Entrants

Start your career with ALTANA.

We invite you to shape your future together with us.

Your Recipe for Success:
You have already taken the initial steps in your career (e.g. university degree or apprenticeship) and now you are looking for a basis for your professional future? You are interested in chemistry and what we make of it? You think you can convince us with your technical skills and strong personality? You are able to work in a team and ready to take on responsibilities? Then join the ALTANA team!

Your Spectrum of Advantages:
In the ALTANA Group, you will work in a unique culture of innovation where the utmost importance is attached to promoting individual ideas and abilities as well as open, trusting interaction. ALTANA offers you a lot of advantages. They include pleasant-sized operations where employees get to know each other personally and exchange ideas, extensive interdepartmental initial training, short information and decision-making paths, comprehensive further education and training offers, flexible working hours with flextime, and impressive compensation with good employee benefits and pension plans.

Application:
Please see our latest job postings to learn more about entry positions or apply initiatively.

You don't want to commit to a specific entry-level position yet, but would like to get to know different functional areas, locations or companies of ALTANA? Then perhaps a trainee program respectively our Cross Divisional Development Program (short: CDDP; an interdivisional program) is just right for you. A trainee program at ALTANA is also characterized by broad knowledge transfer and offers the opportunity to build up a broad network within the company.

Motivated and high-performing talents complete the two-year program in various projects and at several company locations.

With our trainee programs ALTANA offers an exciting opportunity to enter the corporate world of a successful, international chemical group. As a recent university graduate, doctoral candidate or young professional (m/f/d), you will have the chance to demonstrate and continuously expand your professional and personal skills and make an important contribution to the global success of the ALTANA Group. After 24 months, you will have established a large number of international contacts throughout the ALTANA Group, which will support you on your further development path at ALTANA. After the program, you will take on a permanent position in one of our divisions.

The trainee programs are offered in different functional areas: Finance/Controlling, Purchasing, Marketing, Corporate Development, Corporate Communications, HR and, in particular in the Innovation Area.

The Cross-Divisional Development Program in Corporate Innovation (CDDPI) is characterized by its flexibility and variety of tasks and areas. The CDDPI is unique in that it lasts approximately 30 months. Each division (BYK, ECKART, ELANTAS, ACTEGA and ALTANA) completes one project. The goal is to complete projects in research and development as well as in business development, product management or innovation management. This means that the program participants not only work on exciting research topics, but also get to know the interfaces between different areas. One of the projects will take place abroad at one of the more than 60 sites of the ALTANA Group. This can be anywhere in the world, e.g. in the US, Korea, or in Europe like France or Italy, the possibilities are endless.

Experience report of a former program participant

Name: Dr. Eva Schöbel
Role: Business Development Manager Synthetic Clays       
Business Division: BYK
Company: BYK-Chemie GmbH
Location: Wesel
Country: Germany
Has been with the company since: January 2021

 

Before your current position, you worked in the CDDPI (Cross-Divisional Development Program Innovation). Why did you apply for this position back then?

I had a Germany Scholarship (Deutschlandstipendium) from the ALTANA Group during my Master's degree and was therefore already quite familiar with the company. Due to several invitations to site visits or company events during the scholarship period, I perceived ALTANA as a very exciting company and got to know the ALTANA Group very deeply. So, when I started applying, ALTANA was at the top of my list. I did some research on the Internet about the opportunities and stumbled across the CDDPI program. The program immediately appealed to me. I found the combination of different projects and areas, as well as the opportunity to work abroad, very thrilling. The program requires an interest in networking and intercultural work. A feel for interdisciplinary connections is also an advantage. All of this matched my situation, so I applied for the CDDPI.

What does the application process look like?

I wrote an unsolicited application at the time. You can apply for the CDDPI position throughout the year. After the written application, I had an initial interview with the department and Dr. Petra Severit, CTO ALTANA AG. I may need to clarify something at this point. I applied at the beginning of 2020, at the start of the first corona lockdown. The first (and most of the other) interviews therefore took place digitally via Teams. However, I would like to emphasize at this point that despite the tense situation caused by corona, the application process worked excellently. After the first interview, I was invited to a personal interview with HR and the department in Wesel as soon as the situation allowed. In the final step, I had interviews with all four CTOs of the ALTANA divisions.

What projects have you worked on?

I spent the first year in Wesel. There I worked on new cable coating materials for my ELANTAS project. For my BYK project, I worked on the synthesis of new types of defoamers. I then went to Schererville, Indiana, in the US to complete my ECKART project. Here I researched conductive pigments. I then completed my ALTANA project in Rüsselsheim a.M. at HELIOSONIC GmbH, an internal ALTANA start-up, where I focussed on the commercialization process of the technology. For my last CDDPI project, I went to Lehrte near Hanover and researched novel, aqueous barrier coatings at ACTEGA. I then started my follow-up position in summer 2023 and now work in Business Development at BYK in Wesel. This area involves a lot of interfaces, where my broad ALTANA network is a great advantage.

Organizationally, the whole thing is very time-consuming. How much help do you get?

That's true. "Moving" every six months is time-consuming in terms of organization. I probably need to elaborate a bit more here. I didn't move my entire household every six months. I continued to have a main residence and moved into furnished second homes for the projects, so I basically only had to pitch up with two large bags for each new project. The functional department and HR always supported me in finding an apartment, signing a tenancy agreement etc., so I wasn't left alone with anything.

Do I have a say in the choice of projects?

Of course, you can express your wishes as to what topics you would like to work on. At the end of the day, however, the topics are all highly topical and directly related to day-to-day business. So it may be that the economic situation changes, or a new regulatory issue arises and you end up doing a different project. The projects are defined around three to six months in advance. The same applies to the location of the foreign project. So yes, you can contribute your ideas and expertise and, if the general conditions allow, these will be taken into account.

How does it all work if you need a visa for your stay abroad?

For many countries, especially intercontinental ones, a work visa is required. The ALTANA Global Mobility Team supports the participant in all aspects of such an assignment. This includes the collection of all documents, the organization of appointments at consulates and, of course, in finding accommodation abroad.

What is it like to work in a new team every six months?

Very enriching! I was warmly welcomed and trained in every team I joined. Of course, you also need to be willing and enjoy getting to grips with new topics and teams. However, I have found this experience to be entirely positive. I have also been able to build up a very large network across the entire ALTANA Group and various locations. We are ALTANA!

Send us an unsolicited application to get started as a trainee at ALTANA!

You would like to have a first-hand account on the daily routine of a trainee? These personal experiences offer insights.

If you take the direct path, you learn early on, after an intensive training phase, to take on responsibility. For us, entrepreneurial thinking and acting means making decisions, creating, carrying responsibilities, and refining. To allow our employees to take on this kind of responsibility, we offer jobs with a variety of duties and enough room for personal development.

In order to reach our sales and profit growth goals, we take advantage of the globalization and further develop our foreign operations in particular. Thanks to 66 companies operating around the globe as well as 63 locations for research and application technology, we are able to offer a wide range of development opportunities. A variety of training and continuing education options and a remuneration structure geared towards performance and success open up the best prospects for you. No matter which field you choose, with ALTANA you choose the future!

Please see our latest job postings in our job market to learn more about potential internships or apply speculatively.

You would like to have a first-hand account on the daily routine of an entrant? These personal experiences offer insights.

 

ALTANA is a focused specialty chemicals company offering its customers highly specialized technological solutions in niche markets. Due to this business model, innovation is an important element of the company’s corporate strategy, ensuring that ALTANA will keep growing in the long term and remain the technology and market leader.

As a research-intensive company, our employees are our greatest success. They work with great commitment, creativity and professionalism on sustainable solutions and products. Each of our areas of operations helps the ALTANA Group occupying a leading position in its target markets with respect to quality, product solution expertise, innovation and service.

Among others, we offer positions in these areas of operations. Get to know more here.

  • IT
  • Production
  • Chemical Laboratory Assistant
  • Laboratory Employee
  • (Technical) Marketing
  • Technical Services
  • Research & Development
  • Group Financing & Treasury
  • Legal Department
  • IT
  • Purchasing Department
  • Taxation
  • Finance & Controlling
  • Environment, Health & Safety
  • Internal Audit
  • Corporate Communication
  • Innovation
  • Human Resources
  • Corporate Development / M&A
  • Group Financing & Treasury
  • Legal Department
  • IT
  • Purchasing Department
  • Taxation
  • Finance & Controlling
  • Environment, Health & Safety
  • Internal Audit
  • Corporate Communication
  • Innovation
  • Human Resources
  • Corporate Development / M&A

We are ALTANA

Different personalities
Working together
Cross-cutting projects

The following personal experiences of our employees will give you insight into the different career areas at ALTANA. Employees from a wide variety of areas and cities use this venue to describe their professional experience, the apprenticeship phases at ALTANA, their professional goals, day-to-day tasks, their life alongside their career, and they have even provided some interview advice.