Hybrid, Hardworking & High Spirits! Our Success Story in Germany

As we approach year’s end and new year resolutions, I wanted to share how the past decade has shaped the way we work in Germany, and my own journey at Outbrain.

An inspiring team 

During the past four years, Outbrain has grown from 622 employees to 939 globally, and more than doubled our size in Germany with 55 employees and counting. In our two German offices, located in Munich and Cologne, we work on publisher partnerships and growing our advertiser business, with teams also focusing on technical implementations, as well as business and product development. I am responsible for the publisher business in the D/A/CH region and work together with a great team of account managers who support the best and biggest publishers in the region, tackling their most urgent challenges; all this with the support and guidance of a Business Development Director who makes sure we keep our current partners happy while bringing new ones on board. 

With rapid growth comes the risk of a shift in company culture. At Outbrain, this is something we take very seriously. We maintain a flat hierarchy and keep our communications simple and down to earth. Also, senior management is always just one Slack message away, which enables us to work dynamically and be approachable to all. 

We are a hardworking group of passionate people. Getting stuff done and staying on top of things is what has made the past decade such a journey full of wins and successes. Our account managers are known in the industry for their capabilities – and they are also just a bunch of great people who I enjoy working with every day.

Proud of our partners and clients

At Outbrain, the entire team is the star of the show. Our people are what makes our company special and what enables us to be so successful. Seeing our partners and clients happy is what makes all the hard work worth it, though. Outbrain has a culture of “getting stuff done”; we are dynamic, proactive problem solvers, and knowing our clients appreciate our culture and value our hard work is very rewarding. We work with our media partners to solve the challenges of online publishing and journalism, not only by  providing solutions for monetization, but also for subscriptions and audience engagement.

Together with advertisers and media owners, we are building the open web of the future. For this to happen, our team builds long-standing relationships with our clients and partners based on trust. As we say in our cultural manifesto, trust is our fundamental currency, inside and outside of the team. 

And of course, we also have fun

Something genuine about Outbrain is that we actually like each other. We like to spend time with our colleagues, have a chat and a coffee together. This is why, now that the world is somewhat going back to or close to normal, we are adopting a hybrid model. 

Working at our offices in Munich and Cologne is fun, and with this new model, we gather at least two days a week together, enjoying collaboration, teamwork and lunches in person. But it is not all about the company; we cultivate a true family culture and take great pride in supporting each other in both our personal and professional development. From new babies to birthdays and weddings, during these past two tough years during COVID, we have been there for one another. We hope that the new hybrid approach will further improve wellbeing and work-life balance, as well as providing common spaces in which to share knowledge and innovate.

Our values are honest and bold

If you have not already done so, I recommend you check out our cultural manifesto: trust, diversity, integrity, innovation, and more. We have bold ideas and we walk the talk. 

But don’t take my word for it, visit our Munich offices in this video (in German). Watch now:

Sounds interesting? Then don’t miss out on career opportunities at Outbrain Germany. Currently, we are recruiting account managers to our team. If you want to work on supporting independent journalism and making the open web a great place, visit our careers page and please do apply!