Strategy & Operations – Career Entry / Intern (m/f/d)

Role Summary

Most units in our industry have never systematically questioned their processes. Anyone who buys law firms and transfers them to a common setup sees this in each one: mature processes, tools from three generations, knowledge in heads instead of in processes. This role cleans that up — location by location.

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 basis: organically, through acquisitions and through new locations. Each new unit must be placed in a common setup — and that setup must be built in such a way that it doesn't require twice as many people with twice the volume.

You have completed your studies or are about to do so and want to see operational impact - in processes, in tools and in people. You don't want to end up in a corporate pyramid where you write concepts that are decided three levels higher and then not implemented. Here you are responsible for a process from analysis to implementation at the site, with all the resistance that comes with it.

The role has two entrances. As an internship lasting three to six months during advanced studies - or directly as a full-time career entry. The structure is the same, the difference lies in the horizon: in the internship you are responsible for a process, in the entry level you are responsible for a defined area.

You report to the operations management - as long as it is being set up, directly to the management - and work at all locations. The natural progression leads to a manager role in operations after 24 to 36 months.

What you delivered after 3 months

• You were independently responsible for a process from analysis to implementation at the site.
• Your internal control areas run without follow-up.
• You know the locations and the people personally because you have been there.

What you delivered after 6 months

• You have measurably improved three processes and can prove the improvement with numbers.
• You have completely eliminated at least one manual activity instead of speeding it up.
• You work on site introductions without close guidance.

What you delivered after 12 months

• You are completely responsible for a defined area and are the escalation address there.
• You have helped at least one young professional to work independently.

Where the position is developing

The next step is a manager role in operations with your own area and team. This requires demonstrably improved processes, not additional years of professional experience. Technical expert careers and management careers are both open.

Responsibilities

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Location integration after acquisition

1. Accompany the takeover of a new unit into our setup - introducing tools, harmonizing processes, transferring data, taking people with you.
2. Document the state before integration and after. Without this comparison, it cannot be proven whether the integration achieved anything.
3. Be on site at the location, not in the video conference. If you want to implement change, you have to know the people who are supposed to carry it.

Process construction and automation

1. Take a manual, fragmented process and fix it at the root — not with instructions, but by making the process run differently afterwards. You work with the tools yourself instead of formulating requirements.
2. Implement process changes even where they are initially not wanted - without burning the relationship with the location.
3. Write down each process so that a third party can work according to it. Your benchmark: every process must work with twice the mandate volume without requiring twice as many people.

Internal control, tech and people operations

1. Responsible for and automate the operational engine room: onboarding logistics, contract processes, site setup, system maintenance. What you build once runs in every location.
2. Build the evaluations with which we see utilization, throughput times and bottlenecks across locations - and make bottlenecks visible instead of bypassing them.
3. Contribute your own observations. We are hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication and autonomous in execution - whoever sees something says it, regardless of how long they have been there.

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

1. No process advice that makes recommendations and then leaves. You are responsible for the implementation, not the diagnosis.
2. No greenfield in an empty room. We run DATEV, clients expect service, locations work. What you build has to work alongside ongoing operations.
3. Not a classic HR job without operational responsibility. You work on the system, not on individual cases - the managers themselves conduct personnel discussions.
4. No administrative backroom without design input. If you only want to operate processes and not change them, this is not the right place for you.
5. 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 degree or are in an advanced bachelor's or master's degree - economics, business information technology, industrial engineering or comparable, at a university, college or DHBW.
• You have had your first contact with operational work - internship in operations, consulting, scale-up or medium-sized companies.
• You did something outside of the curriculum on your own initiative and can explain the outcome.
• Profiles that do not fit into the above grid, but have a sense of order 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 can write down a process so that a third party can work according to it - without asking you.
• You work with the tools yourself instead of formulating requirements for others. Implementation beats concept.
• You work with AI as a natural tool - process analysis, automation, evaluations, drafting. 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.
• You work at several locations in parallel without one being left behind.

Mindset & personality

• You implement a change even in the face of resistance while maintaining the relationship with the location.
• You have the humility to learn from practitioners. The tax specialist with 20 years of experience knows things about her process that are not shown in any diagram.
• You see process work as design, not as administration.
• You aspire to set the highest standard in everything you deliver — not because someone controls it, but because mediocrity bothers you personally.