Working Student / Intern – Buy&Build in Industrial Refrigeration

We are a two-founder team combining strategic, operational, and execution expertise (ex-Bain, ex-TikTok, four years operating & growing Mittelstand) with the experience of a 30-year industry vet (a Meister) who has sold his company.

Join us at the intersection of entrepreneurship, investing, and the German Mittelstand - in one of Europe's most underserved and structurally attractive industries. We are building the Fire / Ice Gruppe: a buy-and-build platform for industrial refrigeration (NH3, CO2, propane, large-scale cooling systems for data centers, pharma, chemicals, and energy). The German Mittelstand succession wave meets data-center growth, the F-Gas transition, and a severe shortage of skilled technicians - nowhere else do demand growth, scarcity, and operational leverage compound this clearly. This is not a back-office role. You will take ownership early and contribute directly to live acquisition workstreams. What you will work on: Market and target research: identify attractive sub-segments and acquisition targets in German industrial refrigeration; build, populate and maintain our deal pipeline of 2000+ companies in our Attio CRM with the help of openregister.de, ORBIS and extensive Claude skills. Proprietary deal sourcing: support outreach to owners and intermediaries, prepare cold-call scripts and follow-ups, and join first-call discovery interviews with owners Investment cases and due diligence: build company profiles, EBITDA bridges, valuation models, and decision memos for our investors and our own investment committee AI in the Mittelstand: help us build practical AI tooling for two of the industry's biggest pain points: talent acquisition and reduction of documentation overhead for technicians (maintenance protocols, F-Gas reports, expert certifications, Sachkundenachweise) Talent pipeline: contribute to Germany's first modern recruiting engine for industrial refrigeration; a trade with almost no social-media presence despite being one of the highest-leverage shortages in the country Why this opportunity is unique: - Hands-on M&A in a live transaction context — real owner conversations, real data rooms, real LOIs - AI applied to the German Mittelstand — currently the hottest topic in consulting, and you build the actual product - Direct mentoring by a founder team with Bain, TikTok, and Mittelstand operating backgrounds - Office in central Munich at SCHUB Space — co-working with other Munich startup founders - International ambition from day one — we are building Fire / Ice beyond DACH - Equity-participation philosophy modeled on KKR's blue-collar partnership programs — long-term alignment for everyone in the group, including the trades. Full time opportunities can develop for excellent interns.

We are looking for highly analytical, entrepreneurial, and execution-oriented candidates who want to work on real opportunities. You are a strong fit if you bring: - Ongoing studies in Business, Finance, Economics, ANY Engineering, or a related field (TUM, LMU or comparable) - Strong analytical skills and a structured, detail-oriented working style - Genuine interest in private equity, M&A, applied AI, and German Mittelstand succession - First experience in consulting, corporate finance, M&A, private equity, venture capital, or a similarly demanding analytical environment is a plus - Confidence with AI tools, Excel, and PowerPoint; familiarity with Python or n8n is a plus - High ownership mentality, reliability, and curiosity - Fluent German required, fluent English required