.

• No pure deal work without integration. Those who only think until the signature don't understand Buy & Build. Value is created afterwards.

• No internship where you do support work and wait for tasks. You will take on your own topics and present the results yourself.

• No financial investor model with the intention to sell. We buy to keep and develop. Those who have a holding period of five years in mind are thinking on the wrong timeline here.

FAQ

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

Vogel is one of Germany's leading Mittelstand consultancies—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, we are looking for people across all functions—from tax consulting and advisory to the strategic teams building the platform.

2. How are the salary bands to be understood?

Intentionally broad—and indicated at each point. 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. 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. However, it's also true: those looking for 9-to-5 are not the first choice for us. We are looking for people who work intensively on their own initiative because the tasks are worth it. How you allocate 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 by profile. For entry-level roles (internship, working student, entry-level position), two interviews and a short work sample are usually sufficient; experienced roles are a bit more extensive. For selected senior roles, we are testing the incorporation of a joint working day 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?

Linked to performance quarterly, qualitatively assessed. 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 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 into the profession is not a special path, but the early part of the same track—from working student or intern to Associate, for the best without a new application process.

7. Team, Culture, Vacation?

A communal lunch is an open daily offering—not mandatory; whoever wants to join can, 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 short 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: €24K – €48K • During Bachelor's studies: Monthly remuneration, gross: €2,000 / month Internship duration: optimally 6 months, at least 3 months · After Bachelor's studies / During Master's studies: Monthly remuneration, gross: €3,000 / month Internship duration: optimally 6 months, at least 3 months · After Master's studies: Monthly remuneration, gross: €4,000 / month Internship duration: optimally 6 months, at least 3 months

• • OTE €24K – €48K • During Bachelor's studies: Monthly remuneration, gross: €2,000 / month Internship duration: optimally 6 months, at least 3 months · After Bachelor's studies / During Master's studies: Monthly remuneration, gross: €3,000 / month Internship duration: optimally 6 months, at least 3 months · After Master's studies: Monthly remuneration, gross: €4,000 / month Internship duration: optimally 6 months, at least 3 months

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