Tax Consultant I Expert Tax (m/f/d)

Role Summary

Tax advice in medium-sized businesses is about relationship work. Clients stay for decades - not because of prices, but because they are understood. Several thousand medium-sized companies trust us - we are now developing the model into a Germany-wide consulting platform. Tax advice is not just one business area among many, but rather the core.

At Vogel, the path to the top takes two equal paths: Mastery for professional depth and Pioneer for disciplinary leadership. You go the mastery route. You are a tax advisor with one to three years of experience after your exam - Big4 (KPMG, EY, PwC, Deloitte), Next 6 or a focused medium-sized law firm. You are changing because the pyramid at Big4 stifles direct client contact or because the medium-sized business routine does not allow for further professional development. But above all because you can really do tax advice and that should also become your career anchor - you want to be an expert, not a manager.

From day one, you will take on a demanding group of clients and develop them further professionally. You are the technical contact point for the associates in your line - sparring, review, escalation end point - without disciplinary management responsibility. You report to the Senior Manager Tax and work closely with management on strategic client issues. After 24 to 36 months, the natural progression leads to a senior expert role with your own industry or topic specialization.

What you delivered after 6 months

• You look after the client base handed over to you with full professional responsibility.
• You conducted your first ten final meetings without senior supervision.
• You are the first professional point of contact for three to four associates on complex client issues.

What you delivered after 12 months

• You have noticeably deepened your client base professionally - identified new consulting topics, at least three of which were cross-sold into other Vogel areas (design, M&A preparation, FP&A) and handed over.
• The first signs of industry or topic specialization are visible - internal visibility has been established, the first clients are looking for exactly this depth.
• Contribution to the internal knowledge base: at least one technical training or client publication in your specialist area.

What you delivered after 24 months

• Your mandate portfolio demonstrably has additional sub-segment depth - a clearly recognizable specialization that external multipliers know by name.
• You are the escalation end point for your technical line in all standard cases and a large part of the special topics.
• You are a candidate for the next senior expert position.

Where the position is developing

The next step is Senior Expert Tax – technical lead function in your specialist area, without disciplinary management, remuneration equivalent to Senior Manager. The Senior Expert level opens up the Lead/Director path along our career framework.

Responsibilities

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Client management

1. Take over an existing clientele and look after them independently - annual financial statements, tax returns, ongoing advice with technical depth.
2. Be the direct contact for owners and managing directors of medium-sized companies. A conversation at eye level is the standard, not the exception.
3. Accompany demanding special topics - tax audits, objection procedures, creative advice, international structures.

Professional depth

1. Develop your clientele professionally - industry expertise (e.g. healthcare, family office, construction industry) or tax specialist area (succession, international structures, M&A tax). You build the depth that Vogel carries as a consulting brand.
2. Independently follow case law and changes in the law for your specialist area - and make the consequences tangible for our clients.
3. Contribute to Vogel’s knowledge base — internal training, client newsletters, consulting templates.

Sparring & Review

1. Be the professional contact point for the tax line associates - escalation end point for complex cases, sparring on controversial assessments, reviewing client work.
2. Actively participate in hiring at associate level - interviews, professional assessment, Conviction recommendation.
3. Onboarding technical topics for new tax colleagues.

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

1. No spezalist track, which is secretly the second league. Expert and Senior Expert are equivalent to Manager and Senior Manager — same compensation, same influence on strategic client issues, same visibility. A specialist career is not a consolation prize here.
2. No routine medium-sized tax advisor job without specialization requirements. We build industry and topic depth. If you want to manage your clientele without going into more technical depth, this is not the right place for you.
3. No group tax mandate without client contact. The work is client work with technical depth. Anyone who has only focused on corporate compliance and wants to continue doing so is sitting at the wrong desk.
4. No partnership with competing interests. We are a company with one-firm logic — one brand, one culture, one hiring bar.
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 passed the tax advisor exam - or are about to take the exam and will take on the role of expert tax immediately afterwards. Passing the exam is a prerequisite for the title of Expert Tax.
• At best, you have gained one to three years of experience after the exam - Big4 (KPMG, EY, PwC, Deloitte), Next 6 or a focused medium-sized law firm.
• You have already had client responsibility - and you realize that what really appeals to you is the technical depth, not the disciplinary management.
• Profiles that do not fit into the above grid, but have substantial client responsibility and a clear specialization goal, are expressly invited - we evaluate on the contribution, not on the label. Specifically: tax advisors with an M&A or TAS background who want to return to operational client work with specialization; StB from top regional law firms with a clearly identifiable focus; StB with doctoral degree and desire to practice.

Skills & way of working

• You have tax depth in at least one focus area - partnerships, succession, international structures, restructuring or another clearly identifiable specialization.
• You communicate clearly and authoritatively - in writing and in client discussions. You are not afraid of difficult topics with managing directors.
• You work with AI as a natural tool - research, drafting, analysis, client communication. Repetitive tasks are an incentive for you to automate, not a fate.

Mindset & personality

• You think entrepreneurially — you take responsibility for your portfolio and your area of expertise, not your hours.
• You see Mastery as an equal career path, not as a guide for those who cannot become a manager. Your professional profile is your differentiator.
• You aspire to set the highest standard in everything you deliver — not because someone controls it, but because mediocrity bothers you personally.
• Vogel is hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication, autonomous in execution. Achievement is celebrated, not hidden - anyone who wants to advance professionally because they are good will find the space to do so here, without political camouflage and without consensus theatre.