Your Role

A consulting firm that focuses on AI and automation is only as good as the infrastructure beneath it — and in most companies in our industry, this infrastructure has grown over years, never been built.

Vogel is one of the most successful medium-sized consulting firms in Germany — several thousand medium-sized companies entrust us with their tax, financial, and strategic matters. We are expanding this model into a nationwide consulting company that makes AI and automation its core. For this to be sustainable, it requires a deliberately built system landscape — secure, automated, scalable. You will be responsible for this technical foundation.

You come from Cloud and Infrastructure Engineering, Azure-centric, and think of IT Administration as a product, not a ticket queue. You are looking for a change because pure operation and keeping servers running have become too limiting for you, and you want to take responsibility for the technical architecture of a growing company yourself — with structures that are robust and a setup that moves forward every day.

You will be responsible for Vogel's entire system and IT infrastructure — from Identity and M365, through the DATEV landscape, to cloud architecture, security, and deployment. You will report to the Head of Operations and work closely with Automation & AI, which builds on your foundation. The natural progression leads to the technical and disciplinary leadership of a growing Tech Operations department.

Your Responsibility

Infrastructure Architecture and Deployment

• You are responsible for the entire system landscape — Identity, M365, End-User Device Management, Network, the DATEV infrastructure, and the Azure cloud environment.

• You will build deployment and administration processes so that new employees, new locations, and new mandates can go online without manual special runs. Your benchmark: Every system must function with double the number of employees without requiring double the manual effort.

• You will make the architectural decisions on which everything else is based — as a conscious decision, not a historically grown compromise.

Security, Automation, and AI Foundation

• You are responsible for information security and data protection at the infrastructure level — as a tax consulting firm, we handle client data with the highest confidentiality.

• You will automate provisioning, configuration, and routine administration using Infrastructure-as-Code instead of click-based work.

• You will lay the technical foundation on which our AI and automation initiatives run — secure data access, computing environments, interfaces.

Tech Operations Team and Location Integration

• You will lead the Tech Operations team technically and disciplinarily and continue to build it along with our growth — hiring, training, standards.

• For every acquisition, you will be responsible for the IT cutover of the new location — cleanly integrating systems, identities, and data into our landscape.

• You will work in an environment that is hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication, and autonomous in execution — performance is celebrated, not hidden.

Your Perspectives

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

• You have fully grasped the existing infrastructure and resolved critical risks in security, availability, and maintainability.

• You have automated the onboarding of new employees — a new colleague is fully operational on their first day, without manual special runs.

• You have defined a clear target architecture state for the cloud and identity landscape and implemented the first steps.

What you will have delivered after 12 months:

• The core systems are automatically deployed and monitored — routine administration is largely code, not manual labor.

• You have provided and are operating the infrastructure foundation for our AI and automation initiatives securely.

• You have hired and trained the first Tech Operations employees.

What you will have delivered after 24 months:

• You lead a Tech Operations team in ongoing operations and are the escalation endpoint for all infrastructure topics.

• You have been responsible for and successfully completed at least one location cutover as part of an acquisition.

• Your system landscape demonstrably scales with growth without requiring proportionally more personnel.

How the position will evolve:

The next step is to lead a broader Tech Operations area (management career) — this requires that your system landscape demonstrably works and your team delivers independently, not just accumulating additional years of professional experience.

What you bring

Experience & Track Record

• You have built and operated IT infrastructure and systems in a cloud environment — Azure-centric, with Identity (Entra/AD), M365, and End-User Device Management.

• You have automated infrastructure — Infrastructure-as-Code, scripting, provisioning pipelines — and not just administered manually.

• You have been responsible for information security at the infrastructure level and understand what confidentiality means in a regulated environment.

• Profiles that do not fit the above categories but bring demonstrable infrastructure depth and a build-rather-than-operate track record are explicitly invited — we evaluate based on contribution, not labels. The advertised range calibrates to 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 detailed in our compensation principles.

Skills & Working Style

• You master cloud architecture and operation at a level that goes beyond configuration — you design systems that others can use.

• You use AI as a natural tool — for automation, diagnosis, scripting, and multiplying your own output frequency. Repetitive administration is a trigger for automation for you, not a fate.

• You communicate technical matters clearly to non-technical people — management, departments, new locations.

Mindset & Personality

• You think of infrastructure as a product with users, not as a back office that only gets noticed when something is broken.

• You want to think beyond the status quo of your industry — you see AI and automation as levers, not as threats.

• You strive 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 here

• No classic system administrator job that handles tickets and keeps servers running. We are looking for someone who builds and automates systems, not just operates them.

• No dusty industry standard with tech from 2010. Anyone who sees DATEV standard plus Excel as the maximum and fears the implications of AI is not right for us.

• No greenfield platform build in an empty space. Vogel has over 100 employees, DATEV is running, clients expect service. What you build must function alongside ongoing operations.

• No corporate IT straitjacket where you wait for approvals and promotions. You make architectural decisions yourself and stand by them.

• No winding down into a 45-hour week. The intensity remains high — directed differently, with significantly more ownership, but not less.

FAQ

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

Vogel is one of Germany's leading medium-sized consultancies — a family business since 1959, based in Aalen — and is building it into the leading consulting platform for the medium-sized sector. We are growing across several locations: in Aalen/Ostwürttemberg as our established headquarters and in Munich as a new hub. At both locations, we are hiring across all functions — from tax consulting and advisory to the strategic teams building the platform.

2. How should the salary bands be understood?

Deliberately broad — and specified at each level. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on 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 a 9-to-5 are not our first choice. We are looking for people who work intensely on 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 emerge through 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. For entry-level roles (internship, working student, career entry), two interviews and a short work sample are usually sufficient; experienced roles are slightly more extensive. For selected senior roles, we are exploring incorporating a joint workday in the future so that both sides can get to know each other better. Always: scheduled appointments, swift decisions, substantial feedback — regardless of the outcome.

5. How does variable compensation work?

Tied to performance quarterly, qualitatively assessed. The scale increases with level: up to 20% Associate, 27.5% Manager, 35% Senior Manager, 42.5% Director, 50% VP. The expected value with 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 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 can join, 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 brief context is sufficient: whom you are thinking of, for which role, why. It doesn't have to be perfect, but substantial.

Compensation: €114,750 – €146,625 • Fixed: €90k - €115k · Bonus: €24.75k - €31.625k · EV: €105.3k - €134.55k

• • OTE €114,750 – €146,625 • Fixed: €90k - €115k · Bonus: €24.75k - €31.625k · EV: €105.3k - €134.55k

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