Founders Associate – Career Entry / Intern (m/f/d)

Role Summary

Tax consulting is facing its biggest upheaval in decades - wave of succession, consolidation, technological disruption. Most young professionals read about this in case studies. Here you sit at the table where decisions are made.

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. Established clients, long experience, strong basis for growth. We are building the leading consulting platform for German medium-sized businesses on this: organically and through acquisitions, with a common setup into which each new unit is integrated. Vogel is owner-managed - Joachim and Moritz Vogel decide for themselves, and you work directly on their topics.

You have completed your studies with a noticeable track record or are about to do so. Whether business, industrial engineering, law, natural sciences or something else is secondary. The important thing is that you stood out. You don't want a trainee program with fixed stations and no entry into an intermediate shift in which you prepare material for the level above you. You want to know how decisions are actually made: with incomplete data, under time pressure, between people with different opinions. That's exactly where you work here, from the first month.

The role has two entrances. As an internship lasting three to six months during your studies / gap year - or directly as a full-time career entry. The structure is the same in both cases, the difference lies in the horizon: during the internship you are responsible for one or two of your own topics, and when you start your career you are responsible for your own area of responsibility. Anyone who delivers during the internship will receive the offer to start their career - that is the express purpose of this path.

You report directly to management and work across all areas - tax consulting, corporate development, operations, finance. After 24 to 36 months, the natural progression leads to a role with responsibility for developing an entire business area.

What you delivered after 3 months

• You were responsible for two of your own topics from the question to the result and presented them yourself.
• You have written several decision templates that have led to actual decisions.
• You know the locations, the numbers and the people - not from documents, but because you were there.

What you delivered after 6 months

• You are responsible for your own separate area in which management no longer follows up.
• The department managers speak to you directly if they need an analysis - not via the management.
• You have been responsible for at least one internal event or taken responsibility for a recurring internal format.
• You have pushed through and implemented at least one of your own suggestions, despite initial resistance.

What you delivered after 12 months

• You have built up professional depth in an area in which you are the first address internally.
• You guide interns and young professionals and provide their professional assessment.

Where the position is developing

Technical expert careers and management careers are both open - the decision is based on your strengths, not on a step-by-step plan. What you get is based on your contribution; Years of work alone don't make a difference here.

Responsibilities

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Analysis and decision templates

1. Take an open question from management, structure it and provide an answer on two pages - with your own assessment, not as a collection of materials. Your benchmark: whoever reads the template must be able to decide based on it.
2. Build evaluations from our numbers - location results, mandate structures, utilization, growth drivers. You collect the data yourself and document your assumptions.
3. Check assumptions that are considered established in the house. Part of this work involves factually determining that something is no longer right.

Own topics from the question to the result

1. Take on your own topics across the entire route and present the results yourself - to the management, not via an intermediate level.
2. Work on ongoing projects across the company: integration of an acquired location, development of a new consulting field, introduction of a tool across all locations.
3. Document in such a way that someone can continue working after you. What only exists in your head is not delivered.

Internal control, culture and company structure

1. Contribute to the formats through which the company is controlled - reporting channels, key figures, decision templates, internal communication. What you build once runs in every location.
2. Responsible for the occasions at which our culture becomes concrete - town hall, summer festival, Christmas party, off-sites, site meetings. You decide what an event should say and how it runs; In the implementation, you work with your colleagues from Growth who are responsible for the event routine. Culture does not arise in the guiding principles, but in cooperation.
3. Participate in recruiting: screening, own assessment of candidates, collaboration on formats for the application process.
4. Contribute your own observations. We are hierarchical in decision-making and flat in communication - whoever sees something says it, regardless of how long they have been there.

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

1. No corporate strategy department producing slides for others. What you write goes into a decision that will be made this week - not into material for the next department head.
2. No strategic ivory tower. You work as a problem solver, not as a concept producer. A recommendation without direct implementation responsibility is not a delivery.
3. No pure analysis work. Management topics also include the occasions on which the company comes together. We believe that culture is the key difference between mediocre and outstanding companies. In this role, you build that culture.
4. No trainee program with fixed stations. You are given areas of responsibility, no rotation plan - and with it the consequences of your decisions.
5. No “at some point you’ll be allowed to work independently”. From day one: you do, you contribute, you are corrected when necessary - but you don't wait.
6. No corporate corset in which you wait for promotions. Growth here comes from contributions, not from years worked.

FAQ

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

Requirements

THIS IS WHAT YOU BRING WITH YOU

Experience & track record

• You have completed a very good degree or have an advanced bachelor's or master's degree - economics, industrial engineering, law, natural sciences or a subject in which you have demonstrably excelled.
• You have gained initial practice in a demanding environment - consulting, investment banking, private equity, scale-up, a founders office or starting your own business.
• You have verifiable evidence that you are better than average in your field: above-average grades, a publication, an initiative you have shaped, your own project.
• You speak and write German and English at a level that is suitable for client and investor material.
• Profiles that do not fit into the above grid, but have sharp thinking and the ability to implement, are expressly invited - we judge on the contribution, not on the label. The range shown is not a room for negotiation, but rather a profile scale: the lower end represents entry straight after studying, and anyone who already carries out the standard tasks in this area independently starts in the upper third. 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 write clearly and concisely. For us, two good pages beat twenty complete ones.
• You work with AI as a natural tool — research, analysis, drafting, pattern recognition in operational data. Repetitive tasks are an incentive for you to automate, not a fate.
• In an openly formulated task, you make your assumptions explicit, take a direction and adjust as you go. Anyone who stops without instructions will have a difficult time here.
• You work on several topics in parallel without leaving any of them behind - and you say early on if one of them falls through.

Mindset & personality

• You can tolerate direct work for the management - fast iteration, a high degree of independence and also tasks that don't shine on your CV.
• You take criticism as material for your development, not as a personal attack.
• You have the humility to learn from practitioners. The tax advisor with 20 years of experience knows things about her mandate that are not included in any model.
• You aspire to set the highest standard in everything you deliver — not because someone controls it, but because mediocrity bothers you personally.