Whether looking for a new challenge or planning a move to Germany, many foreign nationals are keeping an eye on Berlin's tech scene for opportunities.
There's one thing that often holds people back, however: a lack of language skills.Â
But new research by the free AI job-hunting tool Hisignal, built by Rap Paulavicius and Dario Penic, has uncovered how open the Berlin job market is to non-German speakers – and which companies offer the most jobs that don't require any German language skills.
The research also highlights the top companies hiring specifically for English speakers, as well as the most expat-friendly sectors.Â
How friendly is the Berlin tech sector to non-German speakers?
According to Hisignal's analysis of data pulled from the Berlin technology and tech-adjacent sector (such as startups, scaleups and other firms that maintain a career page on their website), there were 17,946 active jobs in Berlin on May 12th. Â
A total of 3,551 of those jobs – almost 20 percent – do not require German.Â
Paulavicius said: "Roughly 19.8 percent of open Berlin tech jobs have no German requirement at all, with another 2.4 percent (434 in total) listing German as nice-to-have rather than mandatory – so about one in five roles are realistically open to non-German speakers."
About 12,165 – more than 67 percent – of those roles advertised require fluent German while nearly 1,800 do not specify.Â
READ ALSO: Can you get a good job in Germany if you don't speak German?
Which firms are most friendly to non-German speakers?
According to Hisignal's analysis, here are the top companies hiring non-German speakers and available roles for English speakers.Â
Hisignal also looked at which companies are most friendly for English speakers overall. Here's the result:
Paulavicius, who said the Hisignal will soon expand to cover other cities in Germany, recently shared an excerpt of this research on LinkedIn. The post hit a nerve, receiving more than 400 likes and dozens of comments.Â
"It went a little bit viral, which was great to see," he said. "And it showed that this is a real pain point. It's an emotional issue and I think that's why it resonated.
"There are a lot of expats in Berlin who struggle with not speaking German, and I think people could really relate and see themselves."
Which Berlin tech sectors are most open to international residents?
Berlin’s most expat-friendly tech sectors are overwhelmingly digital and internationally oriented industries, Hisignal found.
Software development had by far the largest pool of English-only jobs, with 739 roles advertised without German requirements – around 41 percent of all openings in the sector.
Financial services and broader internet and technology companies also ranked highly.
READ ALSO:Â How to get an English-speaking job in GermanyÂ
One outlier was 'defence and space manufacturing', where 57.8 percent of roles were English-only.
However, the analysis pointed out that this category is dominated by just one employer: Berlin defence-tech firm STARK, making it less of a broad sector trend.
The least immigrant-friendly sectors were those closely tied to Germany’s domestic market or regulatory system.
Legal services, law practice, automotive manufacturing, real estate, retail and recruiting all had very low shares of English-only jobs, generally below 8 percent.
In these industries, German is often needed for specialist local knowledge, customer communication or coordination with suppliers or institutions.Â
The research also suggested that senior roles are 3.3 times more likely to be English-only than junior roles (31.8 percent vs 9.6 percent).
That's because companies will compromise on language for hard-to-find senior talent, but junior roles typically get filled by German-speaking graduates.
"If you’re an expat without German, target senior+ roles aggressively – that’s where the door is open," noted Paulavicius.
READ ALSO:Â Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?
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