Charité Berlin Careers, Salaries & Jobs

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is the capital's university hospital.

It reports 3,293 beds, 25,256 staff across the group and four campuses with 17 CharitéCentren in 2025, covering more than 100 clinics and institutes.

How you reach Charité depends on your profession. For nurses it runs one of the most structured recruitment programmes of any German hospital: direct recruitment in seven countries, free German tuition up to B2, payment of recognition costs and an integration team that supports staff after arrival. For doctors there is no recruitment programme; you apply to a clinic once you can show a licence to practise, a work permit and German at C1. Midwives, therapists, pharmacists, scientists and other health professionals apply to advertised posts in the same way, once their qualification is recognised in Germany where the profession is regulated.

Staff come from 133 nations according to Charité's careers site. Licensing in Berlin is handled by the Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales (LAGeSo), and the medical language test for doctors is run by the Ärztekammer Berlin.

Pay is set by collective agreements: the TV-ÄB Charité, agreed with the Marburger Bund, for doctors, and the public sector agreement TVöD (VKA) with its nursing P table for nurses and most health professions.

Founded

1710

Run by

Public-law corporation (Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts) and joint medical faculty of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Leadership

• Prof. Dr. Heyo K. Kroemer, Vorstandsvorsitzender
• Prof. Dr. Martin E. Kreis, Vorstand Krankenversorgung
• Carla Eysel, Vorstand Personal und Pflege
• Franziska Landgraf, Pflegedirektorin

Accreditations

• RAL Gütezeichen for fair recruitment of nursing staff (Faire Anwerbung Pflege Deutschland), as Charité states on its international recruitment page
• audit berufundfamilie and audit familiengerechte hochschule certification since 2007, as listed by Charité

Awards and rankings

• Newsweek World's Best Hospitals 2026: 8th in the world, 2nd in Europe and 1st in Germany, as reported by Charité on 25 February 2026
• Focus Klinikliste 2026: first place overall among German hospitals for the 14th year in a row, as reported by Charité
• Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026, Medical and Health: 29th in the world and 1st in Germany, as reported by Charité

Switchboard

+49 30 450 50

• Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité (DHZC)

  Charité's dedicated heart centre, which the hospital lists among its main clinical units.

• High-level isolation unit

  A special isolation ward for highly infectious diseases such as Ebola, one of the facilities Charité highlights in its clinical overview.

• Lung centre

  A lung care partnership with the Evangelische Lungenklinik Berlin.

• Obstetrics and neonatal care

  Charité reports 4,749 births with 4,845 babies born in 2025.

• Full range of specialties

  More than 100 clinics and institutes covering every medical field from ophthalmology to dentistry.

• Translational research with the Berlin Institute of Health

  Research and clinical translation linked to the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité.

• Charité recruits registered nurses (Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann) directly, without intermediaries, in Brazil, Chile, India, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey and Tunisia. It names the Federal Employment Agency's ZAV as its partner for Mexico and DeFa for Brazil.
• Before entry, applicants submit a recognition application to LAGeSo, which compares their training with the German nursing qualification. Where there are gaps, nurses complete either an individual adaptation course (Anpassungslehrgang) or a knowledge test (Kenntnisprüfung), delivered with the Berliner Bildungscampus für Gesundheitsberufe.
• Charité says it provides free German lessons up to the B2 exam, covers the cost of professional recognition, offers permanent contracts under the public sector pay agreement and supports family reunification, at the earliest after 12 months. Its Stabsstelle Integration Pflege mentors staff after arrival, helps with dealings with the authorities and runs further language courses.
• Charité holds the RAL Gütezeichen for fair recruitment of nursing staff, follows the 'employer pays' principle so that nurses pay nothing for the recruitment process, and states that its contracts contain no binding or repayment clauses.
• There is no equivalent programme for doctors. Charité's medical careers page says international doctors need a work permit, recognition of their medical qualification, German at C1 and a vacant post, and points them to the Ärztekammer Berlin for recognition questions. Speculative applications to individual clinics are welcome.

• Doctors trained outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland need an Approbation, or a temporary Berufserlaubnis limited to Berlin for up to two years, from LAGeSo. Applications go by post with officially certified copies.

• LAGeSo requires German for the profession to be shown in a C1 medical language test (Fachsprachprüfung) before the Ärztekammer Berlin. If your training differs substantially from German training, you must also pass the Kenntnisprüfung.

• Nurses need recognition as a Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann from LAGeSo, German at B2 and, where gaps are found, an adaptation course or knowledge test. Charité's international nurses complete this with its support.

• A residence permit that allows the work. See the visa section below.

• Proof of measles immunity, which Germany's Measles Protection Act requires for staff in medical facilities.

• If you still have to complete recognition, section 16d of the Residence Act covers a residence permit for qualification measures and exams such as the Kenntnisprüfung, for up to 24 months and extendable by up to 12 months, and a recognition partnership (section 16d(3)) that lets you work for a named employer while you complete recognition. Both require at least 'sufficient' German, which section 2 of the Act defines as level A2.

• Once you hold the Approbation, a Berufserlaubnis or full nursing recognition, the usual routes are the skilled worker residence permit or the EU Blue Card (section 18g). Employers can also use the fast-track procedure for skilled workers (section 81a) with the local foreigners authority. None of this is legal advice: check your own case with the German mission and the foreigners authority.

1. 1

   Choose your route

   Nurses from the seven recruitment countries apply through Charité's international recruitment programme. Doctors and nurses who already hold German recognition apply for advertised jobs or send a speculative application.
2. 2

   Start German early

   Nurses need B2 for recognition; Charité teaches up to B2 for its recruits. Doctors need C1 professional German for the Fachsprachprüfung and for Charité's clinics.
3. 3

   Doctors: apply to LAGeSo

   Send your Approbation or Berufserlaubnis application to LAGeSo by post with certified copies, then sit the Fachsprachprüfung at the Ärztekammer Berlin and, if required, the Kenntnisprüfung.
4. 4

   Apply on the careers site

   Use karriere.charite.de with a cover letter, CV, certificates or professional licence and any other certificates. Doctors can also email clinics directly or arrange a work-shadowing visit (Hospitation).
5. 5

   Interview and offer

   Charité offers contracts under its collective agreements. International nurses receive permanent contracts.
6. 6

   Visa and arrival

   Apply for the visa that matches your stage of recognition at the German mission. Charité's integration team supports nurses with the authorities after arrival.

Monthly amounts

• Doctor (Ärztin/Arzt), TV-ÄB Charité

  €5,841 to €7,710

  Steps from year 1 to year 11, from 1 February 2026.

• Specialist (Fachärztin/Facharzt), TV-ÄB Charité

  €7,710 to €10,223

  Steps from year 1 to year 13.

• Senior physician (Oberärztin/Oberarzt), TV-ÄB Charité

  €9,655 to €10,848

  Steps from year 1, 4 and 7.

• Registered nurse (P 7), TVöD (VKA)

  €3,510.30 to €4,305.40

  Steps 2 to 6 from 1 May 2026. P 7 covers nurses with at least three years' training.

• Nursing allowance (Pflegezulage), TVöD

  €141.82

  Paid on top of the table to staff in P 5 to P 16 from 1 May 2026.