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Hello there!

After a long break, we are back with big changes: this newsletter will expand to Germany. During the break last month, I already improved the job board classification and expanded it to Munich and Hamburg. More cities will be added soon.

In addition, I am introducing Signals, where you'll find career-relevant news from Germany. I also revamped the Community board to give more attention to your projects and ideas.

Events will also expand to Hamburg and Munich in the coming weeks. This newsletter will serve everyone interested in a career in Germany. This means finding a job, but also improving your current position and getting inspired to change the way you lead or are being led.

Ah yes, I am also adding a meme. Because why not. Your suggestions are most welcome, and the format is still a bit fluid, so you can influence it. I read every single piece of feedback!

In addition, I am introducing Community support — see below.

📌 Pinned

People in my bubble often complain about Germany and Germans (not to even mention the German language!). If an alien would read only Reddit and see some of the Instagram posts, they would think Germany is one of the worst possible places to be.

It was very refreshing to read this blog post, More German than many Germans, by Mert Bulan, because I had a very similar experience when I started my internship at Mercedes-Benz Bank in Stuttgart. I felt extremely welcome and will forever be grateful for everything I was able to learn and do so far in this country.

"Most of what they said was the same as what you can read on the internet, the stereotypical German. People who don't laugh, who are cold and unfriendly, who always follow the rules, who speak a language that sounds too harsh, and so on. And of course, someone always brings up the Nazis."

A great read! And of course, your mileage may vary.

👀 Jobs

8 job highlights of the week

See 4,087 more jobs →

🌍 Community board

  • Apply now to the Grace Berlin Accelerator - one of Europe's leading startup hubs - and access 20k in equity-free funding, expert knowledge and mentorship and a tight-knit community. For female founders and mixed teams. Apply until Sept 22nd!

Have an ask, offer or useful project? Share it! You need beta testers for something you built. You're running a survey or research and need responses. You're stuck on a problem someone here has already solved. You're volunteering, mentoring, or building something non-profit. You learned something the hard way and wrote it up.

It doesn't have to be finished or impressive — if it helps someone reading this, it fits. Keep it community-driven: testing, asking, helping, sharing. If you're promoting a commercial service or project, see partnership options in the footer.

Reply to this email, or use the submission form when you need more structure.

Share to Community

💸 Funded in Germany

  1. Limetax | Berlin | AI-run tax and accounting firm group | €6M pre-seed + €30M debt | Careers.

  2. Phantasma Labs | Berlin | AI production scheduling for factories | €2.6M seed | Careers.

  3. sci2sci | Berlin | Traceable AI for biopharma data | €1.2M pre-seed | Careers.

  4. The Exploration Company | Munich | Reusable space capsules for orbital cargo | $450M | Careers.

  5. Atira | Munich | AI sales engineering agents for industrials | $17.5M seed | Careers.

  6. Zeit AI | Munich | Autonomous data engineer for mid-market | €5M seed | Careers.

  7. HyImpulse Technologies | Neuenstadt am Kocher | Hybrid-propulsion rockets for small satellites | €50M+ Series A extension | Careers.

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📡 Signals

  1. Volkswagen (Wolfsburg, autos) had its restructuring plan approved by the supervisory board: 50k jobs at risk, no new orders past the 2030s for Neckarsulm, Emden, Zwickau and Hannover, Seat wound down by end of 2029, and the Osnabrück plant converted to air defence with Aurelius Capital. The plan removes 500k of European overcapacity at a cost of up to €10B and targets a 9% operating margin. [more, €]

  2. Germany is short 79k IT specialists, down from 149k in 2023. Still, 97% of companies with open IT roles report hiring difficulties and 76% expect it to get worse. [more] I don’t get where the problem is: I suspect they want seniors for €50k.

  3. Delivery Hero (Berlin, food delivery) boards recommend shareholders accept Uber's takeover offer at €41.50 per share, which they consider fair.

  4. Axel Springer (Berlin, media) is cutting a mid-double-digit number of roles in its Premium Group, which covers Welt, Politico and Business Insider, citing redundant structures.

  5. HSBC (Düsseldorf, banking) is closing business units in Germany, taking over 300 jobs with them.

  6. Circle Health (Berlin, healthcare) is shutting down after three years, ending with clinics in Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf, a team of 50 and 12k patients treated. [more]

  7. Enerparc (Hamburg, solar) filed for insolvency six months after closing a billion-euro financing package.

  8. Stark (Berlin, defence tech) acquired fellow Berlin startup Raydiant RF to expand into electronic warfare. [careers]

  9. Factorial (Barcelona, HR software) acquired Berlin HR startup Empion, adding to a German presence it already runs from a Munich office. [careers]

  10. Isar Aerospace (Ottobrunn, space) put its Spectrum rocket into orbit, the first launch ever to reach orbit from Western European soil. [more] · [careers]

  11. Covenant (Washington DC, defence tech) will mass-produce long-range strike missiles at new factories in Germany (Saxony), the US and Israel. The startup is backed by Peter Thiel. [more]

  12. BVG (Berlin, transport) is moving 2k employees to a new campus at Ostkreuz. [more] · [careers]

  13. Porsche (Stuttgart, autos) raised €1B from the sale of Rimac, lifting its 2026 net cash-flow outlook mid-restructuring.

  14. Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich, research) switched on JUPITER, an ion-trap quantum computer, alongside €60M in newly launched quantum computing projects. [more]

  15. German voice actors' association VDS filed a complaint with the Bundeskartellamt over Netflix's AI clauses for dubbing voices. [more]

📅 Events

This week we reviewed 105 upcoming events and handpicked 10. Check all 34 events at luma.com/handpicked

Featured events

  • Experience an ESMT Berlin lecture in just 30 minutes! Curious what it’s like to learn at ESMT? Join a bite-sized online lecture with Associate Professor Rebecca Schaumberg and experience first-class teaching firsthand. | Thu, 17/09 13:00 | Online

  • Cloud enthusiasts from all over the world gather once again to discuss and learn AWS-related topics. Community Day is organised by active members of the AWS Community, welcoming everyone willing to learn cloud subject, network, and enjoy a full day! Register here | Tue, 15/09 08:00 | Kosmos

  • Join Flower Labs for a one-day hackathon to build collaborative AI agents. Come solo or with a team, turn ideas into working prototypes, and compete for prizes. | Wed, 16/09 09:30 | Impact Hub Berlin

  • Build a portfolio career: new income streams, skills and identity beyond one job or venture. Learn how to use content creation and public speaking to engineer new opportunities. | Thu, 01/10 18:00 | Denizen

Our picks

See all 34 events →

🧦 Who pays for this

If Handpicked brings you joy, saves you time, keeps you informed, or just makes your inbox more interesting — consider supporting it.

This is my full-time job and I love it. I do work with sponsors, but they buy slots, not opinions. €5 a month from readers is what keeps it that way.

If you can't afford to support me, read for free — someone else is paying for you. But everyone gets the exact same newsletter. Thank you!

Support for €5/month

Why I'm asking →

🧭 Career compass

  1. Hacker News thread on who is hiring for September. With a "Germany" filter.

  2. Reddit: Interview experience with Personio and with Scalable Capital. Remember to take these with a grain of salt.

  3. Instagram: this dude found his content greenfield in talking with AI recruiters.

  4. I don't even know how to call this: website with slides? Beware Management Consultants by Iceland is a good reminder on the traps of listening to management consultants. I've seen it first-hand!

  5. Don't be a meat proxy by Niklas Gruhn. We can talk to AI ourselves, so please let's not send each other AI-generated text, copy pasting it back and forth. Add some value and respect.

😅 Memewhile

did you mention AI?

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