SMT Magazine

More than 700 new jobs at ZEISS in Oberkochen: Growth at Ostalb

20 October 2021 4 min read

San Francisco, Boston, New York, Oberkochen – the centers of IT progress have illustrious names. Yet Oberkochen in Baden-Württemberg might not be familiar to every software and hardware developer around the globe. Without any good reason, because without the Semiconductor segment of ZEISS, no high-end microchips could be manufactured anywhere in the world.

Jobs at the ZEISS Ostalb site

Only the high-precision optics modules from ZEISS work accurately enough to write the latest generation of microchips on a silicon wafer. The basis for this is the know-how gained from more than 50 years of development work – alongside ideas gleaned from all the employees at ZEISS. To make sure this fount of ideas never runs dry, the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (SMT) segment is looking for people to drive its success forward. Lots of people. To be more precise: In the current fiscal year, there are job openings for more than 700 physicists, software and hardware specialists as well as skilled workers for production and for research and development – to name just a few. All in all, this is the largest increase in personnel in the history of SMT in the areas of Operations and Research & Development (R&D).

At ZEISS, we not only value people. We put them at our very center.

SMT is growing in tandem with the increasing digitalization of modern life. In figures: By around ten percent every year. That means ten percent more growth, more success and more people working on it and becoming part of the ZEISS culture. This is why the Semiconductor segment of ZEISS has been continuously recruiting new employees for years. A process that is as challenging as it is long-term.

The search for personnel is like a marathon. It requires persistence and a lot of training to reach the finishing line. The company is competing with well-known rivals. What is more, the current success in introducing EUV lithography is also forcing SMT to make an intermediate sprint during this marathon. The reason is that we would prefer the 700 or more new colleagues to start tomorrow rather than later. All this in an environment where skilled workers are in short supply everywhere – a situation clearly apparent in STEM fields – and during the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aerial view of ZEISS SMT headquarters in Oberkochen

Career on the Ostalb in semiconductor manufacturing

Oberkochen is not Silicon Valley. But SMT is incomparable. If you like green instead of gray – with a keen desire to protect the beauty of nature – the Ostalb region between Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Munich is the right place for you.
ZEISS scores in many dimensions. As a technology company, ZEISS helps people develop long term – so they can develop new products in turn. Many years of success and the market position enjoyed by ZEISS – plus continuously growing demand for IT components – all provide security for every single ZEISS employee. Our flat hierarchies provide freedom and foster responsibility. And last but not least: Meaningful tasks. Anyone working on a high-tech mirror mount, CNC control or an extremely reflective surface is shaping a piece of the future. Or in more concrete terms: They are enabling the next generation of microchips, curative medical technology, the next technological leap and hence tomorrow's trends – such as 5G, autonomous driving and smart homes.

700 new colleagues – that will enrich SMT.

Dr. Jens Werner Head of Human Resources

Trainees look together at a tablet in Production at ZEISS SMT

Learning from one another

More than 700 new colleagues – that will change SMT. Every newcomer brings fresh ideas, perceptions and experience to the company. In recent years, ZEISS SMT has proved that it has a capacity for agile growth while retaining ZEISS virtues: Team spirit and fairness plus outstanding performance. With this in mind: 700 times welcome to the Ostalb.