EXPLAINED: The 25 most in-demand jobs in Germany
For those considering relocating to Germany - or looking for a new profession - here are the most in-demand jobs out there, according to a study by LinkedIn.
Germany is desperate to fill jobs. In autumn last year, authorities said there was a shortage of 390,000 skilled workers.
The new government plans to ease red tape and overhaul immigration policies to make it easer for non-EU nationals to come to the country.
READ ALSO: What Germany’s coalition proposals mean for citizenship and immigration
But many people already within Germany might also be thinking about a change of career, or pivoting to a related sector, especially after the Covid pandemic changed the world of work.
For those who are curious, international job search engine LinkedIn has published a list of jobs that are in-demand in Germany. Although lots of positions in Germany require that you speak German, many companies are international and encourage English speakers to apply.
What is the list?
The so-called LinkedIn Jobs in Trend 2022 list shows the 25 occupations that have grown the most over the past five years compared to other other positions.
The list "allows insight into how the job market is evolving and the long-term opportunities it presents - whether you're looking to change careers, re-enter the workforce or upskill for future challenges," said LinkedIn.
It's based on LinkedIn data between January 2017 and July 2021.
READ ALSO: How to boost your career chances in Germany
Here is the list of the top 25 positions, including the core skills required for each and the desired amount of experience for candidates according to LinkedIn.
In some of the descriptions below we haven't translated the job name to German - that's because it is usually advertised in Germany with the English name.
1. Consultant for the public sector (Berater*in für den öffentlichen Sektor)
Responsibilities: Advising public and government institutions on the modernisation and digitalisation of administration and infrastructure
Most common skills: Public Policy, Management Consulting, Policy Field Analysis
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 2.8
2. Product analyst (Produktanalyst*in)
Responsibilities: Product analysts use metrics to evaluate a company's products to determine whether they meet current and future market needs
Most common skills: Tableau, Google BigQuery, SQL
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 3.7
A man works at his 'home office' desk. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sina Schuldt
3. Business development specialist or consultant (Beschäftigte in der Geschäftsentwicklung)
Responsibilities: Business development employees develop companies, enter new markets and evaluate sales opportunities
Most common skills: salesforce, account management, inside sales
Top regions hiring in: Berlin Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 3.3
4. Sustainability manager (Nachhaltigkeitsmanager*in)
Responsibilities: Sustainability management employees are based in corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments and look after the social, environmental and economic aspects of a company
Most common skills: Sustainability reporting, corporate social responsibility, life cycle assessment management
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Berlin and Hamburg areas
Average years of experience: 3.8
5. Cyber Security Specialist (Cyber Security Spezialist*in)
Responsibilities: Unlike IT security, cyber security is not limited to the environment of your own company, but also keeps an eye on wider threats from the internet in order to ward off viruses, Trojans or ransomware
Most common skills: ISO 27001, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), vulnerability assessment
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 7.1
6. Developer for machine learning (Entwickler*in für maschinelles Lernen)
Responsibilities: Machine learning developers create so-called artificial intelligence. They research and design models and algorithms that enable machines to recognise patterns in large volumes of data, among other things
Most common skills: TensorFlow, Python (programming language), Keras
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 3.3
READ ALSO: Working in Germany - 7 factors that can affect how much you're paid
7. User Experience (UX) Researcher
Responsibilities: User experience researchers find out what users need and want and prepare these findings for developers, marketers, designers and others
Most common skills: Usability testing, design thinking, human-computer interaction
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 4.6
8. Real estate finance specialist (Spezialist*in für Immobilienfinanzierung)
Responsibilities: Real estate finance specialists accompany and advise clients from the initial property enquiries stage to closing the deal and agreeing on financial arrangements
Most common skills: Construction financing, finance, sales
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg areas
Average years of experience: 5.3
9. Head of Public Affairs (Leiter*in Public Affairs)
Responsibilities: Public affairs is the strategic aim to integrate the interests of the employer into political decision-making processes. Also known as lobbying, the job description should not be confused with public relations (corporate communications)
Most common skills: Politics, international relations, strategic communication
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 7.2
10. Information security officer (Beauftragte*r für Informationssicherheit)
Responsibilities: Information Security Officers protect data in analogue and digital form. To do this, they ensure that sensitive data is only accessible to authorised persons at all times.
Most common skills: ISO 27001, Information Security Management System (ISMS), data protection management
Top regions hiring in: Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin areas
Average years of experience: 10.2
11. Specialist in talent acquisition (Spezialist*in für Talentakquise)
Responsibilities: Talent acquisition specialists identify suitable job candidates and take care of the strategic development of the Talent Acquisition department
Most common skills: Employer branding, sourcing, talent management
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 3.8
12. Expansion manager
Responsibilities: Expansion managers accompany the growth of companies and take care of things like the purchase or leasing of business space in optimal locations
Most common skills: Business development, marketing, strategic planning
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 5.7
13. Test engineer (Prüfingenieur*in)
Responsibilities: Cars, wind turbines, lifts, amusement park rides and countless other technical constructions must be regularly checked for safety. This is where test engineers come into play
Most common skills: LabVIEW, Matlab, electrical engineering
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Hamburg and Tübingen areas
Average years of experience: 4
14. Marketing (Marketingmitarbeiter*in)
Responsibilities: Marketing employees (Associates) support the planning and implementation of marketing activities for companies and organisations
Most common skills: Social media marketing, online marketing, content marketing
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich
Average years of experience: 2.7
15. Data engineer (Dateningenieur*in)
Responsibilities: Data engineers deal with the collection, processing and checking of data
Most common skills: Apache Spark, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Hadoop |
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 4.8
16. Personnel officer recruiting (Personalreferent*in Recruiting)
Responsibilities: Recruiters use job advertisements and various channels to search for suitable candidates for open positions in the company and personally recruit suitable candidates
Most common skills: Active sourcing, e-recruiting, employer branding
Top regions. hiring in: Munich, Berlin and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 3.3
Are you looking for a chance in career? Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Finn Winkler
17. Manager in strategic partnerships (Manager*in Strategische Partnerschaften)
Job Purpose: Strategic partnerships managers are responsible for building and maintaining relationships with business partners to further the development and distribution of their own products and services
Most common skills: Business development, account management, product management
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 6
18. Head of Software Development (Leiter*in Softwareentwicklung)
Responsibilities: Software Development Managers are responsible for all stages of software application development. They control and structure planning, organisation and execution
Most common skills: Agile methods, cloud computing, product management
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 12.2
READ ALSO:
- How your wages in Germany could depend heavily on where you live
- How much do employees really earn across Germany’s states?
19. Data science specialist
Responsibilities: Data science experts or data scientists help companies to make data-based decisions. They build a structured database from raw data, analyse data and prepare it with business background knowledge
Most common skills: Python (programming language), R, SQL
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Hamburg areas
Average years of experience: 3
20. Robotics engineer (Robotik-Ingenieur*in)
Responsibilities: Robotics engineers develop and programme robots and other intelligent assistance systems, whether for medicine, gastronomy, or future cars.
Most common skills: Robotic Process Automation (RPA), UiPath, C++
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and the Hanover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg areas
Average years of experience: 3.8
21. Investment associate (Investmentmitarbeiter*in)
Responsibilities: Which areas are worth investing in, which companies are suitable for takeover? This is checked by investment managers through market observations, financial modelling and due diligence procedures
Most common skills: Private equity, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions (M&A)
Top regions hiring in: Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin areas
Average years of experience: 2.7 years
22. Chief Information Security Officer
Responsibilities: Many companies are not only urgently looking for information security officers (see position 10), senior positions in this professional field are also in high demand
Most common skills: Information Security Management System (ISMS), ISO 27001, IT Risk Management
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin areas
Average years of experience: 14.3
23. Manager in strategic sales (Manager*in im strategischen Vertrieb)
Responsibilities: Strategic Sales Managers usually look after selected target and existing customers over a longer period of time. Duties include preparing quotations and negotiating prices
Most common skills: Solution selling, business development, account management
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 9.3
24. Communications manager (Kommunikationsmanager*in)
Responsibilities: Communications managers take care of PR work inside and outside a company - this includes planning communication strategies as well as implementing campaigns on social networks or organising press appointments and events
Most common skills: Strategic communication, public relations/PR, internal/external communication
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Nuremberg areas
Average years of experience: 5.4
25. Specialist writer for medicine (Fachautor*in Medizin)
Responsibilities: Medical writers produce documents in a medical context, such as study reports for scientific journals, texts for regulatory authorities and information sheets for medicines - but also journalistic texts for websites or magazines
Most common skills: Clinical studies, scientific writing, life sciences
Top regions hiring in: Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 5.2
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See Also
Germany is desperate to fill jobs. In autumn last year, authorities said there was a shortage of 390,000 skilled workers.
The new government plans to ease red tape and overhaul immigration policies to make it easer for non-EU nationals to come to the country.
READ ALSO: What Germany’s coalition proposals mean for citizenship and immigration
But many people already within Germany might also be thinking about a change of career, or pivoting to a related sector, especially after the Covid pandemic changed the world of work.
For those who are curious, international job search engine LinkedIn has published a list of jobs that are in-demand in Germany. Although lots of positions in Germany require that you speak German, many companies are international and encourage English speakers to apply.
What is the list?
The so-called LinkedIn Jobs in Trend 2022 list shows the 25 occupations that have grown the most over the past five years compared to other other positions.
The list "allows insight into how the job market is evolving and the long-term opportunities it presents - whether you're looking to change careers, re-enter the workforce or upskill for future challenges," said LinkedIn.
It's based on LinkedIn data between January 2017 and July 2021.
READ ALSO: How to boost your career chances in Germany
Here is the list of the top 25 positions, including the core skills required for each and the desired amount of experience for candidates according to LinkedIn.
In some of the descriptions below we haven't translated the job name to German - that's because it is usually advertised in Germany with the English name.
1. Consultant for the public sector (Berater*in für den öffentlichen Sektor)
Responsibilities: Advising public and government institutions on the modernisation and digitalisation of administration and infrastructure
Most common skills: Public Policy, Management Consulting, Policy Field Analysis
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 2.8
2. Product analyst (Produktanalyst*in)
Responsibilities: Product analysts use metrics to evaluate a company's products to determine whether they meet current and future market needs
Most common skills: Tableau, Google BigQuery, SQL
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 3.7
3. Business development specialist or consultant (Beschäftigte in der Geschäftsentwicklung)
Responsibilities: Business development employees develop companies, enter new markets and evaluate sales opportunities
Most common skills: salesforce, account management, inside sales
Top regions hiring in: Berlin Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 3.3
4. Sustainability manager (Nachhaltigkeitsmanager*in)
Responsibilities: Sustainability management employees are based in corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments and look after the social, environmental and economic aspects of a company
Most common skills: Sustainability reporting, corporate social responsibility, life cycle assessment management
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Berlin and Hamburg areas
Average years of experience: 3.8
5. Cyber Security Specialist (Cyber Security Spezialist*in)
Responsibilities: Unlike IT security, cyber security is not limited to the environment of your own company, but also keeps an eye on wider threats from the internet in order to ward off viruses, Trojans or ransomware
Most common skills: ISO 27001, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), vulnerability assessment
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 7.1
6. Developer for machine learning (Entwickler*in für maschinelles Lernen)
Responsibilities: Machine learning developers create so-called artificial intelligence. They research and design models and algorithms that enable machines to recognise patterns in large volumes of data, among other things
Most common skills: TensorFlow, Python (programming language), Keras
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 3.3
READ ALSO: Working in Germany - 7 factors that can affect how much you're paid
7. User Experience (UX) Researcher
Responsibilities: User experience researchers find out what users need and want and prepare these findings for developers, marketers, designers and others
Most common skills: Usability testing, design thinking, human-computer interaction
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 4.6
8. Real estate finance specialist (Spezialist*in für Immobilienfinanzierung)
Responsibilities: Real estate finance specialists accompany and advise clients from the initial property enquiries stage to closing the deal and agreeing on financial arrangements
Most common skills: Construction financing, finance, sales
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg areas
Average years of experience: 5.3
9. Head of Public Affairs (Leiter*in Public Affairs)
Responsibilities: Public affairs is the strategic aim to integrate the interests of the employer into political decision-making processes. Also known as lobbying, the job description should not be confused with public relations (corporate communications)
Most common skills: Politics, international relations, strategic communication
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 7.2
10. Information security officer (Beauftragte*r für Informationssicherheit)
Responsibilities: Information Security Officers protect data in analogue and digital form. To do this, they ensure that sensitive data is only accessible to authorised persons at all times.
Most common skills: ISO 27001, Information Security Management System (ISMS), data protection management
Top regions hiring in: Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin areas
Average years of experience: 10.2
11. Specialist in talent acquisition (Spezialist*in für Talentakquise)
Responsibilities: Talent acquisition specialists identify suitable job candidates and take care of the strategic development of the Talent Acquisition department
Most common skills: Employer branding, sourcing, talent management
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 3.8
12. Expansion manager
Responsibilities: Expansion managers accompany the growth of companies and take care of things like the purchase or leasing of business space in optimal locations
Most common skills: Business development, marketing, strategic planning
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 5.7
13. Test engineer (Prüfingenieur*in)
Responsibilities: Cars, wind turbines, lifts, amusement park rides and countless other technical constructions must be regularly checked for safety. This is where test engineers come into play
Most common skills: LabVIEW, Matlab, electrical engineering
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Hamburg and Tübingen areas
Average years of experience: 4
14. Marketing (Marketingmitarbeiter*in)
Responsibilities: Marketing employees (Associates) support the planning and implementation of marketing activities for companies and organisations
Most common skills: Social media marketing, online marketing, content marketing
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich
Average years of experience: 2.7
15. Data engineer (Dateningenieur*in)
Responsibilities: Data engineers deal with the collection, processing and checking of data
Most common skills: Apache Spark, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Hadoop |
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 4.8
16. Personnel officer recruiting (Personalreferent*in Recruiting)
Responsibilities: Recruiters use job advertisements and various channels to search for suitable candidates for open positions in the company and personally recruit suitable candidates
Most common skills: Active sourcing, e-recruiting, employer branding
Top regions. hiring in: Munich, Berlin and Cologne-Bonn areas
Average years of experience: 3.3
17. Manager in strategic partnerships (Manager*in Strategische Partnerschaften)
Job Purpose: Strategic partnerships managers are responsible for building and maintaining relationships with business partners to further the development and distribution of their own products and services
Most common skills: Business development, account management, product management
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 6
18. Head of Software Development (Leiter*in Softwareentwicklung)
Responsibilities: Software Development Managers are responsible for all stages of software application development. They control and structure planning, organisation and execution
Most common skills: Agile methods, cloud computing, product management
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 12.2
READ ALSO:
- How your wages in Germany could depend heavily on where you live
- How much do employees really earn across Germany’s states?
19. Data science specialist
Responsibilities: Data science experts or data scientists help companies to make data-based decisions. They build a structured database from raw data, analyse data and prepare it with business background knowledge
Most common skills: Python (programming language), R, SQL
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Hamburg areas
Average years of experience: 3
20. Robotics engineer (Robotik-Ingenieur*in)
Responsibilities: Robotics engineers develop and programme robots and other intelligent assistance systems, whether for medicine, gastronomy, or future cars.
Most common skills: Robotic Process Automation (RPA), UiPath, C++
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and the Hanover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg areas
Average years of experience: 3.8
21. Investment associate (Investmentmitarbeiter*in)
Responsibilities: Which areas are worth investing in, which companies are suitable for takeover? This is checked by investment managers through market observations, financial modelling and due diligence procedures
Most common skills: Private equity, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions (M&A)
Top regions hiring in: Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin areas
Average years of experience: 2.7 years
22. Chief Information Security Officer
Responsibilities: Many companies are not only urgently looking for information security officers (see position 10), senior positions in this professional field are also in high demand
Most common skills: Information Security Management System (ISMS), ISO 27001, IT Risk Management
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin areas
Average years of experience: 14.3
23. Manager in strategic sales (Manager*in im strategischen Vertrieb)
Responsibilities: Strategic Sales Managers usually look after selected target and existing customers over a longer period of time. Duties include preparing quotations and negotiating prices
Most common skills: Solution selling, business development, account management
Top regions hiring in: Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt areas
Average years of experience: 9.3
24. Communications manager (Kommunikationsmanager*in)
Responsibilities: Communications managers take care of PR work inside and outside a company - this includes planning communication strategies as well as implementing campaigns on social networks or organising press appointments and events
Most common skills: Strategic communication, public relations/PR, internal/external communication
Top regions hiring in: Berlin, Munich and Nuremberg areas
Average years of experience: 5.4
25. Specialist writer for medicine (Fachautor*in Medizin)
Responsibilities: Medical writers produce documents in a medical context, such as study reports for scientific journals, texts for regulatory authorities and information sheets for medicines - but also journalistic texts for websites or magazines
Most common skills: Clinical studies, scientific writing, life sciences
Top regions hiring in: Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich areas
Average years of experience: 5.2
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