How to Apply to Jungheinrich

11 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 18 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Jungheinrich is a family-controlled (Lange and Wolf families via preference shares) Hamburg-headquartered intralogistics company founded in 1953 — expect long-horizon, conservative, engineering-led decision-making, not Silicon Valley pace.
  • The company is not a pure forklift OEM anymore — under CEO Lars Brzoska (since 2022) and Strategy 2025+, automation (AGVs, AS/RS, WMS), energy systems (in-house lithium-ion battery manufacturing in Moosburg), and digital products are the growth engine and the active hiring zones.
  • Apply in German for Hamburg HQ, Norderstedt, Moosburg, and Degernpoint roles unless the posting is explicitly English-first — use a German-format tabular Lebenslauf with photo and attach the full certificate set (Zeugnisse).
  • The career portal runs on an in-house job board (jh-api under jungheinrich.com), not a branded ATS — you apply directly through Jungheinrich's own system rather than through Workday, SuccessFactors, or Greenhouse.
  • Offers are frequently lost to KION Group (Linde Material Handling, STILL), Toyota Material Handling, Crown Equipment, and Dematic/Honeywell — Jungheinrich's compensation is competitive for the German Mittelstand but does not chase US tech bands.
  • Interview style is Hanseatic-formal: precision, metrics, honest acknowledgment of failures, and respect for hierarchy and the Betriebsrat outperform enthusiasm, storytelling, and American-style self-promotion.
  • Safety, standards, and documentation are not bureaucracy at Jungheinrich — they are the product. Engineering candidates who treat CE marking, Machinery Directive, and ISO 3691-4 as table stakes pass the cultural screen.
  • Tenure matters — 5+ year stints on your CV are read as a positive signal, not a lack of ambition. Job-hopping patterns under two years per employer need a clear, honest narrative.
  • Negotiate at offer stage, but Hanseatic-style: specific numbers, Stepstone/Kununu benchmarks, polite framing, no ultimatums. Aggressive US-tech negotiation tactics end offers.

About Jungheinrich

Jungheinrich AG is one of the world's largest intralogistics companies, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, with roughly 20,000 employees serving customers in more than 40 countries. The company was founded in Hamburg in 1953 by Dr. Friedrich Jungheinrich, an engineer who pioneered electric industrial trucks for post-war German warehouses and effectively helped invent the modern forklift category in Europe. Today Jungheinrich (FRA: JUN3) is a DAX MDAX-listed public company, yet it remains family-controlled: the Lange and Wolf families, descendants of the founder, hold the non-listed preference shares that carry voting rights, which keeps long-term strategic control in family hands even while common shares trade freely on the Frankfurt exchange. This preference-share structure is a defining feature of the culture — it encourages patient, decade-scale capital allocation rather than quarter-by-quarter optimization, and it is why Jungheinrich can invest aggressively in automation R&D while competitors chase short-term margins. The company competes globally with KION Group (parent of Linde Material Handling and STILL, also Germany-based), Toyota Industries (parent of Toyota Material Handling and Raymond), Crown Equipment, Mitsubishi Logisnext and Hyster-Yale, and it is Germany's second-largest forklift manufacturer behind KION. Jungheinrich's product portfolio spans the full intralogistics stack: counterbalance and warehouse trucks (electric, diesel, hybrid), pallet trucks and stackers, very-narrow-aisle trucks, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS including miniload and pallet cranes), shuttle systems, rack and shelving infrastructure, lithium-ion batteries, used-truck refurbishment, fleet management telematics, and warehouse management software (WMS). Manufacturing is anchored in Germany — Norderstedt (near Hamburg) produces counterbalance trucks, Moosburg an der Isar (Bavaria) produces warehouse trucks and AGVs, and Degernpoint (Bavaria) produces high-rack and very-narrow-aisle trucks — with additional plants in Landsberg am Lech, Lüneburg, Dresden, and Qingpu (Shanghai) for the Asia-Pacific market. Under CEO Dr. Lars Brzoska, who took over as Chairman of the Board of Management in 2022 after serving as Chief Sales Officer, the company has accelerated its pivot from pure forklift manufacturer to full-stack intralogistics automation provider, with a strategy called 'Strategy 2025+' that emphasizes energy systems (lithium-ion battery manufacturing in Moosburg), digital products (software, IoT, fleet telematics), and automation. Revenue exceeds €5 billion annually, and the Mignon brand preference share structure means the family has resisted the buyout pressures that consolidated many peers. Culturally, the company is Hanseatic — understated, long-horizon, engineering-led, with decisions made through thorough analysis rather than bold proclamations — which is both its strength (customer trust, retention, engineering depth) and its reputation in the market (slow to move, cautious on pricing, formal compared to Silicon Valley peers).

Application Process

  1. 1
    Step 1

    Step 1 — Search the job portal at jungheinrich.com/en/career. The career section uses a custom in-house job board (no standard ATS brand like Workday or SuccessFactors is visible on the public portal). Filter by location, department (Engineering/R&D, Sales, Service, Production, IT/Digital, Supply Chain, Finance, HR), and contract type. German-language roles at Hamburg HQ dominate; English postings are common for global-facing technical and commercial roles.

  2. 2
    Step 2

    Step 2 — Review the job description carefully. Jungheinrich postings are detailed and specific about required certifications (e.g., IHK technical training, Dipl.-Ing. or M.Sc. in Maschinenbau or Elektrotechnik, SAP SuccessFactors exposure for HR roles, PMI/IPMA for project roles). Missing a listed qualification almost always means rejection — German hiring is rule-bound and recruiters do not interpret generously.

  3. 3
    Step 3

    Step 3 — Apply through the online form. You will upload a CV (Lebenslauf), cover letter (Anschreiben), reference letters (Arbeitszeugnisse) from previous employers, and copies of degree and training certificates (Zeugnisse). Omitting certificates for a German HQ role is a red flag — German employers expect the full document set for legal and verification reasons.

  4. 4
    Step 4

    Step 4 — Initial screening by the central talent acquisition team in Hamburg (typically 1-2 weeks). You may receive an acknowledgment email from the in-house system. If selected, a recruiter will schedule a 30-45 minute phone or Teams screening focused on your background, motivation for Jungheinrich specifically, salary expectations (be prepared with a specific number in euros, not a range that ends vaguely), and notice period (Kündigungsfrist — often 3 or 6 months for senior German roles).

  5. 5
    Step 5

    Step 5 — First-round interview with the hiring manager and an HR business partner, typically on-site in Hamburg, Norderstedt, Moosburg, or Degernpoint depending on the role (travel expenses are reimbursed). Expect 60-90 minutes of structured questions covering technical depth, past projects, and behavioral competencies. Engineering roles include a technical deep-dive; sales roles include a role-play or customer scenario.

  6. 6
    Step 6

    Step 6 — Second-round interview and sometimes an assessment center for senior or management roles. Assessment centers run half a day to a full day and include case studies, group exercises, presentations, and personality/cognitive testing. For R&D and automation engineering roles, expect a technical panel with senior engineers and a take-home or on-site design exercise.

  7. 7
    Step 7

    Step 7 — Offer and contract. The written offer (Arbeitsvertrag) specifies base salary, variable/bonus component, company car eligibility (common for sales and senior roles in Germany), pension contribution (betriebliche Altersvorsorge), vacation days (30 days is standard), probationary period (Probezeit, usually 6 months), and notice period. Negotiation is expected on base and bonus but ranges are narrower than at US tech firms — the Hanseatic norm is measured, data-backed counter-offers, not aggressive haggling.

Resume Tips for Jungheinrich

recommended

Submit a German-format Lebenslauf for Hamburg HQ and any Germany-based role

Submit a German-format Lebenslauf for Hamburg HQ and any Germany-based role. This means tabular layout, reverse-chronological, a professional photo (still expected in Germany despite AGG anti-discrimination law — omission is noticed), full personal details (date of birth, city, nationality), and signature with date on the final page. US-style one-page narrative resumes look unprofessional to German recruiters.

recommended

Attach full certificate set (Zeugnisse): university degree certificate (Hochschu

Attach full certificate set (Zeugnisse): university degree certificate (Hochschulzeugnis), Abitur or equivalent, IHK training certificates, and Arbeitszeugnisse (written reference letters) from every previous German employer. German Arbeitszeugnisse use coded language — 'stets zur vollsten Zufriedenheit' is top-grade, 'zur Zufriedenheit' is barely passing — recruiters read these carefully.

recommended

For mechanical, electrical, mechatronics, or industrial engineering roles, lead

For mechanical, electrical, mechatronics, or industrial engineering roles, lead with your Diplom-Ingenieur, M.Sc., or B.Sc. in Maschinenbau, Elektrotechnik, Mechatronik, Fahrzeugtechnik, or Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen. TU Hamburg, TU Munich, RWTH Aachen, KIT, and TU Braunschweig carry strong signal; FH (applied sciences) degrees are fully respected for engineering roles.

recommended

Highlight warehouse automation, intralogistics, AGV/AMR, AS/RS, WMS, SAP EWM, co

Highlight warehouse automation, intralogistics, AGV/AMR, AS/RS, WMS, SAP EWM, conveyor systems, PLC programming (Siemens S7/TIA Portal), robotics integration, and functional safety (ISO 13849, IEC 61508) experience. These are the capabilities Jungheinrich is aggressively hiring against as it transforms from forklift OEM to automation provider. Direct KION, Dematic, SSI Schäfer, TGW, Swisslog, Knapp, or Vanderlande experience is gold.

recommended

Demonstrate German language proficiency honestly on a CEFR scale (A1 to C2)

Demonstrate German language proficiency honestly on a CEFR scale (A1 to C2). HQ operations, manufacturing, and most sales roles require C1 or C2 German. Global product management, group IT, and international HR roles may run in English (B2/C1 German is still strongly preferred). Do not claim 'fluent' if you cannot run a contract review meeting in German.

recommended

Include a short 'Ziel' (career objective) or 'Profil' section at the top — 3-4 s

Include a short 'Ziel' (career objective) or 'Profil' section at the top — 3-4 sentences in German for HQ roles, in English for global roles — stating what you bring and what you are looking for. This is a German CV convention, not a gimmick.

recommended

For senior roles list memberships in VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure), VDMA (Me

For senior roles list memberships in VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure), VDMA (Mechanical Engineering Industry Association), or BVL (Bundesvereinigung Logistik). For sales roles, evidence of industry-specific networks (LogiMAT, CeMAT, IFOY) matters. These signals matter more in Germany than in the US tech market.

recommended

Quantify impact in metrics Jungheinrich cares about: throughput (picks per hour,

Quantify impact in metrics Jungheinrich cares about: throughput (picks per hour, pallets per hour), OEE, downtime reduction, energy consumption (kWh per pallet move), project P&L, on-time delivery, ramp-up speed for new AGV installations, or SKU scaling for WMS implementations. Avoid vanity metrics.

Interview Culture

Interviewing at Jungheinrich is a textbook illustration of Hamburg Hanseatic business culture: formal, prepared, understated, long-term oriented, and allergic to bluster.

Candidates who arrive in a suit (men) or equivalent business attire (women), shake hands firmly, address the interviewer as 'Herr' or 'Frau' with surname until explicitly invited to first names, and open with a short, structured self-introduction (Selbstvorstellung) in clean German signal cultural fit immediately. The first interview is almost always conducted by the hiring manager plus an HR business partner, and the tone is respectful but probing — expect every line on your CV to be tested. Unlike US behavioral interviews that reward storytelling and enthusiasm, German-Hanseatic interviews reward precision: specific dates, specific metrics, specific technical decisions, and honest acknowledgment of what did not work. Claims like 'I transformed the team' or 'I drove 10x growth' without numbers and context will be questioned sharply, not admired. Silence and pauses are normal — a German interviewer may think for five seconds before responding, and candidates who rush to fill the silence often over-explain and damage their credibility. Because Jungheinrich is family-controlled and long-horizon, interviewers genuinely care about tenure signals: why you left your last three employers, what your career arc looks like over 10-20 years, and whether you are the kind of person who stays. Job hoppers (under two years per employer, multiple times) face hard questions. The industry rigor element is equally important: Jungheinrich competes in a capital-intensive, safety-critical, engineering-led industry where a misdesigned forklift controller or an underspecified AGV safety scanner can injure warehouse workers. Interviewers test for discipline, documentation habits, and respect for standards (CE marking, Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, ISO 3691-4 for driverless industrial trucks, functional safety). Candidates who treat safety and compliance as check-the-box bureaucracy will not be hired into engineering roles. The KION rivalry casts a quiet shadow — Jungheinrich's main competitors, Linde Material Handling and STILL, are also German, also MDAX-listed (KION Group), and candidates who arrive from KION are scrutinized for loyalty and IP hygiene concerns, while candidates who move the other way are a sensitive topic Jungheinrich does not like to discuss publicly. Toyota Material Handling (Mjölby, Sweden and global) and Crown Equipment (US) are the other frequent reference points. Expect questions about how you would handle engineering trade-offs between cost, reliability, safety, and time-to-market — Jungheinrich consistently prioritizes reliability and safety over speed, and candidates who lead with speed are a cultural mismatch. Final rounds for senior roles include a Vorstand-adjacent stakeholder or works council (Betriebsrat) touchpoint — Germany's co-determination model means the Betriebsrat has real influence on hiring for roles that affect headcount or working conditions, and this is a cultural signal foreign candidates frequently misread as bureaucratic when it is actually a legitimate governance gate. Negotiation at offer stage is welcome but Hanseatic in style: specific numbers, data from Kununu/Glassdoor/Stepstone benchmarks, polite framing, and no ultimatums. Aggressive negotiation tactics imported from US tech can end offers.

What Jungheinrich Looks For

  • Deep technical expertise with verifiable credentials — Diplom-Ingenieur, M.Sc., or IHK certification for engineering and technical roles; the German labor market treats formal qualifications as load-bearing, not as a starting point for negotiation.
  • Long-term tenure signal — Jungheinrich values candidates who have stayed at previous employers for 5+ years, built institutional knowledge, and delivered through multiple project cycles. The family-controlled ownership model filters strongly for stability.
  • Intralogistics or adjacent-industry experience — direct exposure to warehousing, material handling, AGV/AMR, AS/RS, WMS, or automotive/discrete manufacturing automation. KION, Dematic, SSI Schäfer, TGW, Swisslog, Knapp, Vanderlande, Daifuku, Honeywell Intelligrated, or automotive tier-one suppliers are strong pedigrees.
  • Bilingual capability with honest CEFR self-assessment — German C1/C2 for HQ, manufacturing, and most commercial roles; business-level English universally expected for global coordination with subsidiaries across 40+ countries.
  • Safety and standards literacy — CE marking under Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, ISO 3691-4 for driverless industrial trucks, ISO 13849 and IEC 61508 for functional safety, and industry-specific knowledge of battery safety (for lithium-ion work) and rack stability (for AS/RS).
  • Customer-orientation with industry-specific vocabulary — for sales, service, and product roles, fluency in DCs, 3PLs, e-commerce fulfillment, cold-chain warehouses, pharma GMP warehouses, and automotive line-side logistics is expected.
  • Digital and automation fluency — software engineering, embedded systems, controls (PLC, motion control), data engineering, cloud (AWS/Azure), IoT, SLAM and lidar-based navigation for AGVs, and modern WMS architectures. The Strategy 2025+ pivot is real and the company is hiring against it.
  • Cultural fit with Hanseatic Mittelstand values — humility, precision, documentation discipline, respect for hierarchy and works council processes, willingness to operate on decade-scale horizons rather than quarterly sprints.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does engineering compensation look like at Jungheinrich in Germany?
Entry-level engineers (Dipl.-Ing. / M.Sc.) at Hamburg HQ or Bavarian plants typically start around €52,000-€62,000 gross base, moving to €70,000-€85,000 at senior individual contributor level after 5-8 years. Team leads and principal engineers reach €95,000-€120,000 base with a 10-20% variable bonus. Senior managers and directors exceed €140,000 base with larger bonus and company car. These are Mittelstand-competitive numbers but do not match FAANG or US tech bands — Jungheinrich does not compete on cash; it competes on stability, engineering depth, and 30-day vacation plus strong pension contributions.
Should I apply in German or English?
Apply in German for any role based in Hamburg, Norderstedt, Moosburg, Degernpoint, Landsberg, Lüneburg, or Dresden unless the posting is explicitly English-only. Apply in English for global product management, group IT, international HR, and roles based outside Germany. If the posting is bilingual, submit both a German Lebenslauf and an English CV — it demonstrates effort and bilingual capability, which the company values highly. Applying only in English for a Hamburg HQ role is read as either a language gap or a lack of cultural awareness.
Is it better to be based in Hamburg, Norderstedt, Moosburg, or Degernpoint?
It depends on your role. Hamburg (Friedrich-Ebert-Damm) is HQ — corporate functions, group IT, strategy, finance, global sales leadership, and executive presence. Norderstedt (just north of Hamburg) is counterbalance truck manufacturing and R&D — strong for mechanical, electrical, and production engineering. Moosburg an der Isar (Bavaria, between Munich and Landshut) is warehouse trucks, AGVs, and lithium-ion battery manufacturing — the hottest spot for automation and energy engineers today. Degernpoint (Bavaria) handles high-rack and very-narrow-aisle trucks. Hamburg and Bavaria have very different costs of living, tax/church-tax implications, and cultural norms — Bavaria is more traditional and family-oriented, Hamburg is cosmopolitan and maritime. Commute distances in Germany are taken seriously; do not agree to a 90-minute daily commute you will not sustain.
Why do candidates typically turn down Jungheinrich offers for KION, STILL, Linde, or Toyota Industries?
The most common reasons are (a) KION Group can sometimes offer 5-15% higher base for the same role because it is larger and more aggressive on talent acquisition, (b) Linde Material Handling and STILL have stronger brand recognition outside Germany in some segments, (c) Toyota Material Handling's global footprint and Toyota Production System pedigree appeals to manufacturing engineers, (d) Crown Equipment has US/North America exposure that some candidates prefer. Jungheinrich's counter-offers tend to focus on job scope, engineering autonomy, family-business stability, and the Strategy 2025+ automation pivot rather than matching cash. Candidates who prioritize cash alone often go to KION; candidates who prioritize tenure, depth, and product ownership choose Jungheinrich.
What ATS does Jungheinrich use and do I need to game keyword matching?
Jungheinrich runs a custom in-house job board on its own infrastructure (visible in the URL as jh-api under jungheinrich.com) rather than a standard third-party ATS like Workday, SuccessFactors, or Greenhouse. This means keyword-stuffing tricks designed for parsers like Taleo or iCIMS are less relevant. What matters is that your Lebenslauf clearly states the qualifications listed in the job description using the exact terms (e.g., 'Maschinenbau' not just 'Mechanical Engineering' for a German role, 'SAP EWM' not 'warehouse management'), because recruiters read CVs manually and expect German qualification terminology.
How important is German labor law familiarity, notice periods, and the Betriebsrat?
Extremely important for senior and management roles. German Kündigungsfristen (notice periods) are often 3 months for standard roles and 6 months or more for senior positions, measured to quarter- or month-end. Jungheinrich will expect you to honor your current contract's notice period fully — offering to leave your current employer in two weeks is not a selling point; it is a red flag. The Betriebsrat (works council) at each Jungheinrich site has statutory rights under the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz including co-determination on hiring classifications, and you may meet a Betriebsrat representative for certain roles. Treat this as legitimate governance, not friction.
Does Jungheinrich hire internationally or sponsor visas for Germany?
Yes, especially for EU Blue Card-eligible engineering, IT, and automation roles where the German-market talent shortage is acute. The company will sponsor Blue Cards for candidates with qualifying degrees and salary thresholds (currently around €45,300 for shortage occupations and higher for others in 2026). For non-EU candidates, expect the process to take 2-4 months for work permit and relocation coordination through a relocation partner. Language is the harder barrier than legal status — without B2/C1 German most HQ roles are closed to you, even with Blue Card eligibility, because the working language on-site remains German.
How should I frame a move from KION, Linde, STILL, Toyota, or Crown to Jungheinrich in an interview?
Honestly and respectfully. Do not disparage your current or previous employer — the Hanseatic culture penalizes that sharply. State factually what drew you to Jungheinrich: the Strategy 2025+ automation pivot, the family-controlled long-term horizon, a specific product (lithium-ion in-house manufacturing, a particular AGV platform, a WMS architecture), or a specific team or leader you have researched. Be prepared for sensitive questions around IP hygiene — do not bring customer lists, source code, or proprietary designs from a competitor, and make this clear unprompted if you are interviewing for a technical role. Jungheinrich and KION take IP seriously and a sloppy answer here ends the process.
What does the Jungheinrich Graduate Programme involve and is it a good path in?
The Jungheinrich International Graduate Programme is an 18-24 month rotational programme for recent Bachelor's or Master's graduates, cycling through 3-4 functional areas (for example, product management, sales, operations, international subsidiaries) with at least one international rotation. It is a respected programme in the German Mittelstand and a strong entry path if you target a long-term career with the company. It is not the right fit if you want to specialize immediately in a single technical track — for deep engineering or software roles, direct hire into a specific team is the better path. Selection is competitive with assessment centers and final interviews in Hamburg.
What is Jungheinrich looking for in candidates for the automation and AGV/AS-RS push?
Direct experience in automated material handling — mobile robotics (AGV/AMR with SLAM, lidar, sensor fusion), fixed automation (miniload, pallet cranes, shuttles, conveyors), safety engineering under ISO 3691-4 and ISO 13849, PLC and motion control (Siemens S7, Beckhoff), industrial networking (PROFINET, EtherCAT, OPC UA), and WMS and WCS integration. Software candidates with embedded C/C++, ROS/ROS2, Python, or Rust plus domain knowledge of warehouse operations are in very high demand. Product managers with prior time at Dematic, TGW, SSI Schäfer, Swisslog, Knapp, Vanderlande, Honeywell Intelligrated, or KION-ITS are actively recruited.

Open Positions

Jungheinrich currently has 18 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 18 open positions at Jungheinrich

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Sources

  1. Jungheinrich AG — Official Career Portal —
  2. Jungheinrich AG — Company Overview —
  3. Jungheinrich AG — Investor Relations and Shareholder Structure —
  4. Jungheinrich AG — Strategy 2025+ —
  5. Jungheinrich International Graduate Programme —
  6. Jungheinrich AG — FRA: JUN3 Share Information —
  7. Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales — Blue Card Germany Information —
  8. ISO 3691-4:2023 Industrial Trucks — Safety requirements for driverless industrial trucks —