“English speaking jobs in Austria”, “how to get a job in Vienna”, “jobs without German in Austria”… all searches that pull up nothing useful? I’m sure any expat can relate. One year in on this expat journey, I’m using the network of the female factor and my fellow expat connections to produce a guide to the top 10 expat friendly employers in Austria to help current and future expats navigate their way around the Austrian job market.
Expats have a different set of criteria when looking for a job in Austria, and that doesn’t just include no German required. The list of criteria I’ll be using to select and rank these expat-friendly companies includes;
Recruitment process
Does the company advertise jobs, accept applications and conduct interviews in English? Do they also provide help with necessary bureaucratic documentation to ease the process?
International culture
Does the company celebrate and promote its international culture? What does the ratio of expat/ international to native employees look like?
Company language
Does the company use English as their working language? Or is internal communication and documents also available in English or more languages?
Flexible working location
Are remote working options available to accommodate expats who may wish to visit home more often and work from there?
Company mission and vision statement
Does the company have any diversity related goals? Is their company vision statement centred around diversity? Do they celebrate and prioritise diversity as their mission?
After careful evaluation and consideration, here is the comprehensive list of the top 10 expat friendly employers in Austria:
1. TourRadar
Travel and Tourism, Vienna.
TourRadar is the world’s first adventure booking platform, connecting travellers to organized adventures all over the globe. HQ’d in Vienna, but with additional offices in Australia and Canada, TourRadar has perhaps the most internationally diverse team out of the 10 with around 60-70% of their staff at the Vienna office being made up of different nationalities. To promote and celebrate this diversity, they frequently hold team events to learn about each other’s cultures. Bonus points go to TourRadar for even having an internal committee that researches how to improve and educate its own employees on topics surrounding diversity.
2. Dynatrace
Tech/ Software, Vienna.
Dynatrace provides software intelligence to simplify cloud complexity and accelerate digital transformation. Spanning 50 offices across 6 continents, Dynatrace regards its people as its most valued asset. They prioritise fostering an inclusive and supportive environment and regard diversity, equity and inclusion as critical to their mission. Dynatrace puts action to these words and has launched a team dedicated to this mission, including establishing hiring goals focused on increasing Black, Indigenous, and people of colour representation company-wide as well as anti-racism training for its employees. Additionally they have established active new employee resource groups, such as Women of Dynatrace and the Black Employee Network.
3. Refurbed
Electronics, Vienna.
Refurbed sells refurbished electronics, with the aim to provide an alternative to new products and contribute to creating a more sustainable world. Working at Refurbed offers a truly international experience, with over 30 nationalities and 33 languages in a team of around 140 employees. The careers page and all open positions are available in English and they also offer language courses as part of the programme to train and develop their colleagues. Trusting their team to do the best job, regardless of when or where they do it, there are no core hours and you are free to self-organize working for refurbed.
4. Kaleido AI
Tech, Vienna.
Part of the Canva family, Kaleido creates visual AI solutions by automating photo and video editing workflows through artificial intelligence. Their products include remove.bg, unscreen and designify. A start up that boasts a diverse and international team of 50+ people from more than 20 nations, they are rapidly growing with having doubled their team size in the last 12 months. With such an international composition of team members, English is the primary language of the company and interviews are also conducted in English. Applicants applying from abroad are also supported with recommendations and regulations regarding the move. Depending on the position, they also offer financial support to partially cover your relocation costs. They have also won awards for Great Place to Work in Austria.
5. Meister
Tech, Vienna.
Meister is a company that designs online productivity and creativity solutions, including their most popular product MindMeister- an online mind mapping tool. Meister puts its people at the heart of its company and attributes diversity within its team as a key part of its success. Currently, their team is composed of colleagues from 25+ nations. Remaining consistent throughout, not only is the working language English, the entire recruitment process is de facto in English, even down to every job vacancy’s description. Meister has strong goals and wants to achieve gender diversity across all departments within the next few years. Learn more about working at Meister here.
6. Christiane’s Farmacy
Health and Wellbeing, Vienna.
Our family-run, small business shoutout is given to Christiane’s Farmacy. They are a health and wellbeing company, whose products were inspired and created by looking inwards and understanding the health benefits that exist within the pristine natural environment of Austria. Throughout the company and at every level, Christiane already boasts a very diverse and internationally minded team, but they don’t stop there; it is their established goal and vision to diversify the company even further.
7. Avanade
IT Consulting, Vienna.
Avanade is the leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions and design-led experiences on the Microsoft ecosystem. Avanade’s purpose is to make a genuine human impact and doing so starts with creating a company that welcomes every individual and harnesses the unique perspectives they bring with them every day. A flexible work culture allows employees to log on when and where they work best and by supporting numerous employee networks Avanade aims to create an even more diverse, understanding, and celebratory workforce. In alignment with their value that “everyone counts,” Inclusion & Diversity has always been a cornerstone of Avanade’s culture and their very own Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer helps accelerate their I&D vision and goals. Learn more about what it’s like to work at Avanade here.
8. Raiffeisen Bank International
Finance, Vienna.
RBI is one of the leading corporate and investment banks in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. All internal communication comes in both English and German and the majority of staff are multilingual. A company that is said to be “generally geared for expats”, the team at Head Office is highly diverse and values diversity of perspectives, abilities, experience and needs. They have various ongoing initiatives to promote this, such as their active LGBTQI+ network and IT Women Empowerment Journey. Whilst having a huge mixture of cultures and various remote working options and locations, working at RBI remains to be highly collaborative and cohesive. Learn more about working at RBI here.
9. Wienerberger
Infrastructure, Vienna.
Wienerberger is a leading international supplier of building materials and infrastructure solutions. Not only do they seek to promote and increase diversity within their team, they actively support the further development and exchange of its employees using their Ready4Excellence programme. Working for Wienerberger offers a particularly international dimension as they encourage employee job rotation within the Wienerberger group and across their offices in almost 200 locations in 29 countries. If you’re interested in a job which offers worldwide exchange or travel opportunities, this could be it.
10. the female factor
HR/ Community, Vienna.
We’re not even biased… it’s just true. The female factor is a global community empowering the next generation of female leaders. We partner with companies to make them more inclusive and have recently launched Europe’s first inclusive job platform. Operations, including recruitment is conducted completely in English and over 75% of the team is compiled of different nationalities. Whilst we have an office in the heart of Vienna, many of the team are based around the world and are free to work from where they want, when they want. The whole team is passionate about our mission to level the playing field and diversify leadership at every level. Explore open positions at the female factor here.
Not sure how to get started with your job hunt in Austria?
You can start by checking if your application material is up to date by making use of our free LinkedIn and CV checklist as well as a bunch of other useful resources here.
Are you a young professional eager to explore opportunities in Austria? We can highly recommend the Global Talent Program by AIESEC. Their team enables you to land an internship in a variety of great Austrian companies and supports you with bureaucracy, finding a place to stay and much more. You can learn more about them here.
key takeaways and room for improvement
In general, there are some really great expat friendly workplaces in Austria and the top 10 unexpectedly met all of the set criteria. Large international companies are clearly leading ahead in terms of “expat-friendliness”, as they tend to benefit from the extensive HR resources that help with bureaucracy and other expat related issues. Additionally, a special mention goes to the area of tech for being exceptionally friendly to expats due to its global market and thus global workforce.
Across the board, there is a clear demand for employers to provide a specific onboarding process for expats. Proposed is a guide that would contain useful information on topics including taxes, culture and German language courses that would support a smoother transition for expats moving to Austria.
If you need external support with expat related issues, we can recommend ARTUS Tax Consulting, an internationally active tax, auditing and management consultancy company with a primary focus on individual client support at the highest level. They are the right partner to serve you as a contact point in Austria and can connect you to the appropriate contact, whether it be home office issues, finding a lawyer or setting up a business.
Ready to find an expat-friendly job in Austria? Check out the hand-picked opportunities here.
about the female factor
The female factor is a global community for the next generation of female decision-makers, boosting confidence, competence and connections. We are your unfair advantage when it comes to career opportunities, up-skilling events and connecting you with world-class inclusive employers.