How to Apply to MAN Truck & Bus

11 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 257 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • MAN Truck & Bus is a wholly-owned TRATON SE subsidiary inside the Volkswagen Group — applying here means joining a major European OEM with global scale, not an independent niche manufacturer.
  • The careers portal at man.eu/career runs SAP SuccessFactors; keyword-precise CVs and fully-filled structured fields materially improve ranking.
  • Munich, Nuremberg, Krakow, Starachowice, Ankara, and Querétaro are the main hiring hubs — German-language fluency is decisive for Munich/Nuremberg and helpful but not mandatory for the international plants.
  • IG Metall is heavily organised at German sites; works council involvement in hiring is normal and beneficial to candidates, not adversarial.
  • Electrification (eTruck, eBus, hydrogen) is where the strongest growth and hiring momentum sits — battery, eAxle, charging, and fuel-cell experience is in active demand.
  • Compensation is Tarif-anchored at German union sites with strong benefits (35-hour week, 30 days vacation, Christmas/vacation pay, employee vehicle leasing) but less room for individual negotiation than at non-Tarif employers.
  • The 2020 restructuring still casts a shadow culturally — show genuine respect for the craft and the workforce, not outside-industry disruption attitudes.
  • Visa sponsorship is realistic for specialised electrification, embedded software, and functional-safety roles where MAN cannot fill positions locally.

About MAN Truck & Bus

MAN Truck & Bus SE is a German commercial vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany, producing heavy and medium-duty trucks, city and intercity buses, and light commercial vans. The company in its current form dates to 1986, when MAN AG consolidated its truck operations under a single brand, but the lineage of the parent name traces all the way back to 1758, when the Sankt Antony ironworks was founded in Oberhausen — making MAN one of the oldest industrial heritages in continental Europe. The historical name 'Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg' still anchors the brand to its Bavarian engineering roots in Augsburg and Nuremberg. MAN Truck & Bus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TRATON SE (FRA: 8TRA), which has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since the 2018 IPO and is itself majority-owned by the Volkswagen Group. Inside TRATON, MAN sits alongside Scania (Sweden), Navistar International (United States, acquired 2021), and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus (Brazil, with Mexico operations). The group employs roughly 36,000 people at MAN specifically, and the brand generated approximately €13–15 billion in revenue in 2024. The MAN product lineup spans the TGX heavy long-haul tractor, TGS construction and severe-duty truck, TGM mid-size distribution, TGL light truck, the Lion's City urban bus and Lion's Coach touring coach, and the TGE van — the latter built jointly with the Volkswagen Crafter at the Września plant in Poland. Production sites of note include Munich (HQ and main truck assembly), Nuremberg (engine plant for diesel and electric powertrains), Salzgitter (axles), Krakow Poland (cabs), Starachowice Poland (buses), Września Poland (vans), and Ankara Turkey (Lion's Coach and Lion's City buses). The Steyr Austria plant was sold to Sieg Group in 2021, and the Plauen and Wittlich German sites were wound down as part of the 2020 restructuring program. MAN went through a difficult 2019–2022 restructuring under significant IG Metall friction — roughly 9,500 job cuts were announced in 2020 — but has since pivoted hard into electrification under CEO Alexander Vlaskamp, who took over in January 2022. The eTGE electric van, eTGM electric truck, MAN Lion's City E electric bus, and hydrogen fuel-cell pilots are central to the strategy, and 2024 brought an expanded eTruck production commitment at Munich. For engineers, MAN today is a serious European player in the commercial-vehicle electrification race, working closely with Scania on shared platforms and with Volkswagen Group on scale benefits.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Browse open positions at man

    Browse open positions at man.eu/career — the careers portal is built on SAP SuccessFactors and lists roles across Germany, Poland, Turkey, Mexico, and other markets.

  2. 2
    Filter by location (Munich, Nuremberg, Krakow, Starachowice, Ankara, Querétaro,

    Filter by location (Munich, Nuremberg, Krakow, Starachowice, Ankara, Querétaro, etc.), function, and contract type (permanent, fixed-term, Werkstudent, apprentice, intern).

  3. 3
    Create a SuccessFactors candidate account and upload a German-style CV (Lebensla

    Create a SuccessFactors candidate account and upload a German-style CV (Lebenslauf) plus a cover letter (Anschreiben) — both are expected in Germany, even for English-language roles.

  4. 4
    Submit your application; expect an automated SuccessFactors confirmation, then a

    Submit your application; expect an automated SuccessFactors confirmation, then a 1–3 week wait while HR and the hiring manager review.

  5. 5
    First contact is typically a 30–45 minute recruiter screen by phone or Teams cov

    First contact is typically a 30–45 minute recruiter screen by phone or Teams covering motivation, salary expectations, notice period, and German language level.

  6. 6
    Technical interview with the hiring manager and one or two engineers

    Technical interview with the hiring manager and one or two engineers — for engineering roles this is detailed and thorough, often including system-level questions and prior-project deep dives.

  7. 7
    Second-round interview, frequently onsite in Munich, Nuremberg, or Krakow, somet

    Second-round interview, frequently onsite in Munich, Nuremberg, or Krakow, sometimes including a short technical exercise, a presentation on a past project, or a tour of the relevant plant or lab.

  8. 8
    Final-round conversation with the department lead and an HR business partner; wo

    Final-round conversation with the department lead and an HR business partner; works council (Betriebsrat) participation is standard at German sites and is a normal part of the process, not a red flag.

  9. 9
    Offer arrives via the SuccessFactors portal and a follow-up phone call; at IG Me

    Offer arrives via the SuccessFactors portal and a follow-up phone call; at IG Metall sites the offered grade and Tarif band are explicit, and benefits like 35-hour week and Tariferhöhungen are spelled out.

  10. 10
    Total elapsed time is typically 4–8 weeks from application to offer; senior or r

    Total elapsed time is typically 4–8 weeks from application to offer; senior or relocation candidates often run longer due to visa or works council coordination.

Resume Tips for MAN Truck & Bus

recommended

Use a clean German-style Lebenslauf with a professional photo (still standard in

Use a clean German-style Lebenslauf with a professional photo (still standard in Germany), date of birth, nationality, and reverse-chronological work history with month-level dates.

recommended

Lead with commercial-vehicle, automotive, or heavy-machinery experience and name

Lead with commercial-vehicle, automotive, or heavy-machinery experience and name peer OEMs explicitly: Daimler Truck, Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Volvo Trucks, Scania, Iveco Group, DAF Trucks, Paccar, Navistar, Hino, Isuzu, Tata, Ashok Leyland.

recommended

For powertrain or vehicle engineering, call out specific standards by name: Euro

For powertrain or vehicle engineering, call out specific standards by name: Euro VI, Stage V, ISO 26262 (functional safety), Automotive SPICE / ASPICE, V-Model, MISRA C, AUTOSAR (Classic and Adaptive), MATLAB/Simulink, dSPACE, Vector CANoe.

recommended

Quantify everything: kilometers tested, durability cycles completed, kilograms s

Quantify everything: kilometers tested, durability cycles completed, kilograms saved, percentage efficiency gained, ECU lines of code, defect closure rate, prototype build counts.

recommended

For electrification roles, name the subsystems: HV battery pack, BMS, eAxle, e-m

For electrification roles, name the subsystems: HV battery pack, BMS, eAxle, e-motor, inverter, DC/DC, OBC, thermal management, CCS/MCS charging, V2G, and hydrogen fuel-cell stack experience.

recommended

For embedded or connected-vehicle roles, call out CAN, LIN, FlexRay, Automotive

For embedded or connected-vehicle roles, call out CAN, LIN, FlexRay, Automotive Ethernet, SOME/IP, DoIP, UDS, OBD, and any RIO platform or fleet-telematics work.

recommended

List German language level honestly using CEFR (A1 / A2 / B1 / B2 / C1 / C2); B2

List German language level honestly using CEFR (A1 / A2 / B1 / B2 / C1 / C2); B2+ is the practical floor for Munich, A2+ is a reasonable starting point for Krakow international roles, and English-only is realistic mainly for senior specialists.

recommended

Highlight degrees from German technical universities (TUM, RWTH Aachen, KIT, TU

Highlight degrees from German technical universities (TUM, RWTH Aachen, KIT, TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt, FH München) — these carry real weight inside MAN — and equivalent strong programs from Poland (AGH Krakow), Turkey (METU, Boğaziçi), and India (IITs) for international applicants.

recommended

Mention IG Metall membership, works council experience, or apprentice-trainer (A

Mention IG Metall membership, works council experience, or apprentice-trainer (Ausbilder) qualifications if relevant — these are positive signals, not awkward ones, at German plant roles.

recommended

Save as PDF with a sensible filename like Lebenslauf_LastName_RoleID

Save as PDF with a sensible filename like Lebenslauf_LastName_RoleID.pdf and keep total length to 2 pages for early-career, 3 maximum for senior — German recruiters dislike sprawling US-style resumes.

ATS System: SAP SuccessFactors

MAN Truck & Bus uses SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting on the man.eu/career portal — the same platform used by many large German industrial employers including Volkswagen Group brands. SuccessFactors performs strict keyword matching against the job posting, parses structured fields (education, languages, work history, certifications), and ranks candidates before a human recruiter sees them. The portal supports German and English; you can apply in either language but matching the posting language is recommended.

  • Mirror the posting's vocabulary precisely — if the job says 'Funktionale Sicherheit ISO 26262' write that exact phrase, not just 'safety standards'.
  • Fill every structured field (degree, university, languages with CEFR levels, start/end dates) — leaving fields blank hurts ranking even if your CV upload contains the data.
  • Use both German and English keywords for technical terms when applying to international roles ('Antriebsstrang / powertrain', 'Steuergerät / ECU') — German recruiters search in both languages.
  • Upload a clean text-based PDF, not a scanned image — SuccessFactors OCR is unreliable and will mangle accents and umlauts.
  • List every relevant tool, standard, and protocol explicitly (CAN, LIN, FlexRay, AUTOSAR, ASPICE, ISO 26262, MATLAB, Simulink, Vector CANoe, dSPACE) — partial matches do not count.
  • Include your full work-permit status (EU citizen, Blue Card holder, requires sponsorship) in the CV header — recruiters filter on this aggressively for German roles.

Interview Culture

MAN interview culture is recognizably German commercial-vehicle engineering — technically rigorous, evidence-driven, and focused on long-term fit rather than personality theater.

Expect interviewers to spend significant time on your prior projects: how you scoped the problem, what trade-offs you made, what you would do differently, and what specifically you contributed versus the team. Vague answers do not survive a MAN technical panel; concrete numbers, specific tools, and honest acknowledgment of failure modes are valued. For engineering roles, expect at least one deep-dive technical session with two or three engineers, often including a whiteboard or a printed schematic to walk through. Functional safety roles will press you on ISO 26262 and ASPICE process artefacts in detail; powertrain and electrification roles will go deep on thermodynamics, battery chemistry, motor control, or charging-protocol specifics; embedded roles will probe AUTOSAR layering, CAN/Ethernet timing, and diagnostic protocols. Works council (Betriebsrat) representation is standard at German sites and is part of the formal process for many roles — this is normal, supports candidate rights, and should not be read as friction. Salary discussions at IG Metall plants are framed in terms of Tarif bands rather than open negotiation; at non-Tarif sites and at international locations there is more room to negotiate, but always with documented market data. Culturally, post-restructuring tension from the 2020 cuts is still present in some long-tenured teams — interviewers may be quietly probing whether you understand the seriousness of commercial-vehicle work and whether you will respect the existing craft, not just import outside-industry shortcuts. Showing genuine interest in MAN's electrification roadmap, the TRATON multi-brand structure, and the Bavarian engineering heritage lands well. Showing up with only generic 'I love trucks' enthusiasm does not.

What MAN Truck & Bus Looks For

  • Demonstrated commercial-vehicle, automotive, or heavy-machinery domain depth — not just generic mechanical or software skill.
  • Hands-on experience with relevant standards: ISO 26262, ASPICE, Euro VI / Stage V emissions, UN ECE regulations, ISO 11898 CAN.
  • For software roles, real AUTOSAR (Classic or Adaptive) experience plus MISRA C, MATLAB/Simulink, and at least one of Vector CANoe, ETAS INCA, or dSPACE.
  • For electrification roles, concrete project work on HV battery, BMS, eAxle, inverters, charging (CCS, MCS), thermal management, or hydrogen fuel-cell stacks.
  • German engineering rigor — willingness to document, follow process, and produce review-quality work — over move-fast-and-break-things attitudes.
  • Strong written and spoken German for Munich, Nuremberg, and most plant roles (B2 is the practical floor; C1 expected for senior team-lead positions).
  • Engineering-degree credentials from a respected technical university (TUM, RWTH Aachen, KIT, TU Berlin, AGH Krakow, METU, IITs) or recognised equivalents.
  • Cultural alignment with long-term, multi-generational craft — MAN values people who plan to stay and grow, not 18-month CV builders.
  • Honest acknowledgment of MAN's restructuring history and a forward-looking interest in the electrification roadmap rather than nostalgia for the old diesel-only world.
  • Comfort with cross-brand collaboration inside TRATON (Scania, Navistar, VW Caminhões) and with Volkswagen Group standards and processes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does MAN Truck & Bus actually pay engineers in Germany?
Mid-level engineers in Munich and Nuremberg typically land in the €60,000–€90,000 base range, and senior or principal engineers in the €90,000–€130,000 range, with IG Metall Tarif benefits stacked on top at union sites — 35-hour week, 30 days vacation, Tariferhöhungen (annual collective raises), Christmas pay (Weihnachtsgeld), vacation pay (Urlaubsgeld), pension contributions, and the Volkswagen Group employee vehicle leasing program. Bonuses are modest by US standards but reliable. Krakow Poland is competitive for the local market (typically PLN 12,000–25,000/month gross for engineers), Ankara Turkey and Querétaro Mexico are calibrated to local norms. Always confirm exact bands during the recruiter call.
How does IG Metall membership and the works council affect hiring and day-to-day work?
IG Metall is the dominant union at MAN's German sites, and the works council (Betriebsrat) is constitutionally embedded in many HR processes. For candidates this is a positive signal: structured Tarif bands prevent lowballing, dismissal protections are strong, and works council participation in hiring rounds is standard practice — not a red flag. Day-to-day, expect formal processes around overtime, shift work, and reorganisations. The 2020 restructuring created lasting tension; new hires who arrive with respect for the existing workforce and craft are received well.
Does MAN sponsor work visas for international engineers coming into Germany?
Yes, particularly for specialised electrification engineering (battery, eAxle, fuel-cell), embedded software (AUTOSAR, ISO 26262), and other roles MAN struggles to fill locally. The most common path is the EU Blue Card, which MAN's HR teams are experienced with. Indian, Brazilian, Turkish, and other non-EU candidates with relevant senior expertise have real pathways into Munich, Nuremberg, and to a lesser extent Krakow. German language is not an absolute prerequisite for senior specialists but B1+ within the first year is strongly expected.
What is the difference between working at MAN's Munich, Krakow, Ankara, and Mexico sites?
Munich is HQ — strategy, R&D leadership, main truck assembly, and the most senior engineering — with the highest German-language requirement. Nuremberg is the engine plant (diesel and electric powertrains). Krakow Poland is a major cab production and engineering site that hires significant international talent in English-friendly environments. Starachowice Poland is bus production, Września is the joint MAN/VW van plant. Ankara Turkey produces Lion's Coach and Lion's City buses with strong local engineering. Querétaro Mexico shares assembly capacity with VW Group and is calibrated to North American truck markets. Each site has its own culture, language norms, and pace.
Does MAN have a strong Werkstudent or intern program?
Yes — MAN runs an active Werkstudent (working student) program in Germany targeting students from TUM, RWTH Aachen, KIT, TU Berlin, FH München, and other German technical universities, plus internship programs of 3–6 months. Engineering, manufacturing, and IT are the largest hiring areas. The Werkstudent path is one of the most reliable routes into a permanent role at MAN — many full-time engineers started this way. International master's students at German universities are eligible. Apply via the same SuccessFactors portal under 'Schüler & Studierende'.
How does MAN compare with Scania, Daimler Truck, Volvo Trucks, and Iveco Group as an employer?
MAN and Scania are sister brands inside TRATON — increasingly sharing platforms and engineering — so movement between them is structurally easier than between competitors. Daimler Truck (Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Stuttgart) is MAN's largest German rival and arguably has more engineering prestige in heavy trucks; Volvo Trucks (Gothenburg) leads in safety-feature culture and is strong in electrification; Iveco Group (Turin) competes especially in light/medium and gas powertrains; DAF (Paccar, Eindhoven) is highly profitable and engineering-focused. MAN's distinct value proposition is Bavarian heritage, TRATON/VW Group scale, and the Munich electrification investment.
What is the career growth path for electrification engineers at MAN?
Electrification is the single most invested-in area at MAN today — eTGE, eTGM, MAN Lion's City E, and the expanded eTruck production at Munich announced in 2024 are all hiring engines. Career paths include battery system engineering, eAxle and e-motor development, charging-system and CCS/MCS integration, vehicle thermal management, hydrogen fuel-cell development (pilot stage), and connected-vehicle integration via the RIO platform. Senior engineers can grow into team-lead, lead-engineer, and chief-engineer tracks; cross-brand work with Scania and Navistar is increasingly common.
What is it like working at MAN under CEO Alexander Vlaskamp?
Vlaskamp took over in January 2022, after the bulk of the painful 2020–2021 restructuring decisions had already been announced. Coming from a TRATON sales background (Dutch, former TRATON sales head), he has been characterised externally as more commercial and electrification-focused than his predecessors. Internally, the post-restructuring period has stabilised, electrification investment has accelerated, and there is a clearer narrative around MAN's place inside the TRATON group. Long-tenured employees still carry scars from the 2020 cuts; new hires are typically welcomed warmly into the rebuilding.
How does TRATON Group synergy actually affect day-to-day engineering work at MAN?
Concretely: shared base-engine programs and increasingly shared electric-powertrain platforms mean MAN engineers regularly collaborate with Scania counterparts in Södertälje. RIO is TRATON's group-wide connected-vehicle platform — work on RIO is cross-brand by design. Some component sourcing and supplier qualification is now group-level. Navistar (US) integration is more recent post-2021 acquisition and still building. For engineers, this means more cross-border travel, more multi-brand technical reviews, and more career mobility inside the wider group than was possible pre-TRATON.
Is German language really required, or can I get by in English?
Honest answer: for Munich and Nuremberg roles, B2 German is the practical floor for most engineering positions, and C1 is expected for team leads. English-only is realistic mainly for senior specialists in narrowly-scoped roles (e.g., very senior electrification or functional-safety experts) where MAN cannot find local talent. Krakow Poland operates more comfortably in English at international roles. Ankara is Turkish-first with English at senior levels. The good news: MAN HR will give you an honest read on language requirements during the recruiter call, and German lessons are commonly subsidised for international hires.
What is the RIO platform and is it a real career path?
RIO is TRATON Group's connected-vehicle and digital-services platform — it provides telematics, fleet management, and fuel/route optimisation across MAN, Scania, Navistar, and VW Caminhões fleets. For software engineers, data engineers, and connected-vehicle specialists, RIO is a genuine and growing career path inside the group, with work spanning embedded telematics units, cloud backend, mobile/web apps for fleet operators, and analytics. RIO has its own brand identity (rio.cloud) and roughly Berlin-centred team, and roles there are listed both on the MAN/TRATON portals and on rio.cloud.

Open Positions

MAN Truck & Bus currently has 257 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 257 open positions at MAN Truck & Bus

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Sources

  1. MAN Truck & Bus — Career Portal —
  2. MAN Truck & Bus — Company / About —
  3. TRATON SE — Investor Relations —
  4. Volkswagen Group — Annual Report —
  5. Reuters — MAN announces 9,500 job cuts (2020 restructuring coverage) —
  6. IG Metall — MAN restructuring coverage —
  7. Süddeutsche Zeitung — MAN plant closure coverage —
  8. MAN Truck & Bus — Alexander Vlaskamp appointed CEO (press release) —
  9. MAN — eTruck Munich production expansion (2024) —
  10. MAN Lion's City E — electric bus product page —
  11. RIO — TRATON Group connected-vehicle platform —
  12. Glassdoor — MAN Truck & Bus reviews —
  13. LinkedIn — MAN Truck & Bus company page —
  14. Financial Times — TRATON / MAN strategy coverage —
  15. MAN Heritage — Augsburg and Nuremberg (MAN Group historical archive) —