Your Role

Vogel is building the leading consulting platform for the German medium-sized businesses — through the consolidation of a fragmented market and the simultaneous transformation of underlying structures. Several thousand medium-sized companies trust us. People Operations at Vogel is deliberately not a standalone HR unit. People Development lies with the managers, culture with the management. You are the operational interface that ensures the platform remains administratively viable with every acquisition and every hire — from onboarding to payroll to compensation transparency.

You bring two to four years of professional experience as a People Operations Manager, HR Operations Manager, or Senior HR Generalist at a tech scale-up, a professional services firm, or a service brand close to medium-sized businesses. You have learned there that People Operations is primarily an operations job — clean processes, precise data, reliable contracts, correct payroll — and not a strategy HR BP track. You are switching because your current setup has slid into the HR generalist mode and your craft has become superficial.

You will be responsible for the operational people layer of the Vogel Group — onboarding, contract workflow, Personio maintenance, Ashby integration, payroll interface, compensation implementation, salary transparency documentation, legal compliance. You report directly to Moritz Vogel, as the People Operations function is being newly built here, and work closely with Manager Operations & Automation and Manager Finance & Accounting on a scalable People Operations architecture. The natural development leads to a Senior People Ops role within 24 to 36 months, with responsibility for the entire People Operations function across all locations.

Your Responsibility

Onboarding, Contract Workflow, and Personio Maintenance

• Be responsible for the end-to-end onboarding process from the signed contract to productive day one — contract documents, IT setup triggers, welcome materials, first weeks.

• Maintain Personio as the central data system — master data, contracts, absences, organizational assignments — cleanly and auditable.

• Manage our recruiting process in Ashby and work on automations that scale our growth.

• Keep People workflows automated and scalable — repetitive tasks belong in tools, not in additional staffing needs.

Payroll, Compensation, and Compliance

• Be responsible for the group's payroll interface — clean data transfer for payroll accounting, monthly run checks, correction mechanisms in case of deviations, data consistency between Personio, contracts, and payroll system. Particularly sensitive at Vogel: payroll accounting is part of our client business, so our own payroll process must run exemplarily.

• Operatively implement the Vogel compensation band logic — contract components, adjustment logics, annual reviews.

• Maintain the salary transparency documentation in an auditable manner and ensure that we can always meet the legal obligation for salary transparency cleanly.

• Keep the group's people compliance clean — labor law hygiene, social security law issues, payroll tax interfaces — in close coordination with Finance and external legal counsel.

Integration after Acquisitions and People Operations Architecture

• Be responsible for the personnel administrative integration of acquired entities — contract harmonization, Personio migration, compensation adjustment, payroll takeover, compliance review.

• Develop a People Operations architecture that scales with every acquisition without the function having to grow linearly — automated workflows, documented processes, clear ownership.

• Work with Manager Operations & Automation on tools and interfaces that productively connect People data with other data flows — Personio, payroll system, DATEV client payroll, reporting layer.

Your Perspectives

What you will have delivered after 6 months:

• Onboarding runs structured from the signed contract to day one, Personio is cleanly maintained, payroll interface runs error-free.

• You have completed at least one personnel administrative acquisition integration — contract harmonization, Personio migration, compensation adjustment, payroll takeover.

• You have put initial automation steps in the People Operations layer into productive use.

What you will have delivered after 12 months:

• You have completed at least three personnel administrative acquisition integrations.

• The People Operations workflows are documented and automated — new locations and hires become productive faster.

• You are visibly working with management on compensation band logic, performance cycles, and people compliance.

What you will have delivered after 24 months:

• The People Operations layer of the Vogel Group supports growth — hires, acquisitions, locations are administratively integrated without the function growing linearly.

• You will take on initial functional sparring tasks for junior People Ops profiles.

• You are a concrete candidate for the Senior People Ops level.

Where the position is developing:

The next step is Senior People Operations Manager — responsibility for the entire People Operations function across all locations. Beyond the senior level, the Lead/Director path opens up along our career framework.

What You Bring

Experience & Track Record

• Ideally, you have two to four years of experience as a People Operations Manager, HR Operations Manager, or Senior HR Generalist at a tech scale-up (Personio, Pleo, Celonis, Forto, comparable brands), a professional services firm, or a service brand close to medium-sized businesses.

• You have operationally managed Personio (or a comparable HRIS) and know the typical problems in detail.

• You know Ashby or are motivated to learn it independently.

• You have accompanied at least one contract, payroll, or compensation migration in a growing or acquiring organization.

• Profiles that do not fit the above description but bring substantial operational depth are explicitly invited — we evaluate based on contribution, not label. Specifically: Operations profiles from vertical SaaS with People Ops build-up experience; former tax assistants with payroll depth and a move into People Ops; legal profiles (LL.M. Labor Law) with operational hands-on experience and a move from a law firm to an in-house function.

Skills & Work Style

• You work analytically and structured — a contract or payroll harmonization across multiple companies is a process, not guesswork.

• You master Personio (or a comparable HRIS) at a level beyond standard clicks — workflows, reports, interfaces to payroll.

• You handle payroll, salary calculations, social security, and payroll tax issues cleanly — not with legal depth, but with operational security. You know the difference between gross-net logic, lump-sum mechanics, and payroll tax declarations.

• You use AI as a natural tool for research, drafting, documentation, and workflow automation.

• You communicate compliance, contract, and payroll questions in a way that management and employees can understand and act upon them.

Mindset & Personality

• You understand People Operations as Operations — clean data, clear processes, reliable compliance, correct payroll — and not as a coaching or strategy HR role.

• You have a natural aversion to inaccuracy — reliable contract or compensation decisions cannot be made based on unreliable personnel data or incorrect payroll.

• You want to build processes that scale with acquisitions — not manage an HR function that grows linearly with every acquisition.

• You aim 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 classic HR role in a personnel department. We deliberately have no People Unit. You are the operational interface, not a strategy HR BP.

• No People Development mandate. Employee development lies with the managers, culture with the management — you build the operational infrastructure underneath.

• No playground of topics. You work on processes that need to deliver results in the next twelve months — not on concepts that are intellectually beautiful but operationally without consequence.

• No partner company 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 consultancies for medium-sized businesses — a family company since 1959, from Aalen — and is building the leading consulting platform for medium-sized businesses from it. We are growing at several locations: in Aalen/Ostwürttemberg as our established headquarters and in Munich as a new hub. At both locations, we are looking for people across all functions — from tax consulting and advisory services to the strategic teams that build the platform.

2. How are the salary bands to be understood?

Deliberately broad — and indicated at every point. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on degrees: 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 what you achieve, not hours. But it's also honest: if you're looking for 9-to-5, you're not in the right place with us. We are looking for people who work intensely out of their own initiative because the tasks are worth it. How you manage 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 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 staggered by profile. For entry-level roles (internship, working student, career entry), usually two interviews and a short work sample are sufficient; experienced roles are a bit more extensive. For selected senior roles, we are testing the introduction of a joint workday 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?

Tied 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 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 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 shared lunch is an open daily offer — 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 each successfully filled position (no internships). Short context is sufficient: who you have in mind, for which role, why. It doesn't have to be perfect, but substantial.

Compensation: €95,625 – €114,750 • Fixed: €75k - €90k · Bonus: €20,625k - €24,75k · EV: €87,75k - €105,3k

• • OTE €95,625 – €114,750 • Fixed: €75k - €90k · Bonus: €20,625k - €24,75k · EV: €87,75k - €105,3k

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