The short answer
- Realistic: software, data and AI, DevOps and cloud, security, and a good share of product, design, HR and finance roles at international companies.
- Hard: sales, customer success and support, consulting, legal and compliance — anything where you'd talk to German customers, partners or authorities. Regulated professions such as medicine, nursing, law and teaching usually need German and formal recognition of your qualifications.
- Where: mostly Berlin, then Munich and Hamburg, at tech companies, scale-ups and international firms.
- The catch: a job ad written in English is not proof the job is in English. 28% of the English-language ads in our data still require German.
37% vs 9%
of software engineering vs. sales postings in our data are English-friendly — German optional or not mentioned. Same companies, same cities, very different odds.
Where English works, by field
Share of postings in each field that are English-friendly. The rest either require German, prefer it, or don't say clearly — engineering ads in particular often don't mention language at all.
| Role | English-friendly | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| People, HR & recruiting | 43% | 28 |
| Security | 40% | 20 |
| Software engineering | 37% | 196 |
| DevOps, cloud & infrastructure | 33% | 42 |
| Data & AI / ML | 31% | 51 |
| Product management | 23% | 40 |
| Marketing & growth | 20% | 45 |
| Design (UX / UI / product) | 19% | 21 |
| Finance & accounting | 16% | 55 |
| Project & program management | 16% | 25 |
| Operations & strategy | 13% | 91 |
| Sales & business development | 9% | 172 |
| Hardware & mechanical engineering | 7% | 126 |
| Legal & compliance | 6% | 33 |
| Consulting | 5% | 21 |
| Customer success & support | 3% | 33 |
Source: Berjobs analysis of active job postings from the employers we track, as of 29 September 2026. How we count
The pattern is consistent: the further a role is from German customers, contracts and regulators, the less German it needs. That's why the same company can hire engineers in English and require fluent German from its account executives.
Three kinds of “English-speaking” job
Job boards label all of these “English-speaking”. They aren't the same:
- English-only: English is the working language and the ad says German isn't needed. Rare — 16 of 1,331 postings in our data say it explicitly.
- English-friendly: German is “a plus”, or simply not mentioned in an ad that asks for English. This is where most real opportunities are.
- German-preferred: you can apply, but a German speaker has the edge — often because the role touches the German market.
And then there are English-language ads that require fluent German, which are the ones that waste your time. Our decoder for German requirements in job ads shows how to spot them in seconds.
How to search without burning out
Most people search for “English jobs Germany”, get thousands of results, and read ads until they hit the German requirement in the last bullet. Better:
- Search by role, not by “English”. A keyword alert for “English” matches every ad that asks for English — including the ones that also ask for C1 German.
- Read the requirements before the story. Skip to the language sentence first. If it says “fluent in English and German”, move on.
- Go to the source. International companies publish roles on their own careers pages and applicant-tracking systems first; not every role makes it to the big job boards, and copies there can be stale.
- Check often, apply early. New roles are worth more than old ones — the first applications get read with the most attention.
- Keep a list of what you've already seen, so you're not re-reading the same ads on three job boards.
That routine works. It also takes an hour a day, every day, for weeks.
What about the visa?
For many non-EU professionals the EU Blue Card is the main route, and it has no German-language requirement — it depends on a recognised degree, a job offer and a minimum salary. What employers mean by “visa sponsorship” in Germany, and how rarely ads mention it, is covered in Visa sponsorship jobs in Germany.
Where to go next
- In tech? English-speaking tech jobs in Germany
- Looking at Berlin? English-speaking jobs in Berlin
- Want the numbers? How many English job ads still require German?