Heidelberg University Hospital Careers, Salaries & Jobs

Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg (UKHD) builds on more than 600 years of medical tradition in Heidelberg.

It reports 2,589 beds, 14,544 staff from 133 nations, 87,441 inpatients and 1,275,241 outpatient cases, in figures from its 2024 annual report.

UKHD has taken part in Triple Win, the programme run by the Federal Employment Agency and GIZ to recruit nurses from non-EU countries, since 2017. Nurses have come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Tunisia and the Philippines. In June 2023 the hospital said around 300 nurses had started work through the programme, and in September 2023 it reported that 87 international nurses had gained recognition in 2022 and 2023.

Recruits take intensive language and integration courses, with Goethe-Institut partners in their home countries and in Mannheim, then work through a recognition year that ends with the knowledge test. The hospital's newsroom has reported annual cohorts rather than an open application route, so recruitment depends on the programme's intake. There is no comparable programme for doctors or other health professions: they apply to advertised posts once their qualification is recognised in Germany where the profession is regulated.

Doctors at Baden-Württemberg's university hospitals are paid under the TV-Ärzte (TdL); other staff, including nurses, under the TV-UK agreement for the state's four university hospitals.

Run by

Public-law institution (Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts); in an alliance (Verbund) with Universitätsklinikum Mannheim since January 2026

Leadership

• Prof. Dr. Hanns-Peter Knaebel, Vorstandsvorsitzender / CEO, Vorstand Medizin
• Yvonne Dintelmann, Vorständin Personal und Pflege
• Tatjana Utz-Erhardt, Vorständin Operatives Geschäft (COO)
• Stephan Schulz-Gohritz, Vorstand Finanzen

Awards and rankings

• Newsweek World's Best Hospitals 2026: 12th in the world and 2nd in Germany, as reported by UKHD

Switchboard

+49 6221 56-0

• National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT)

  Interdisciplinary cancer care that UKHD describes as unique in Germany, running since 2010.

• Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ)

  The paediatric counterpart of the NCT, opened in 2017.

• Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT)

  Operational since 2009; UKHD describes it as unique in Europe in combining proton and heavy-ion therapy.

• Kopfklinik

  One of UKHD's main clinical centres, listed on its facts and figures page.

• Children's and adolescent medicine

  The Zentrum für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, in a building opened in 2008.

• Krehl-Klinik (internal medicine)

  UKHD's centre for internal medicine.

• UKHD recruits nurses from non-EU countries through Triple Win, the joint programme of the Federal Employment Agency's ZAV and GIZ, which aims at fair and transparent recruitment. It has taken part since 2017, with nurses from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Tunisia and the Philippines.
• Recruits take intensive language and integration courses, supported by Goethe-Instituts in their home countries and in Mannheim. Their first year, the recognition year (Anerkennungsjahr), combines work on the wards with special courses. After passing the knowledge test, they receive professional recognition and stay on at UKHD.
• UKHD reported 87 international nurses passing recognition in 2022 and 2023, and around 300 Triple Win recruits starting work since 2017 by mid-2023. It has also advertised roles for nurse educators dedicated to the recognition of international staff.
• If you are not in a Triple Win country, you can still apply directly for advertised nursing jobs once you have recognition, or apply to Baden-Württemberg's recognition office yourself. There is no recruitment programme for doctors.

• Doctors trained outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland apply to the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart (department 9) for the Approbation or a Berufserlaubnis. They need general German at B2 and must pass a C1-oriented medical language test run by the Landesärztekammer Baden-Württemberg, plus the Kenntnisprüfung where their training is not equivalent.

• Nurses apply for recognition as a Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann to the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart (department 98). It asks for a B2 German certificate from an ALTE-certified provider such as Goethe, telc or ÖSD, and where it finds gaps requires an adaptation course or a knowledge test. It warns of longer processing times because of the number of applications.

• 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

   Check whether you are in a Triple Win country

   Triple Win recruitment for UKHD runs through the Federal Employment Agency and GIZ in partner countries. Nurses from those countries apply through the programme, not directly to the hospital.
2. 2

   Learn German

   B2 for nurses' recognition; B2 plus a C1 medical language test for doctors.
3. 3

   Apply for recognition

   Nurses apply to the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, department 98. Doctors apply to department 9 for the Approbation or Berufserlaubnis.
4. 4

   Apply for advertised posts

   Use UKHD's careers portal at karriere.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de, with your CV, certificates and recognition documents.
5. 5

   Complete the recognition year

   Triple Win nurses work and study in their first year and sit the knowledge test before full recognition.
6. 6

   Visa

   Apply for the visa that matches your stage of recognition at the German mission.

Monthly amounts

• Doctor in training (Ä1), TV-Ärzte (TdL)

  €5,792.90 to €7,436.05

  Years 1 to 6, gross, 40-hour week, from 1 April 2026 to 31 August 2027 (provisional table).

• Specialist (Ä2), TV-Ärzte (TdL)

  €7,645.72 to €9,576.69

  Rises at years 4, 7, 9, 11 and 13 as a specialist.

• Senior physician (Ä3), TV-Ärzte (TdL)

  €9,576.69 to €11,265.33

  Steps from year 1, 4, 7 and 10.

• Nursing and functional services, TV-UK (PUK 5 to PUK 15)

  €3,026 to €6,910

  Whole range of the TV-UK nursing table from 1 October 2025; check the PUK group in your offer.

• TV-UK group PUK 7

  €3,723 to €4,711

  Steps 1 to 6 from 1 October 2025.