Could this be the pivotal moment of your career?
Three months inside a company in the middle of a turnaround, with your name under the work.
Find out more- Internship
- 3 months
- Compensation
- Upper market rate
- Scope
- Full time, on site
- Afterwards
- A role built to fit
We are at the beginning. That is the offer.
Most investment firms advertising internships have been around for thirty years and can offer you a well-worn slot in a machine that already works. Here it is different.
The structure is flat, and you work close to what matters from the start. A lot here is only taking shape now, and whoever joins at this point helps shape it.
So the three months are more of a beginning than an internship with an end date. We deliberately didn't make them shorter, because you have to know a company before you can move anything in it. What happens afterwards is something we discuss during them.
Hands-on, inside the company
We do hands-on operational turnarounds on site. You are assigned to a portfolio company and work on real initiatives there.
- Week 1
Arrive
You get to know the company, the team and the situation well enough to hold your own. Nobody here spends four weeks onboarding.
- Weeks 2 to 11
Get your hands dirty
You work on live initiatives: processes being rebuilt, costs that have to come down, revenue that has to grow again. Your desk is inside the company for the duration.
- Week 12
Hand over
You show us and the management what you moved, what you didn't, and what you would do differently.
Portfolio companies don't come to us. A meaningful part of this is days on site, and you are there. Not taking notes, but taking part.
What we offer
We take few people and invest a lot in them.
Attractive pay
We pay at the upper end of what the German market pays for this role.
Ownership, not shadowing
Your own initiatives, a clear brief, and the room to carry it out.
On site
Days in the portfolio companies and in management meetings, from your first weeks.
A named mentor
One senior person accountable for your three months, plus a weekly hour that doesn't get cancelled.
The role that follows
If it goes well, we shape the position around what you can do and want to do, rather than fitting you into an existing one. People who stay participate in the success of their projects.
Equipment without argument
MacBook, a learning budget and the frontier AI models rather than the free tier. Plus a fitness membership, the Deutschlandticket, and help with the move if you change cities.
Your mentor
One named partner is accountable for your three months. Who it is, is settled before your first day.
And how we will behave:
A hard job, then backing. You get something real to do early, nobody interferes, and when it goes wrong we stand in front of you rather than behind you.
Honest timelines. We tell you up front how long something actually takes instead of talking it down.
Feedback that's specific, and delivered. You hear promptly and specifically what worked and what didn't.
How we work
We don't hang values on a wall. These are the behaviors we hire for, promote for, and part ways over.
Reliability is the entry ticket
Keep your commitments, keep your deadlines, and say so early when something won't work. Without that, the rest is worth little.
Bad news travels first
When something goes wrong, we would rather hear it immediately and half-formed than later and well presented.
The standard doesn't move when nobody is watching
The parts of the work nobody ever checks get done properly too.
Act like an owner before anyone makes you one
You see what needs doing and do it, without anyone assigning it to you.
Go get evidence, then come back
If you think a decision is wrong, go out and get the evidence. Evidence overturns decisions here; volume doesn't.
Move with urgency
Better to decide at seventy percent of the information and correct course than to wait for certainty.
Be a learning machine
We copy the best idea wherever we find it, and look at mistakes without assigning blame.
Work hard without burning out
Some weeks take everything. Afterwards we make room for that, and we watch out that nobody is left behind by it.
The people we want in the room
Five traits we keep finding in the people the work goes well with. You don't need all of them. One should unmistakably describe you.
The Obsessed
You have a thing you pursue far past where a sensible person stops.
The High-Agency Doers
You do the work that is equally available to everyone and that nobody else does.
The Relentless
Your determination grows with each rejection instead of shrinking.
The Teachable
A correction that lands the first time is the whole signal.
The Missionaries
We can teach you the craft. We cannot teach you to care about the thing.
Show us something you made
The form below asks for your CV and for a work sample. The CV shows us where you have been. The work sample shows us how you think, and that is what we look at first. A work sample can be:
Something you wrote
A term paper, an analysis, an essay. Two or three pages is plenty. Ideally about a real company and what you would change about it.
Something you built
A model, an analysis, a side business, a club, software. Send the thing itself plus a page on what you would do differently now.
Something that is online
A repository, a blog, a shop, a podcast, a portfolio. Put the link in the “Why Pivotum?” field and add two lines on what we should look at.
What happens next
Your piece
We read your CV and look at what you made. The two together decide whether we invite you in.
The conversation
We invite you in and discuss a thesis about a real portfolio company with you, which is the work waiting for you later.
The decision
You meet the people you would work with, and their view counts. Then we decide quickly.
- On AI: Use whatever tools you like. But we will discuss your submission in detail. A polished essay you can't defend is worse than a rough one you can.
- Effort: The form takes a few minutes. For the work sample, use something that already exists. If you find yourself building a deck, stop.
Apply now
Five steps, a few minutes. You can go back at any time, and answers you have started stay in this browser tab.
A no is not a verdict on you and rarely final. Come back in six months with something better and we will read it with real interest.
Before you apply
Language.
Our companies work in German, and part of the business runs in English. You need to be comfortable in both.
Work authorization.
We can't sponsor visas. You need an existing right to work in Germany. If you're unsure, ask us first.
Duration and timing.
Three months, full time, on site. We hire on a rolling basis and decide quickly after your final conversation.
Who this is for.
Students in the later stages of a degree, career changers, and people who have already built something. We don't screen on university, subject, or grade.
Wondering what they're all about?
Every quote on this page comes from an episode of the Founders podcast. These are the ones we recommend.
To the reading list42 episodes, and what we took from each.Jobs across the portfolio
Or join one of our portfolio companies directly.
Our portfolio companies are hiring too, from working students to leadership roles. Click a logo to open the company’s career page.
Further along in your career? We keep a separate pool for experienced operators, and we draw on it when a portfolio company needs a role filled at short notice. To the Quick Response Force