How to Apply to ZF Friedrichshafen

11 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 75 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • ZF Friedrichshafen is a 110-year-old, foundation-owned, roughly 165,000 employee, approximately 46 billion euro revenue Tier 1 automotive supplier, with the Zeppelin Foundation holding around 93.8 percent of shares.
  • The 2015 acquisition of TRW Automotive for approximately 13.5 billion US dollars transformed ZF from a driveline specialist into a full systems supplier covering ADAS, active and passive safety, and integrated chassis.
  • Apply through jobs.zf.com, the ZF Career Portal, which runs on SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and supports German and English applications across roughly 160 sites in around 30 countries.
  • ZF announced restructuring in 2024 and 2025 targeting roughly 14,000 German job cuts by 2028 with internal scenarios discussing up to 25,000 globally, driven by the EV transition, Chinese competition, and post-TRW debt.
  • Hiring is concentrated in EV powertrain, power electronics, ADAS, software-defined vehicle, ZF ProAI compute, and functional safety, even as legacy transmission and combustion-related roles contract.
  • German language at B2 or higher is a meaningful advantage for Friedrichshafen, Schweinfurt, Saarbrucken, and Passau roles, and IG Metall plus the Betriebsrat have real influence over hiring and working conditions.
  • Expect a four to eight week process from application to signed offer, with two to four technical and behavioral rounds plus a mandatory works council consultation step before the contract is issued.
  • Compensation in Germany typically falls in the 50,000 to 130,000 euro gross annual range depending on level, with senior principal and director bands extending higher and tariff agreements via IG Metall shaping the lower bands.
  • Treat the restructuring honestly in your application and interview, target the protected investment areas, and ask direct questions about your future team, product line, and site stability before signing.

About ZF Friedrichshafen

ZF Friedrichshafen AG is one of the world's largest automotive suppliers and a Tier 1 partner to virtually every major OEM, with roots that reach back to 1915 when Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin established Zahnradfabrik GmbH in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance to produce gears for his airships. Over more than a century the company evolved from an aerospace gear shop into a global driveline and chassis powerhouse, and today ZF designs and manufactures transmissions, axles, steering systems, electric drives, braking systems, advanced driver assistance technology, autonomous mobility software, and complete commercial vehicle systems for passenger cars, trucks, buses, agricultural and construction machinery, and industrial applications. ZF employs roughly 165,000 people across approximately 160 production locations in around 30 countries and reports annual revenue in the neighborhood of 46 billion euros, making it one of the three largest automotive suppliers in the world alongside Bosch and Continental. The company is unusual for its scale because it is privately held: the Zeppelin Foundation, administered by the city of Friedrichshafen, owns roughly 93.8 percent of the shares, and the Dr. Jurgen and Dr. Karl Schmidt Foundation holds the remaining stake, which means ZF answers to civic and philanthropic stakeholders rather than to public capital markets. The defining strategic event of the modern era was the 2015 acquisition of TRW Automotive for approximately 13.5 billion US dollars, a deal that vaulted ZF from a driveline specialist into a full systems supplier with deep capability in active and passive safety, ADAS sensors, electronic control units, and integrated chassis controls. Under CEO Holger Klein, who took over in 2023, ZF has accelerated its pivot toward the ZF ProAI supercomputer platform, the modular EV powertrain family that includes integrated e-drives and silicon carbide inverters, and software-defined vehicle architectures. The pivot has been painful. In 2024 and 2025 ZF announced a multi-year restructuring program that targets cuts of roughly 14,000 jobs in Germany by 2028, with internal scenarios discussing reductions as high as 25,000 globally, driven by the slower-than-expected ramp of European EV demand, intense pricing pressure from Chinese competitors, declining transmission volumes as combustion vehicles fade, and a debt load left over from the TRW acquisition and the 2020 acquisition of WABCO. Plant consolidations in Saarbrucken, Friedrichshafen, and other German sites have triggered protracted negotiations with the IG Metall union and the Betriebsrat. Candidates considering ZF in 2026 are joining a company with extraordinary engineering depth and a 110-year industrial legacy, but also one navigating one of the most difficult transformations in its history, which directly shapes hiring priorities, internal mobility, and the kinds of profiles ZF most needs.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Start at jobs

    Start at jobs.zf.com, the ZF Career Portal, which is powered by SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting. You can browse openings without registering, but you must create a candidate account to apply. Use a personal email rather than a work address because the account follows you across multiple applications.

  2. 2
    Filter aggressively before applying

    Filter aggressively before applying. ZF posts thousands of roles globally across passenger car, commercial vehicle, electrified powertrain, industrial technology, and aftermarket divisions, and the search supports filters for country, location, division, function, and contract type including permanent, fixed-term, working student, internship, thesis, and apprenticeship paths.

  3. 3
    Tailor your CV per posting

    Tailor your CV per posting. SuccessFactors parses your uploaded resume into structured fields, but the parser is imperfect with European date formats and bilingual sections, so always review the auto-filled profile and correct it manually. A clean PDF in either German or English with explicit job title, employer, dates, and short bullet points usually parses best.

  4. 4
    Submit a cover letter or Anschreiben

    Submit a cover letter or Anschreiben. For German-based roles a one-page Anschreiben in German is still expected by most hiring managers, especially in Friedrichshafen, Schweinfurt, Saarbrucken, and Passau. For roles posted in English, particularly in software, ADAS, or international engineering centers, a concise English motivation letter is acceptable.

  5. 5
    Expect a recruiter screen within one to three weeks for active roles

    Expect a recruiter screen within one to three weeks for active roles. The first contact is typically a 20 to 30 minute Microsoft Teams or phone screen with an HR Business Partner who confirms availability, salary expectations, work permit status, and language proficiency. Be ready to state a target gross annual salary band in euros.

  6. 6
    Prepare for two to four technical and behavioral rounds

    Prepare for two to four technical and behavioral rounds. Engineering candidates typically face a deep technical interview with the hiring manager and a senior engineer, followed by a panel with cross-functional stakeholders such as systems, software, hardware, validation, or program management. Senior roles add a final conversation with a director or division head.

  7. 7
    Plan for the works council step on offers in Germany

    Plan for the works council step on offers in Germany. Permanent hires at German ZF sites require formal consultation with the local Betriebsrat under the Works Constitution Act, which can add one to three weeks between verbal offer and signed contract. Recruiters will explain the timing, but it is normal and not a sign of trouble.

Resume Tips for ZF Friedrichshafen

recommended

Lead with concrete automotive systems experience

Lead with concrete automotive systems experience. ZF hires from a deep talent pool of OEM and Tier 1 alumni, so name the platforms, programs, and standards you have shipped against, including ASPICE process levels, ISO 26262 ASIL ratings, AUTOSAR Classic or Adaptive, ISO 21434 cybersecurity, and SOTIF where relevant.

recommended

Quantify program scope in OEM language

Quantify program scope in OEM language. State annual production volume, number of variants, lifecycle phase from concept through SOP, and your role in PPAP, APQP, or DV/PV testing rather than generic project management framing. ZF hiring managers read CVs through a program-engineering lens.

recommended

Highlight EV powertrain and ADAS depth if you have it

Highlight EV powertrain and ADAS depth if you have it. The strongest 2026 demand is in electric drive units, silicon carbide power electronics, battery management, thermal systems, ADAS perception and fusion, ZF ProAI software stacks, and functional safety for L2+ and L3 features. Move these keywords to the top of your skills section.

recommended

Add German language proficiency with a CEFR level

Add German language proficiency with a CEFR level. For Friedrichshafen, Schweinfurt, Passau, Saarbrucken, and most German-based roles, B2 German is a meaningful differentiator and C1 is often expected for management or works council facing positions. List it as German B2 or German C1 rather than the vague conversational.

recommended

Use a clean European CV format

Use a clean European CV format. Two pages maximum for most engineers, three for senior principals or directors, with a photo only if you are applying through the German portal where it remains common. Skip US-style summaries longer than three lines and put education before experience only if you are within five years of graduation.

recommended

Translate non-German credentials clearly

Translate non-German credentials clearly. If you hold a Bachelor of Engineering or Master of Science from outside the EU, add the German equivalent in parentheses such as Diplom-Ingenieur aequivalent or Master FH aequivalent so that HR can map it cleanly to the internal job grade matrix.

recommended

Cite tools and methods that ZF actually uses

Cite tools and methods that ZF actually uses. CANoe, CANalyzer, MATLAB Simulink, dSPACE, ETAS INCA, Vector DaVinci, Polarion, JIRA, Codebeamer, and Git are common across ZF engineering. For software-defined vehicle roles add C++17 or newer, Python, ROS 2, Docker, Linux, and CI tooling.

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Acknowledge the restructuring honestly in your cover letter

Acknowledge the restructuring honestly in your cover letter. Showing that you understand ZF is in transformation and that you want to contribute to the EV and software-defined future, rather than seeking lifetime job security in a legacy transmission line, lands well with hiring managers in 2026.

Interview Culture

Interviewing at ZF feels distinctly German Tier 1: rigorous, technically demanding, hierarchically respectful, and slower than typical American tech timelines.

Engineering interviews go deep into your actual past work rather than abstract puzzles, and you should expect long, specific questions about decisions you made on prior programs, the reasoning behind your trade-offs, and the failures you learned from. Be ready to whiteboard system architectures, sketch control loops, walk through DFMEA logic, or explain how you would qualify a component to AEC-Q100 or how you would close out an ASIL-D safety case. Hiring managers often hold a Diplom-Ingenieur or PhD and will probe inconsistencies politely but persistently. Soft-skill questions exist but are usually shorter and more concrete than in US interviews, focused on how you have handled cross-functional conflict between systems, software, and mechanical teams or how you collaborate with OEM customers in Germany, China, and the United States. Two cultural realities shape every interview at a German ZF site. The first is Mitbestimmung, the German co-determination system that gives the Betriebsrat real influence over hiring, working time, restructuring, and many day-to-day operational decisions, and IG Metall, the powerful metalworkers union that represents the production workforce and many engineers. Candidates from non-union cultures should not treat this as bureaucratic friction but as a feature of how German industrial firms operate, and showing that you understand and respect it earns credibility. The second is the ongoing restructuring announced in 2024 and 2025. Interviewers will not always raise it, but it sits in the background of every conversation, and it is entirely fair to ask directly about the future of the specific team, site, and product line you would join, what funding or program commitments are in place, and how internal mobility works for people whose roles are eliminated. Honest interviewers will tell you which areas are protected investment zones, typically EV powertrain, ADAS, software, and power electronics, and which are managed decline. Friedrichshafen itself is a small Lake Constance city of roughly 60,000 people in the southwest corner of Germany, beautiful, expensive by Bodensee standards, with strong outdoor and lake culture but limited international scene compared with Stuttgart, Munich, or Berlin. Many engineers commute from Konstanz, Ravensburg, Lindau, or Bregenz across the Austrian border, and a sizable contingent flies in weekly from elsewhere in Germany or Switzerland. Dress is business casual for interviews, more formal for director-level rounds, and meeting punctuality is non-negotiable. Decisions typically take two to four weeks after the final round because of works council consultation and internal sign-off, and offers arrive with a detailed contract package rather than a one-page term sheet.

What ZF Friedrichshafen Looks For

  • Deep automotive systems engineering experience, ideally with shipped programs at an OEM or Tier 1 supplier and demonstrated ownership across the V-model from requirements through validation.
  • Functional safety and cybersecurity literacy, including ISO 26262 at appropriate ASIL levels, ISO 21434, SOTIF, and the ability to write or review safety cases and HARA documentation.
  • Process maturity in ASPICE, APQP, PPAP, and 8D problem solving, since OEM customers audit ZF programs against these frameworks and expect engineers who can speak them fluently.
  • Hands-on competence with the specific toolchain of the role, whether that is MATLAB Simulink and Stateflow for control engineers, CANoe and Vector AUTOSAR tools for embedded software, or Polarion and Codebeamer for requirements and ALM.
  • EV powertrain, power electronics, ADAS perception, software-defined vehicle, or AI compute experience, which are the strategic growth lanes ZF is actively staffing despite the broader restructuring.
  • German language ability at B2 or higher for most German-located roles, with C1 expected for leadership, customer-facing, and works council facing positions, and willingness to learn for international hires.
  • Cultural fit with a hierarchical, consensus-driven, engineering-led organization where decisions are documented, traceability matters, and shortcuts that bypass process are not rewarded.
  • Long-term orientation and resilience to change, since candidates joining in 2026 are explicitly being recruited into a company that is reshaping its footprint and product portfolio over a multi-year horizon.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ATS does ZF use and where do I actually apply?
ZF runs SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting on the jobs.zf.com domain. The corporate www.zf.com careers section links into the same portal, and all real applications go through SuccessFactors regardless of how you arrive. You will need to create a candidate account, upload a CV, and complete a structured profile that the parser pre-fills from your PDF. SuccessFactors handles applications in dozens of languages and supports both German and English postings. Recruiter agencies, LinkedIn EasyApply links, and third-party job boards typically forward you to the same SuccessFactors portal, so applying directly is always the cleanest path.
What salary should I expect for an engineering role in Germany?
For German-based engineering roles in 2026, gross annual base typically lands between roughly 50,000 euros for entry-level Diplom or Master graduates, 65,000 to 85,000 euros for experienced engineers with three to seven years, 90,000 to 115,000 euros for senior engineers and team leads, and 110,000 to 150,000 euros plus for principal engineers, group leaders, and lower-tier directors. Many production and engineering roles are covered by IG Metall tariff agreements which set the floor for the Entgeltgruppe bands. Bonus is usually 5 to 20 percent depending on level, and there is a 13th-month component in many tariff contracts. Equity does not exist because ZF is foundation-owned.
Is relocation to Friedrichshafen worth it and does ZF help?
Friedrichshafen is a small Lake Constance city of roughly 60,000 people, beautiful, safe, expensive for the region by Bodensee standards, with limited international community compared with Stuttgart or Munich. Rentals are tight and prices have risen sharply since 2020. ZF offers relocation packages for permanent hires, typically covering a removal company, temporary housing for up to three months, language courses for the employee and spouse, and registration support. Many international hires base themselves in Konstanz, Ravensburg, Lindau, or even Bregenz across the Austrian border and commute. If you value lake and alpine outdoor life, the area is excellent. If you need a major international city, consider ZF sites in Schweinfurt, Saarbrucken, Stuttgart-area engineering centers, or international R and D hubs instead.
How is the 2024 to 2025 restructuring affecting hiring?
The restructuring is real and material. ZF announced plans to cut roughly 14,000 German positions by 2028, with internal scenarios discussing up to 25,000 globally, driven by slower European EV demand, aggressive Chinese competition, falling transmission volumes, and the debt load from the TRW and WABCO acquisitions. Hiring has not stopped, but it is highly selective. Roles in legacy transmission engineering, combustion calibration, and certain corporate functions have been frozen or reduced, while EV powertrain, power electronics, ADAS, software, ZF ProAI, and functional safety continue to hire actively. Candidates should ask directly which strategic lane the role sits in and what funding commitments are in place before accepting.
Why do candidates often choose Bosch, Continental, or Schaeffler over ZF?
Common reasons include perceived restructuring risk in 2026 compared with the relatively stable Bosch portfolio, a stronger software brand at Continental and Bosch in some segments, larger and more international city footprints at Stuttgart-based competitors, and Schaeffler's ongoing consolidation with Vitesco that some candidates see as a fresher EV growth story. ZF wins when the candidate values systems-engineering depth across driveline, chassis, and ADAS, the foundation-owned governance model that resists short-term financial engineering, and the opportunity to work on integrated mechatronic systems rather than isolated components. Be honest with yourself about which culture fits before accepting.
Do I need to speak German to work at ZF?
It depends on the site and role. For Friedrichshafen, Schweinfurt, Passau, Saarbrucken, and most German-located positions, B2 German is a meaningful advantage and C1 is often expected for management, customer-facing, or works council facing roles. For pure software, ADAS perception, and AI roles in international engineering centers, English is increasingly the working language and B1 German is acceptable at hire with a learning commitment. For roles at ZF sites in the United States, India, China, the Czech Republic, and Mexico, local language plus English is the norm. Always ask the recruiter what the team's actual working language is.
How long does the interview process take from application to offer?
Typical timelines run four to eight weeks for permanent positions, occasionally longer for senior or international roles. After application, expect one to three weeks to a recruiter screen, then two to four weeks for two to four technical and behavioral rounds, then one to three weeks for the mandatory works council consultation and internal sign-off. Senior director roles add an executive committee step. Internships and working student positions move faster, usually two to four weeks total. ZF does not typically rush offers, and candidates pressuring for a one-week decision often signal poor fit with the German consensus culture.
What kinds of profiles are most in demand in 2026?
ZF is actively hiring in electric drive engineering including motor design, inverter and silicon carbide power electronics, battery and thermal systems, and integrated e-axle development. ADAS and autonomous mobility roles span perception, sensor fusion, planning, ZF ProAI software platforms, and the underlying functional safety for L2+ and L3 features. Software-defined vehicle work covers AUTOSAR Adaptive, Linux and ROS 2 stacks, cybersecurity to ISO 21434, OTA infrastructure, and DevOps for embedded systems. Commercial vehicle electrification, including the WABCO heritage portfolio, is also growing. Production engineers with experience industrializing new EV components remain scarce and highly valued.
How does the works council, Mitbestimmung, and IG Metall affect my role?
The Betriebsrat, or works council, has formal co-determination rights under the German Works Constitution Act covering hiring, working time, performance evaluation, restructuring, and many operational decisions. For new hires this means your final contract is consulted with the Betriebsrat before issue, which adds one to three weeks but rarely blocks an offer. Once inside, the Betriebsrat is a meaningful counterweight to management on workload, transfers, and layoffs. IG Metall, the metalworkers union, negotiates the tariff agreements that set base salary bands, working hours, and benefits for many engineering and production roles. Foreign hires sometimes find this unfamiliar, but it is a stabilizing feature, especially during the current restructuring.
Are there remote or hybrid options at ZF?
ZF moved to a hybrid model after 2020 and most German engineering roles support two to three remote days per week subject to team agreement and the role's physical requirements. Bench engineering, vehicle-in-the-loop, hardware bring-up, prototype assembly, and many test and validation roles require regular on-site presence. Fully remote arrangements are rare and usually limited to specific software, IT, and corporate functions with explicit approval. Cross-border remote work, for example a German contract worked from outside Germany, is generally not offered because of tax and works council complications. Always confirm the actual hybrid policy with the hiring manager and your local Betriebsrat agreement.

Open Positions

ZF Friedrichshafen currently has 75 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 75 open positions at ZF Friedrichshafen

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Sources

  1. ZF Friedrichshafen AG Career Portal — ZF Friedrichshafen AG
  2. ZF Careers Overview — ZF Friedrichshafen AG
  3. ZF Company Profile and History — ZF Friedrichshafen AG
  4. ZF to Acquire TRW Automotive in 13.5 Billion USD Deal — Reuters
  5. ZF Plans to Cut Up to 14,000 Jobs in Germany by 2028 — Reuters
  6. Holger Klein Becomes CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG — ZF Press Release
  7. Zeppelin Foundation and ZF Ownership Structure — ZF Friedrichshafen AG
  8. German Works Constitution Act and Co-Determination — German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs