Your Role

Vogel is building the leading consulting platform for the German Mittelstand — through the consolidation of a fragmented market and the simultaneous transformation of underlying structures. Several thousand medium-sized companies entrust us with their tax, commercial, and strategic matters. Each acquisition is both: a growing client base and a lever for economies of scale for the platform. You will drive this buy-and-build pipeline operationally — from outreach to closing.

You bring a transaction background from a major firm — deals or transaction advisory at one of the Big Four, as a Senior Manager or as a young auditor with a transaction track record. You think young, enthusiastically use AI as a lever, and thus replace what an analyst team would do elsewhere. Above all, you approach independent entrepreneurs with genuine respect and on an equal footing — those who have built their company over decades bring a life's work that should be met with humility, not a corporate attitude. You are switching because you want to build a buy-and-build engine yourself, rather than just passively supporting deals.

You are responsible for the buy-and-build pipeline as the core of Corporate Development in the CEO Office and report directly to the management. Deliberately lean: no team under you — much of what would classically require manual effort, you leverage with AI. You will conduct initial seller conversations together with the management; ideally, you will increasingly take them over yourself within six to twelve months. You are the mastermind behind the deals — the final decision on terms and closing remains with the management.

Your Responsibility

Origination and Pipeline

• Identify and screen acquisition targets according to our criteria (including hard qualifiers like DATEV) and maintain the buy-and-build pipeline in our CRM.

• Qualify targets against the M&A filter — client base acquisition, expansion of service portfolio, and economies of scale.

• Build relationships with potential sellers — advisory, patient, on equal footing. You will increasingly accompany the conversations, initially together with the management.

Valuation and Financial Due Diligence

• Create indicative valuations (based on the Vogel valuation calculator), the business case, and the data room structure.

• Take responsibility for Financial Due Diligence yourself — you conduct it and present the findings. Finance provides capacity within the tight audit window; the execution and lead are yours. A tax advisory FDD is demanding in terms of pace but manageable in complexity.

Deal Execution and Negotiation

• Manage the LOI and SPA process together with Inhouse Legal, maintain the timeline and closing.

• Increasingly take over structured negotiation. The final decision on terms and closing remains with the management.

Handover to Integration

• Hand over each transaction cleanly to Adoption & Integration — 100-day plan, the synergies promised in the business case, the critical handover points.

• Remain the commercial-strategic link beyond closing, without leading the operational integration itself.

Your Perspectives

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

• You will be conducting initial seller conversations independently — the pipeline is already running and continuously surfacing interesting targets.

• Managed at least one transaction in a leading role.

• Independently presented valuation, Financial Due Diligence, and data room for ongoing processes.

What you will have delivered after 12 months:

• Managed at least three transactions — from outreach through FDD and negotiation to handover to Adoption & Integration.

• The pipeline supports multiple parallel processes without needing a team behind it — AI-leveraged.

• You will be conducting seller conversations predominantly independently.

What you will have delivered after 24 months:

• You will be independently managing buy-and-build execution — management will only get involved where the relationship truly demands it.

• Five to ten completed transactions with demonstrable value contribution.

Where the position is developing:

You are building what Vogel aims for: the leading group for Mittelstand consulting in Germany. The role grows with transaction volume — prospectively into broader responsibility for the group's complete Corporate Development. Beyond cash compensation, there is the potential to participate entrepreneurially in the value created.

What you bring

Experience & Track Record

• You have a transaction background from a major firm — deals, Transaction Advisory, or M&A at one of the Big Four —, as a Senior Manager and/or as an outstanding young auditor with a clear transaction track record.

• You have conducted Financial Due Diligence yourself — not just assisted — and can independently present valuation, data room, and findings.

• You have participated in negotiations and the SPA process and understand how a deal runs from outreach to closing.

• Profiles that do not fit the above description but bring the required substance are expressly invited — we evaluate based on contribution, not label. Specifically: outstanding young auditor or manager with a deals track and a desire to move into entrepreneurial operations; transaction profile from a boutique or corporate M&A with a Mittelstand focus. The advertised range is calibrated to the primary profile — the logic behind it is in our compensation principles.

Skills & Work Style

• You master the craft of valuation and Financial Due Diligence — and leverage with AI what ties up an analyst team elsewhere.

• You work structured under time pressure — an FDD condenses weeks into days, and you maintain quality and pace simultaneously.

• You communicate confidently on two registers — precise and professional in the data room, warm and on equal footing with an owner contemplating the sale of his life's work.

• You work with AI as a natural tool — research, valuation, data room analysis, documentation.

Mindset & Personality

• You have genuine respect for self-employed individuals — you know that an entrepreneur who has built something over decades is often ahead of you in their life's achievement. You handle this with care.

• You think young and enjoy building from scratch — a leanly set-up function appeals to you more than a large apparatus.

• You are comfortable with the dual role of analytical depth and human relationship building.

• 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 will NOT find with us

• No deal assembly line in a pyramid. You do not report to a partner — you own the process from outreach to handover.

• No large apparatus under you. Deliberately lean, AI-leveraged. You build and lead the function, you do not manage a large team.

• Not the final decision on terms and closing. That remains with the management — you prepare it and negotiate.

• No pure advisory role without implementation. You are responsible for real transactions with real consequences, not concepts.

• No partner firm with competing self-interests. We are one company with a one-firm logic — one brand, one culture, one hiring bar.

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 across several locations: in Aalen 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 should the salary bands be understood?

Intentionally broad — and specified at each point. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on completion: scarce, highly sought-after profiles at the upper end, less scarce ones at the lower end. We calibrate exclusively to 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. But it's also true: if you're looking for 9-to-5, you're not in the first place here. We are looking for people who work intensively out of their own drive because the tasks are worth it. How you distribute 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 have no extensive home office policies; occasional 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, career start), usually two interviews and a short work sample are sufficient; experienced roles are a bit more detailed. For selected senior roles, we are testing the inclusion of a joint workday in the future, so both sides get to know each other better. Always applies: scheduled appointments, quick decisions, substantial feedback — regardless of the outcome.

5. How does variable compensation work?

Tied quarterly to performance, 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 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. Career entry is not a special path, but the early part of the same route — 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, joins, everyone can eat anytime. Additionally, 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). Short context is enough: who you're thinking of, for which role, why. It doesn't have to be perfect, but substantial.

Compensation: €149.5K – €188.5K • Fix: €115k – €145k · Bonus: €34.5k – €43.5k · EV: €135.7k – €171.1k

• • OTE €149.5K – €188.5K • Fix: €115k – €145k · Bonus: €34.5k – €43.5k · EV: €135.7k – €171.1k

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