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

Role Summary

Tax advice in medium-sized businesses is about relationship work - and it only works if someone has the professional depth that even complex cases are no longer a big deal. 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're taking the mastery path - and you're already part of it. You are a tax advisor with several years of experience after graduating and have developed a proven area of expertise: transformations, international structures, succession, partnerships or another clearly identifiable subject. You are changing because you want to develop your specialty into a visible professional authority - not give it away in a pyramid and not let it become flat in routine operations.

You are responsible for the most complex mandates in the area and are the technical contact point for your line - escalation endpoint, sparring partner, method provider - without disciplinary leadership responsibility. You develop the professional standards of your area and enable other professionals to work at your level. You report to the tax department manager and work closely with management on the most technically demanding client issues.

PROFESSIONAL DEPTH & SPECIAL AREA

• Handle the most complex mandates and special topics in the area - tax audits, transformations, creative advice, international structures.
• Expand your specialty to visible area depth - the subject matter for which clients and multipliers know Vogel by name.
• Independently follow case law and changes in the law for your area and make the consequences tangible for our clients.

CLIENTS & VISIBILITY

• Be the direct contact for the most technically demanding clients - at eye level, with real depth.
• Promote your specialist area to the outside world - lectures, publications, client formats - and help build the professional reputation of the area.
• Trigger cross-sell across the bird areas where your territory can dock (designs, M&A preparation, FP&A).

What you delivered after 6 months

• You carry out the most complex mandates in the area independently and are the technical contact point for your line.
• You have completed the first specialist special topics and shared the first methods or templates.
• Your specialty is visibly anchored internally.

What you delivered after 12 months

• Your specialist area attracts clients who are looking for exactly this depth - with initial external visibility (lecture, publication).
• You have empowered other professionals - held training courses, set professional standards.
• You are established as a professional authority in your field.

What you delivered after 24 months

• The methods and standards of your area bear your signature.
• You are the technical authority in your area - internally and with external multipliers.
• You are a candidate for Lead Expert Tax - through depth of specialization and impact, not through years of professional experience.

Where the position is developing

The next step is Lead Expert Tax — company-wide professional authority in your field, equivalent to Director level on the management side, but without disciplinary leadership. This requires an independently developed, externally visible specialization, not an automatic process based on years of work.

MINDSET & PERSONALITY

• You see Mastery as an equal career path, not as a guide for those who don't become a manager - your professional profile is your differentiator.
• You share knowledge instead of guarding it — your authority comes from helping others improve with your methods.
• 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.

Responsibilities

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

1. No specialist track, which is secretly the second division. Senior Expert is equivalent to Senior Manager — same compensation, same influence on strategic client issues, same visibility. A specialist career is not a consolation prize here.
2. No routine mandate without the need for specialization. We build topic depth. If you just want to manage, this isn't the right place for you.
3. No disciplinary leadership as a price for advancement. You rise through professional depth and impact, not through personnel responsibility that you don't want.
4. No partnership with competing interests. We are a company with one-firm logic — one brand, one culture, one hiring bar.

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

EXPERIENCE & TRACK RECORD

• You passed the tax advisor exam and then carried out client responsibility with professional depth for several years.
• You have developed a clearly recognizable area of expertise - and ideally already communicated it to the outside world (lecture, publication, title of specialist consultant).
• You have noticed that what appeals to you is professional depth and authority, not disciplinary leadership.
• Profiles that do not fit into this grid, but have substantial depth and a clear specialization profile, are expressly invited - we judge on the contribution, not on the label.

Specifically: PhD in StB with a desire to practice; M&A/TAS tax experts with their own professional line; Professionals from boutiques with a medium-sized background. The reported range is calibrated to the primary profile - the logic behind it is in our compensation principles https://www.vogel-beratung.com/culture/verg%C3%BCtungsgrunds%C3%A4tze.

SKILLS & WORKING METHODS

• You have real depth in at least one challenging specialist area - and at the same time remain hands-on across the breadth of client work.
• You communicate professionally precisely and at the same time understandably - in client discussions as well as in technical articles.
• You work with AI as a natural tool - research, drafting, analysis - and thereby leverage the depth of your work. Repetitive work is an incentive to automate for you, not a fate.

Additional Information

CONTACT POINT & METHODOLOGY

• Be the technical escalation endpoint for the tax line in complex cases and controversial assessments.
• Develop methods, templates and professional standards that other professionals use - you make the line as a whole better, not just your own mandate.
• Empower associates and expert colleagues — professional sparring, review, onboarding of your topics.