How to Apply to Körber AG

14 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 5 open positions

Key Takeaways

  • Körber is a foundation-owned German industrial technology group, not a PE-backed roll-up or a publicly traded corporation — long planning horizons, measured decisions, and internal mobility are structurally baked in
  • The group is organized into three Business Areas (Pharma, Supply Chain, Technologies), each with a materially different culture, stack, and cadence — pick the Business Area before you pick the role
  • Roughly 13,000 employees across 100+ locations and ~€2.9B revenue place Körber in the upper Mittelstand tier — large enough for career scope, small enough for your name to be known
  • The careers portal at jobs.koerber.com runs on SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Management on the EU datacenter — optimize your CV for the SuccessFactors parser (single-column, standard headings, PDF, under ~5 MB)
  • Language matters: apply in German to German-posted roles, in English to international roles; mixing the two is a common, avoidable self-rejection
  • Expect a thorough multi-stage interview process (recruiter screen, hiring-manager deep dive, HR and skip-level final round) and prepare a Vorstellung for mid- and senior-level roles
  • Körber values entrepreneurial thinking, trust and collaboration, and performance delivery — prepare STAR-structured stories against each of these three themes
  • Apprenticeship (Ausbildung) and dual-study (Duales Studium) programs are a genuine pipeline into the group, especially at Hamburg-Bergedorf — an assessment day is standard for these tracks
  • Central recruiting contact is +49 40 21107 291 and [email protected]; use it for status after two weeks rather than reapplying
  • The 2024-2026 restructuring consolidated Digital and Tissue into the three main Business Areas and realigned Tobacco/Hauni under Technologies — be current with this structure in interviews

About Körber AG

Körber AG is a Hamburg-headquartered international technology group that most people outside of Germany have never heard of, yet its machines, software, and services touch products millions of people use every day. Roughly every second cigarette produced worldwide passes through a Körber-built machine, a large share of European pharmaceutical packaging flows through its inspection and track-and-trace systems, and its supply chain software (built on the acquired HighJump platform, now known as Körber Supply Chain Software) runs warehouses for retailers, 3PLs, and manufacturers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The group employs around 13,000 people across more than 100 locations worldwide and generates revenue in the region of €2.8 to €2.9 billion, placing it firmly in the upper tier of German Mittelstand industrial technology companies. The story begins in 1946, when engineer and entrepreneur Kurt A. Körber founded what would become Hauni Maschinenbau in Hamburg, initially building machinery for the tobacco industry. Over the following decades the business diversified aggressively through organic growth and a steady cadence of bolt-on acquisitions, adding pharma packaging (through brands such as Werum, Fargo Automation, and Rondo), supply chain automation and software (Inconso, HighJump, Voiteq, enVista, and others), tissue converting machinery (Fabio Perini, MTC, and Valmet Tissue Converting), and a variety of niche measurement, systems, and digital businesses. The common thread is industrial automation combined with increasingly software-heavy control layers. What makes Körber structurally unusual — and genuinely worth understanding before you apply — is its ownership. Körber AG is owned by the Körber-Stiftung, a non-profit foundation established by Kurt A. Körber in 1959. This is not a marketing talking point; it is a legally binding ownership structure. There are no public shareholders, no private equity sponsors, and no quarterly-earnings pressure from outside capital markets. Profits are either reinvested into the operating businesses or used to fund the foundation's charitable work in education, international understanding, and civic engagement, much of which is run out of the KörberHaus in Hamburg-Bergedorf. For candidates this has two practical consequences. First, the business is able to plan on genuinely long horizons — its LIFE 2035 strategy, for example, sets a decade-out frame — which tends to reward depth of expertise over job-hopping and produces internal careers that look more like a series of lateral moves across business areas than a ladder within a single silo. Second, the pace and politics feel closer to a classic German industrial group than to either a US tech firm or a PE-backed roll-up: decisions are thorough, documentation is expected, and consensus is built before moves are made. As of 2026 the group is organized into three Business Areas — Pharma, Supply Chain, and Technologies — following a recent restructuring that consolidated the previously separate Digital and Tissue units into the broader areas and that realigned the Tobacco business (still anchored by the Hauni brand) under Technologies alongside food, beverage, and flavor-related machinery. Körber Business Area Pharma sells consulting, inspection, handling, packaging machines, track-and-trace serialization, and manufacturing execution software (PAS-X MES is a flagship product) to pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers. Business Area Supply Chain provides warehouse management, warehouse control, voice, robotics integration, and logistics consulting to retailers, 3PLs, e-commerce, and manufacturing. Business Area Technologies houses the tobacco machinery heritage, tissue converting, and emerging food and beverage lines. Add in centralized Global Business Services hubs — notably a significant shared-services operation in Porto, Portugal — and the result is a company with very different day-to-day experiences depending on which Business Area you join. For anyone targeting Körber, this means 'working at Körber' is not a single thing. A warehouse-management software engineer in Mönchengladbach or Boston, a mechatronics apprentice on the Hauni shop floor in Hamburg-Bergedorf, a validation engineer in a Lüneburg pharma facility, and an SAP consultant in the Porto shared-services center will each describe a distinct employer. What they share is a German Mittelstand cultural DNA — engineering pride, long tenures, measured decision-making, and a genuine emphasis on Ausbildung and dual-study programs — layered on top of increasingly international operations and a software-and-services business mix that now accounts for a substantial share of revenue.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Start at koerber

    Start at koerber.com/en/careers and click through to the jobs portal at jobs.koerber.com, which is Körber's public SuccessFactors Recruiting career site. The site lets you filter by Business Area (Pharma, Supply Chain, Technologies, Group Functions), career group (Apprentices & Dual Students, Working Students & Interns, Graduates & Young Professionals, Experts & Skilled Professionals), country, city, department, and job function. As of early 2026 there are roughly 5+ open roles globally at any given time; this count moves with hiring cycles.

  2. 2
    Decide early whether you are applying to a German-speaking location or an intern

    Decide early whether you are applying to a German-speaking location or an international one. German-based roles in Hamburg, Lüneburg, Mönchengladbach, Stuttgart, and similar sites are usually posted in German and often require fluent business German (C1 equivalent), particularly for customer-facing, HR, legal, and operations roles. International roles in the US, UK, Portugal, India, Singapore, and elsewhere are typically English-only. Applying in the wrong language is a common self-inflicted rejection — if the job ad is in German, write your cover letter in German.

  3. 3
    Create a candidate account in SuccessFactors

    Create a candidate account in SuccessFactors. You will be asked to either upload a single PDF or parse your data from a LinkedIn or Xing profile. The parser is serviceable but not perfect, so treat any parsed result as a draft and clean it up manually. Save your account credentials — you will reuse this profile for every future application and Körber's internal mobility is meaningful, so keeping the profile up to date matters.

  4. 4
    Prepare a full Bewerbungsunterlagen package for German roles: a Lebenslauf (CV),

    Prepare a full Bewerbungsunterlagen package for German roles: a Lebenslauf (CV), an Anschreiben (cover letter), Zeugnisse (school-leaving certificate, degree certificate, and qualified work references — Arbeitszeugnisse), and any relevant certifications. German hiring managers genuinely read Arbeitszeugnisse and know how to decode the coded language; missing references for long tenures can raise questions. For international roles, a clean resume plus a targeted cover letter is sufficient, with transcripts or certifications attached where the role calls for them.

  5. 5
    Submit a single consolidated PDF where possible

    Submit a single consolidated PDF where possible. SuccessFactors typically caps individual attachments at around 5 MB and Körber's recruiting FAQ confirms a per-file size limit; keeping documents under this threshold and merged in a sensible order (Cover Letter → CV → Certificates) avoids truncation and makes the recruiter's job easier.

  6. 6
    Expect a first response within one to two weeks

    Expect a first response within one to two weeks. Körber's published guidance is that the full process typically takes several weeks end-to-end, and the recruiting team staffs a central contact line at +49 40 21107 291 and [email protected] for status questions — use it if you have not heard back after two weeks, rather than applying to the same role twice.

  7. 7
    Progress through a first-round screen with a corporate recruiter (usually 30 min

    Progress through a first-round screen with a corporate recruiter (usually 30 minutes, by phone or Teams), then a deeper interview with the hiring manager and sometimes a senior individual contributor from the team. Technical roles will include either a case study, a coding exercise, or a site visit. Apprenticeship and dual-study applicants typically go through an assessment day on-site at a training location.

  8. 8
    Prepare for a final round that often includes HR business partner and a skip-lev

    Prepare for a final round that often includes HR business partner and a skip-level leader. For more senior roles (team-lead and above) a Vorstellung — a structured self-presentation of 10 to 20 minutes — is commonly requested. Prepare slides; ask the recruiter for format expectations up front.

  9. 9
    Receive a written offer (Angebot) that is negotiated on Grundgehalt (base), vari

    Receive a written offer (Angebot) that is negotiated on Grundgehalt (base), variable component (if any), vacation days (30 days is the typical German norm), pension contribution, and notice period (Kündigungsfrist). Negotiations are civil, evidence-based, and not adversarial — bring market data and salary expectations (Gehaltsvorstellung) that you can defend.

  10. 10
    Complete pre-employment steps (background check where legally allowed, reference

    Complete pre-employment steps (background check where legally allowed, reference check in many jurisdictions, and for certain Hauni and Pharma roles a security or compliance screen), sign the employment contract, and hand in notice at your current employer. Onboarding typically begins the first of a month with a structured Einarbeitung plan and, for larger intakes, a cross-Business-Area welcome event.


Resume Tips for Körber AG

recommended

Optimize for SuccessFactors parsing first, human readers second

Optimize for SuccessFactors parsing first, human readers second. Use a single-column layout, standard headings (Experience, Education, Skills, Languages, Certifications), no text boxes, no icons stored as images, and no header-and-footer sections — SuccessFactors tends to drop content placed in Word headers. Save as PDF with selectable text, not as an image scan.

recommended

Name your file intelligibly

Name your file intelligibly. A pattern like 'Lastname_Firstname_CV_KörberSupplyChain.pdf' survives both recruiter sorting and the SuccessFactors attachment rename. Avoid umlauts in filenames for international submissions — some systems still choke on them.

recommended

Lead with a Profile or Kurzprofil section of three to five lines that names your

Lead with a Profile or Kurzprofil section of three to five lines that names your discipline, years of experience, and the Business Area you are targeting. Körber recruiters screen across Pharma, Supply Chain, and Technologies simultaneously, and an explicit signal of which area you belong in saves them a guess.

recommended

For German-market CVs, include the traditional fields: date and place of birth a

For German-market CVs, include the traditional fields: date and place of birth are legal (and still common) in Germany but never required by Körber — include them only if you prefer; nationality and marital status are optional and increasingly omitted; a professional photo is cultural custom but not required under GG/AGG and Körber does not demand it. Err toward the modern minimum: name, contact, LinkedIn/Xing, location, and no photo if you prefer the US/UK style.

recommended

Mirror Körber's own vocabulary

Mirror Körber's own vocabulary. Job ads are heavy on terms like 'unternehmerisches Denken' (entrepreneurial thinking), 'Vertrauen und Zusammenarbeit' (trust and collaboration), 'Performance', 'LIFE 2035', 'technology leadership', and 'integrated solutions'. Weave the English or German equivalents into your summary and achievements where they are true — SuccessFactors keyword relevance matters and recruiters recognize the language.

recommended

Quantify everything your role actually moved

Quantify everything your role actually moved. For supply chain and software roles: throughput gains, cycle-time reductions, percent-on-time shipments, number of warehouses rolled out, concurrent users, integrations delivered. For pharma: number of validated systems, batch-release cycle time, deviations avoided, regulatory audits passed (FDA, EMA, PMDA). For machinery and technologies: OEE, MTBF, commissioning lead time, installed-base sites, customers served. Vague bullets get skimmed; quantified ones get circled.

recommended

Name the tooling

Name the tooling. Körber software roles frequently list SAP ERP/EWM, Azure, AWS, Java, .NET, C#, Python, SQL, React, Kubernetes, PAS-X MES, and proprietary warehouse management stacks (including HighJump/Körber WMS heritage products). Machinery roles list SIEMENS S7, TIA Portal, Beckhoff, HMIs, Festo, KUKA, and ISO/TS standards. List specific versions and years of use where relevant.

recommended

For Ausbildung and Duales Studium applicants, put your current school, expected

For Ausbildung and Duales Studium applicants, put your current school, expected Abitur/Fachhochschulreife date, and Notendurchschnitt (grade average) visibly near the top. Add any Praktika, school-lab internships, FIRST Robotics or Jugend forscht placements, and language certificates. Körber apprentice recruiters read for genuine curiosity and hands-on evidence, not perfection of grades.

recommended

List language proficiency honestly using CEFR levels (A2/B1/B2/C1/C2)

List language proficiency honestly using CEFR levels (A2/B1/B2/C1/C2). German at B2 or above unlocks a much larger slate of roles; English at C1 is a baseline for anything cross-border. If you are applying to Porto-based Global Business Services roles, Portuguese is a significant plus; for Pharma and Supply Chain roles in Southern Europe and LATAM, Spanish and Italian similarly expand your options.

recommended

Keep length to two pages for professionals (three at most for senior technical o

Keep length to two pages for professionals (three at most for senior technical or scientific profiles with publications and patents), one page for students and apprentices. German hiring managers accept and even expect longer CVs when warranted by tenure, but padding is visible and hurts.



Interview Culture

Interviewing at Körber sits at the intersection of German Mittelstand formality and modern international practice, and the exact balance shifts depending on which Business Area and country you are interviewing in. As a general frame: expect thoroughness over speed, prepared questions over freeform chat, and technical depth over pattern-matching personality tests. The first-stage screen is almost always with a corporate recruiter and is genuinely a two-way conversation. The recruiter will walk your CV chronologically, probe the reasons for each role change (a classic German interview move — be ready to explain departures and promotions in plain language), test your language level if the role is bilingual, and confirm practical facts like notice period, relocation willingness, and Gehaltsvorstellung. Giving a specific, defensible salary range — rather than 'open' or 'negotiable' — is culturally expected and saves time; Kununu and Glassdoor data plus published collective agreements (IG Metall tarif tables for engineering and manufacturing roles) are useful benchmarks. The second stage is with the hiring manager and frequently a senior individual contributor from the team. This is where technical depth is tested in earnest. For software engineering roles expect architecture discussions, a live or take-home coding exercise, and system-design questions focused on the specific stack (SAP EWM integration, warehouse management algorithms, MES for pharma, high-availability machine control). For mechanical, electrical, and mechatronics roles expect hands-on technical interviewing: schematics, failure-mode analysis, PLC logic, and sometimes a shop-floor walk-through if you are interviewing on site at Hamburg-Bergedorf, Lüneburg, Mönchengladbach, or Bologna. For consulting and project-management roles expect a case or a past-project walkthrough where you defend scope, budget, and stakeholder management decisions. For pharma-specific roles GMP knowledge, validation experience, and familiarity with 21 CFR Part 11, Annex 11, and GAMP 5 come up quickly. A Vorstellung — a short structured self-presentation — is common from mid-level roles upward. Five to ten slides is a reasonable target: who you are, your career arc, one or two deep-dive case studies with measurable outcomes, and a closing slide on why Körber and specifically why this Business Area. This is not a sales pitch; it is a professional artifact that signals you take the opportunity seriously, and skipping it when it is requested reads as careless. Behavioral questioning at Körber tends to focus on three consistent themes that map directly to the company's stated values: entrepreneurial thinking (tell me about a time you made a decision without clear authority), trust and collaboration (tell me about a time you disagreed with a senior colleague), and performance delivery (tell me about a commitment you made that was at risk and what you did). Prepare STAR-structured stories for each; vague or generic answers do not survive in a culture that reads Arbeitszeugnisse for a living. Final-round interviews for any role with people-management scope will include an HR business partner and frequently a skip-level leader. For senior hires a visit to a second site — often Hamburg headquarters even if you are based elsewhere — is common, both to meet the broader leadership and to let you see the operation. Travel is covered. Cultural notes that actually matter: address everyone with 'Sie' and the formal German honorifics until explicitly invited to switch to 'Du' (the invitation often comes from the most senior person in the room — wait for it). Punctuality is not flexible — arrive five minutes early, not thirty. Dress is 'Business' or 'Smart Business' for corporate, office, and client-facing roles, and 'Smart Casual' for software and R&D teams; if you are uncertain, ask the recruiter directly and dress one notch up. Salary and benefits are discussed openly; asking about pension, Zuschüsse, vacation, and flexible work is normal and expected.

What Körber AG Looks For

  • Depth of expertise over breadth — Körber hires specialists and rewards people who go deep in a discipline, not generalists who skim multiple fields
  • Genuine curiosity about the physical product or process — even for pure software roles, interest in how a warehouse actually moves product or how a pharmaceutical packaging line actually runs is noticed
  • Fluent German (B2/C1 or native) for German-based HQ, operations, HR, and customer-facing roles; fluent English (C1) as a baseline for any cross-border role
  • Evidence of long-term commitment — short stints are not deal-breakers but require a clear story; Körber's own tenures are long and the culture expects candidates to be similarly thoughtful about fit
  • Customer-impact orientation — the company talks constantly about 'entrepreneurial thinking' and 'customer success', and examples of candidate work that translated engineering or software effort into measurable customer outcomes land strongly
  • Collaboration across cultures and business areas — the group is genuinely international (Germany, US, UK, Portugal, Italy, India, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, China), and evidence of cross-cultural team success is a real differentiator
  • Regulatory and quality rigor for Pharma-bound candidates (GMP, GAMP 5, 21 CFR Part 11, EU Annex 11, ISO 13485 where applicable)
  • Hands-on technical fluency for Technologies-bound candidates (OEE, TPM, PLC/HMI stacks, ISO/TS 16949, Six Sigma, CE machinery directive)
  • Modern software-engineering hygiene for Supply Chain Software and Digital candidates (version control workflows, CI/CD, test coverage, cloud-native deployment — Azure and AWS both in use)
  • A willingness to learn SAP and work within a SAP-heavy enterprise environment — even for non-SAP roles, the corporate backbone is SAP and resistance to it will surface in the interview

Frequently Asked Questions

What ATS does Körber use for job applications?
Körber uses SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Management. The public career site at jobs.koerber.com is a white-labeled SuccessFactors career portal, served from SAP's EU datacenter (performancemanager5.successfactors.eu) with assets from rmkcdn.successfactors.com. Applications, status tracking, internal mobility, and offer workflows all run inside SuccessFactors.
Do I need to speak German to work at Körber?
It depends entirely on the role and location. Roles based at German sites — Hamburg, Hamburg-Bergedorf, Lüneburg, Mönchengladbach, Stuttgart, and similar — typically require business-fluent German (B2 or C1) for customer-facing, HR, legal, operations, and leadership positions; many technical and software roles at these same sites are bilingual and accept strong English as long as you can hold team meetings. International roles in the US, UK, Portugal, India, Singapore, Japan, and elsewhere are almost always English-only. Check the posting language — Körber publishes ads in the working language of the job.
How long does the Körber application process take?
Körber's published guidance, and candidate-reported timelines, put the typical end-to-end process at roughly four to eight weeks from application to offer for professional hires. Apprenticeships and dual-study programs run on fixed annual calendars (applications usually open in the autumn for a start the following summer). If you have not heard back after two weeks, contact the recruiting team at +49 40 21107 291 or [email protected] rather than reapplying.
What is the difference between Körber AG and Körber Supply Chain Software?
Körber AG is the parent holding company headquartered in Hamburg. Körber Supply Chain Software is the software business within Business Area Supply Chain, built largely on the 2017 acquisition of HighJump Software (US) and subsequent acquisitions including Voiteq, Inconso, Cirrus Logistics, and enVista. It sells warehouse management, warehouse control, voice picking, and related logistics software globally and has substantial teams in the US, Germany, and elsewhere. You will see both brands on job postings depending on which entity is the legal employer.
Is Körber owned by private equity?
No. Körber AG is wholly owned by the Körber-Stiftung (Körber Foundation), a non-profit foundation established by company founder Kurt A. Körber in 1959. There are no private equity sponsors and no public shareholders. Profits are reinvested in the operating businesses or used to fund the foundation's charitable work in education, international understanding, and civic engagement. This ownership structure is a defining feature of the group and shapes its long-term planning culture.
Can I apply by email or by post to Körber?
Körber's recruiting team has been explicit that applications must go through the online portal at jobs.koerber.com. Email and paper applications are not processed. The portal is required both for legal data-protection reasons (GDPR) and because SuccessFactors is the system of record for the entire recruiting lifecycle. If you have a question about a specific job, emailing [email protected] or calling +49 40 21107 291 is fine, but the application itself goes through the portal.
Does Körber offer apprenticeships and dual-study programs?
Yes. Körber runs a substantial Ausbildung and Duales Studium pipeline across its German sites, particularly at the Hamburg-Bergedorf headquarters area (the historical Hauni location) and at Lüneburg and Mönchengladbach. Programs cover mechatronics, electronics, industrial mechanics, IT, business informatics, and commercial disciplines. Applications typically open in the autumn for a start the following summer, and selection includes an assessment day on site.
What is the typical salary range at Körber in Germany?
Körber does not publish a public salary grid, but compensation for German roles generally tracks IG Metall and regional tarif agreements for engineering and manufacturing positions and is market-competitive for software, pharma, and shared-services roles. Kununu, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn Salary provide useful benchmarks. Negotiation is evidence-based and civil — bring a defensible Gehaltsvorstellung to the first recruiter conversation.
What are the main Körber locations?
Globally, Körber operates from more than 100 locations. Headquarters is in Hamburg, Germany, with major German sites at Hamburg-Bergedorf (Hauni / Technologies), Lüneburg (Pharma), and Mönchengladbach (Supply Chain). Significant international hubs include the US (Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, and elsewhere for Supply Chain Software), Portugal (Porto — Global Business Services), Italy (Bologna — Fabio Perini / tissue), UK, India, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, and China. Remote and hybrid work is available for many software and commercial roles; it is less common for machinery, R&D-lab, and shop-floor roles.
How should I tailor my resume for a Körber application?
Use a single-column PDF with standard section headings (Profile, Experience, Education, Skills, Languages, Certifications), no header/footer content, no icons stored as images, and a filename that includes your name and the target Business Area. Mirror the language of the job ad, quantify outcomes with specific numbers and currencies, list CEFR language levels honestly, and explicitly name the Business Area you are targeting in your Profile. For German-market CVs you may include the traditional personal-data block but a photo is not required. Keep the file under roughly 5 MB for SuccessFactors upload.

Open Positions

Körber AG currently has 5 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 5 open positions at Körber AG

Related Resources

Similar Companies

Related Articles


Sources

  1. Körber Careers — Official careers homepage
  2. Körber Group Jobs — Public SuccessFactors career portal
  3. About Körber — Corporate overview, 13,000 employees, 100+ locations, Business Areas Pharma, Supply Chain, Technologies
  4. Körber-Stiftung — Foundation ownership of Körber AG
  5. SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Management — Official SAP product page
  6. Körber Supply Chain Software — Former HighJump platform