PhD Student for Doctorate in External Affairs

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Number: MER0003ZD4 Mercedes-Benz Group AG is one of the leading international automotive companies. With global presence, strong brand portfolio, comprehensive product range and not least through many innovations and groundbreaking technologies, Mercedes-Benz has reached its top position on the market. External Affairs (EA) is responsible for representing the interests of the Group towards politics. With offices in Berlin, Washington, Brussels and Beijing as well as a worldwide network of EA representatives, EA forms a global political framework for strategic and operational business interests. The doctorate is located in the field of Operations & Strategic Projects, which focuses on international location and production topics. These include political expertise on, among other things, current global industrial policy issues, analysis of policy frameworks for localization strategies, analysis of reputation issues and the fluctuation of corresponding projects on site. The doctoral student is actively involved in the operational day-to-day business of the above-mentioned tasks – focusing on relevant industrialization projects as well as strategic, area-relevant cross-sectional topics. The research work should be based on the above-mentioned thematic portfolio of the department, especially in the context of international production projects. Possible questions can be found, for example, in the field of political risk analysis, location-related topics in the geopolitical context or battery value creation chain. A link with current political challenges is also conceivable with a link to digitalization, Industry 4.0, sales and logistics. The main tasks of the “Operations & Strategic Projects” team include: Support in the political fluctuation of world-wide production projects of the various business areas, i.e. the provision of political expertise within the Mercedes-Benz organization as well as the representation of corporate interests. Policy and authorities

Preparation of group-oriented preparation of corporate messages for political stakeholders at international level in cooperation with internal and external communication

Working with the creation of briefings for top management as well as support in the creation of board documents and project bodies for internal & external use

Assessment of policy options for operational issues in the context of the production network (including purchasing/logistics)

Monitoring and analysis (industrial) policy issues, deriving needs for action, corresponding upstream research activities

Providing expertise on political developments and corresponding impacts on production-related group business (e.g. monitoring of European policy activities in the context of battery strategy)

Analysis of industrial policy framework conditions for localization strategies (e.g. support frames, access barriers, etc.)

The activity can begin from April 2026. Adjustment requirement is the support of the doctoral project by a university lecturer. The selection of a corresponding person is the responsibility of the doctoral student.

Degree of study: Master Politics, International Relations or comparable degree programme

Personal competencies: independent work and reliability, analytical thinking and rapid understanding, high expressiveness and judgment, self-initiative, team capacity

Intrinsic motivation for creating a dissertation in the industrial environment in an already deepened subject area

Comprehensive interest in the policy and economy interface as well as in political issues

Language knowledge: Excellent knowledge of German and English in word and writing

Secure handling of MS Office is assumed

Experiences on the diplomatic parquet or in dealing with politics and in the group environment

Additional information: Doctorate in the Mercedes-Benz Group! Benefit from our know-how, an international expertise network, research materials, work insights and personal support by mentors – in addition to your university. Further information can be found here. We look forward to your online application with CV, Letters and Certificates. Please do not forget to mark your documents as ''relevant for this application' in the online form and note the maximum file size of 5 MB. Disabled and equalized applicants are welcome! The severely disabled representative (SBV-Zentrale@mercedes-benz.com) is happy to support you in the application process. HR Services will be happy to help you with questions about the application process. You can reach us by email via myhrservice@mercedes-benz.com or by phone at 0711/17-99000 (Mo-Fr 10-12am & 13-15am).

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