Cloud Infrastructure Lead (m/w/d)

Role Summary

A consulting firm that relies on AI and automation is only as good as the infrastructure underneath it — and in most entities in our industry, that infrastructure has been built over years, never built.

Vogel is one of the most successful medium-sized consulting companies in Germany - several thousand medium-sized companies entrust us with their tax, commercial and strategic issues. We are expanding this model into a Germany-wide consulting company that makes AI and automation the core. For this to work, you need a system landscape that is deliberately built - secure, automated, scalable. You are responsible for this technical basis.

You come from cloud and infrastructure engineering, Azure-centric, and think of IT administration as a product, not a stack of tickets. You are changing because simply operating and keeping servers running has become too much for you and you want to be responsible for the technical architecture of a growing company yourself - with structures that support and at the same time a setup that moves forward every day.

You are responsible for Vogel's entire system and IT infrastructure - from Identity and M365 to the DATEV landscape to cloud architecture, security and deployment. You report to the Head of Operations and work closely with Automation & AI, which is built on your foundation. The natural progression leads to the technical and disciplinary management of a growing tech operations area.

What you delivered after 6 months

• You have fully captured the existing infrastructure and resolved the critical risks in security, availability and maintainability.
• You have automated the provision of new employees - a new colleague is fully operational on the first day, without any manual special runs.
• You have defined a clear architectural target state for the cloud and identity landscape and implemented the first steps.

What you delivered after 12 months

• The core systems are deployed and monitored in an automated manner - routine administration is largely code, not manual work.
• You have deployed and securely operated the infrastructure foundation for our AI and automation initiatives.
• You hired and managed the first tech operations employees.

What you delivered after 24 months

• You lead a tech operations team in ongoing operations and are the escalation endpoint for all infrastructure issues.
• You have been responsible for at least one location cutover as part of an acquisition and completed it properly.
• Your system landscape verifiably scales with growth without tying up proportionately more staff.

Where the position is developing

The next step is to lead a broader tech operations area (management career) — this requires that your systems landscape is demonstrably sustainable and your team delivers independently, not just additional professional years.

Responsibilities

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Infrastructure architecture and deployment

• You are responsible for the entire system landscape - identity, M365, device management, network, the DATEV infrastructure and the cloud environment on Azure.
• You build provision and administration so that new employees, new locations and new mandates go online without manual special runs. Your benchmark: Every system must function with twice the number of employees without requiring twice as much manual work.
• You decide the architectural questions on which everything else is based - as a conscious decision, not as a historically developed compromise.

Security, automation and AI foundation

• You are responsible for information security and data protection at the infrastructure level - as a tax consulting company, we carry client data with the highest level of confidentiality.
• You automate provisioning, configuration and routine administration via infrastructure-as-code instead of click-work.
• You lay the technical foundation on which our AI and automation initiatives run - secure data access, computing environments, interfaces.

Tech operations team and site integration

• You lead the tech operations team professionally and disciplinary and continue to expand it as we grow - hiring, guidance, standards.
• With each acquisition, you are responsible for the IT cutover of the new location - systems, identities and data cleanly transferred to our landscape.
• You work in an environment that is hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication and autonomous in execution - performance is celebrated, not hidden.

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

• Not a classic system administrator job that processes tickets and keeps servers running. We are looking for someone who builds and automates systems, not just operates them.
• Not a dusty industry stand with technology as of 2010. Anyone who sees the DATEV standard plus Excel as the maximum and is afraid of AI implications is not in the right place here.
• No greenfield platform building in an empty room. Vogel has over 100 employees, DATEV is running, clients expect service. What you build has to work alongside ongoing operations.
• No corporate IT corset in which you wait for approvals and promotions. You make the architectural decisions yourself and are responsible for them.
• No exit from a 45-hour week. The intensity remains high - directed differently, with significantly more ownership, but not less.

FAQ

• WHAT IS BIRD — AND WHERE DO YOU WORK?

Vogel is one of Germany's leading medium-sized business consultancies - a family business since 1959, based in Aalen - and is building the leading consulting platform for medium-sized businesses. We are growing at several locations: in Aalen/East Württemberg as an established headquarters and in Munich as a new hub. In both, we look across functions — from tax advice to consulting to the strategic teams that build the platform.

• HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE SALARY BANDS?

Deliberately wide - and identified at every point. We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on degree: scarce, highly sought-after profiles at the top end, less scarce ones at the bottom. We calibrate exclusively to the market - two people with similar experience can earn different things with us.

• HOW MUCH — AND HOW — DOES VOGEL WORK?

It's measured by what you move, not by hours. But it's also honest: If you're looking for 9-to-5, we're not the first place to go. We are looking for people who work intensively on their own initiative because the tasks are worth it. How you distribute your time is largely up to you. What we share: We work together face-to-face - culture, sparring and the best ideas arise in daily proximity. We are not a remote company and do not have major home office policies; Individual remote days are no problem.

• HOW DOES THE APPLICATION PROCESS?

Slim, fast, transparent — and graded according to profile. For entry-level roles (internship, work study, career entry), two interviews and a short work sample are usually sufficient; experienced roles are a little more detailed. For selected senior roles, we are looking into incorporating a joint working day in the future so that both sides get to know each other better. The following always applies: scheduled deadlines, quick decisions, substantial feedback - regardless of the outcome.

5.

Requirements

THIS IS WHAT YOU BRING WITH YOU

Experience & track record

• You built and operated IT infrastructure and systems in the cloud environment - Azure-centric, with Identity (Entra/AD), M365 and end device management.
• You have automated infrastructure — infrastructure-as-code, scripting, provisioning pipelines — and not just administered it 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 into the above grid, but have demonstrable infrastructure depth and a build-not-operate track record, are expressly invited - we judge based on the contribution, not the label. The advertised range is calibrated to the primary profile. Anyone who brings a different background starts at a different market price and converges to the role level after twelve months of proven performance - the logic behind this is in our compensation principles https://www.vogel-beratung.com/culture/verg%C3%BCtungsgrunds%C3%A4tze.

Skills & way of working

• You master cloud architecture and operations at a level that goes beyond configuration — you design systems that others can operate.
• You work with AI as a natural tool — for automation, diagnostics, scripting and multiplying your own output frequency. Repetitive administration is an incentive for automation, not a fate.
• You communicate technical issues 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 becomes noticeable when something is broken.
• You want to think beyond the status quo in your industry — you see AI and automation as leverage, not as a threat.
• You aspire to set the highest standard in everything you deliver — not because someone controls it, but because mediocrity bothers you personally.

Benefits

HOW DOES VARIABLE PAY WORK?

Linked to performance on a quarterly basis and assessed qualitatively. The scale increases with the level: up to 20% Associate, 27.5% Manager, 35% Senior Manager, 42.5% Director, 50% VP. 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.

1. 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. Starting a career is not a special path, but rather the early part of the same route - from working student or intern to associate, for the best ones without having to reapply.

1. TEAM, CULTURE, HOLIDAY?

A shared lunch is an open daily option - not an obligation; If you like, you can join us; anyone can eat at any time. Plus dinners, social events and offsites on a regular basis - not as a mandatory program, but because a good team also shares time outside of work. Benefits: thoughtful and substantial, not symbolic. Vacation: 28 days.

1. I KNOW SOMEONE - IS THERE A REFERRAL BONUS?

Yes — EUR 2,500 for each successfully filled position (no internships). A short context is enough: who you are thinking about, for what role, why. Doesn't have to fit perfectly, but has to be substantial.