122 Companies That Hire English Speakers in Switzerland

I do offer no guarantee that any of the companies listed below do still exist or hire
English speakers at the point you are reading this.
The list is in no particular order. I did not split the list into regions, because many of
these companies have offices in different parts of Switzerland.

How should you use this list
I did not link to the company's website because to be able to find the job openings, it
is much faster if you just google "company name jobs". In my research it took me up
to 10 clicks to finally get to the job openings of the company. By googling it, you are
much faster.
I suggest you add yourself to these companies job newsletters or RSS feeds. If you
want to get the most out of this list, start connecting with people on LinkedIn at these
companies.


Gaba
I know they sometimes hire English speakers.

Stryker
Same applies like at Gaba.

Crucell
I know a few people who are working here. In some departments, German is a
requirement and in some it is not. It very much depends on the department head.

Schindler
One of my friends just starts working here today. He does not speak any German.

UBS
I bet you know UBS already. Here it very much depends on the division. If you are
applying for UBS Investment Bank, German is absolutely no must. If it is for the
Wealth Management and Business Bank, many positions require German.

Credit Suisse
Here it is similar to UBS. Although Credit Suisse has merged their divisions into one
bank, there are still many departments who do not require German language skills. I
suggest you still apply for a job if it is published in English but says fluent German.

T-Systems
Most of the departments require fluent German, however, not in every. I am aware of
this because I know some people within the organization very well.



Roche
A few friends of mine work here who do not speak German. Depending on the
department head, German can be required. However, they are most of the time very
open to English speakers. If you are looking for a job in the area of Zurich, you
should consider Roche Diagnostics. It is astonishing what they have built in Rotkreuz
(close to Zug) in the last few years. They created an entire campus for this division
with thousands of employees working there.

Novartis
I know many people working here. German is absolutely no must.

Cargo Media
One of my friends works here. They are very open, also to non-EU applicants.

Saia Burgess
Some positions do not require German skills.

Barclays Bank
Most of the time, fluent English is enough and French is not required.

Deutsche Bank
They also have a big office in Geneva and I worked with them a few years ago.
Deutsche Bank is very international and you won't need local language skills most of
the time.

Verizon
One of my friends used to work here. If I recall it right, the HR lady at that time was
an Expat with no local language skills.


Swisscom
Swisscom has merged its divisions years ago from Mobile and Fixnet into one
company. However, the Mobile part is still much more international and some of the
departments do not require German language skills. You will have the best options
here if you know somebody who works at Swisscom because then you can find out
which departments accept English speakers.

BMC
I have met with the Country Manager of Switzerland once and they are generally
open for English speakers, very much depending on the job.

EMC2
Back in the days when I was working in Zurich, this was one of our clients. They are
open for English speakers for some jobs.

Zurich Financial Services
This was one of my main clients back in Zurich and they are very open for English
speakers.

SwissRe
I placed a few people at SwissRe back in the days I worked in Zurich. It is a very
international environment and most of the time you will not need to speak any local
language.

CSC
This is a very big IT Service Provider and depending on the project you are working
on, German is not a must. However, this all boils down to the end client you will be
working with.



IBM
Also depending on the end client you are working with and the department, German
is not a must. I think the chances at IBM are big that you will not require German for
a job there.

Microsoft
Same applies like for IBM.

Google
Who does not know Google. I have been at Google in Zurich for a
job interview myself and the environment is very international. I have not heard
anybody talk in German with me, even though one of the girls who interviewed me
was German.

Sauter
I have worked with them sometimes in the past and for some positions, German was
not required. They mention that German is required in their job adverts but if they are
published in English, I would still apply.

Oerlikon
At Oerlikon it once more depends on the division you are applying for, if the job
requires German or not.

Merck Serono
My colleagues in Geneva and Lausanne work very close with Merck. They are very
international and German or French is not a must most of the time.

Basilea Pharma
Also depending on the job, you won't need German here.


Huntsman
Huntsman is a client of our Science division and they generally do not require any
other language than English.

Kraft Foods
I have never worked with Kraft Foods myself but I know a relocation company that
does and based on their experience, fluent English is enough for the language skills.

Chevrolet
I found this company name in the English Forum and somebody mentioned they hire
many Expats.

Siemens
Once more it depends on the end client and department the job is in but I suggest
you apply for jobs if they are published in English.

GE Money Bank
GE is very international and many times they do not require any other language than
English.

Dell
I know they have large projects with their end clients and depending on the language
requirements of their clients, you will only need to speak fluent English.

KPMG
Same here, it depends on the end clients requirements. For internal roles, anything
else than English should not be required.


PWC
The same applies here like for KPMG.

Sunrise
I worked with Sunrise in the past back in Zurich and most of the time they did not
require a local language.

Colt
The operations director let me know that out of 8 people he hired in 2012, 50% were
English speakers

Orange
The same applies like for Sunrise.

Glencore
This is another international company and German won't be required most of the
time.

ABB
I have also worked with ABB in the past in Zurich and had people on site who did not
speak any German.

Alstom
Same applies like at ABB.



Alpiq
Many of the jobs do require German but some don't. I suggest you look out for the
ones that are published in English.

Accenture
As this is another large consulting corporation, depending on the end client, German
is required or not.

Actelion
I know an American who is working there who does not speak German. This also
shows that the work permit issue is secondary for them.

Amgen
I worked with Amgen over the last few years. They are very international and hire
many Expats.

BIS
The BIS in Basel employs many English speakers and is a highly international firm.

Cablecom
One of my friends works at Cablecom and many of his colleagues do not speak
German.

BASF
I have not worked with BASF personally but I am sure they have employees with no
local language skills.




Clariant
A few years ago I have worked with a service provider on a large migration project at
Clariant and we had a couple of contractors on site. All of them were from the UK
and did not speak any German.

Syngenta
I know a few people at Syngenta and know that they hire many Expats.

DHL
One of my friends used to work there and she mentioned that some employees were
Expats without local language skills.

Panalpina
Same applies like for DHL.

DSM
I have not worked with DSM personally but know from a few sources that they hire
English speakers.

Ernst & Young
Same applies like for KPMG

Fisher Clinical
I also know a few people working here and some do not speak German.



Franke
I know somebody who used to work here in HR. For some positions, German was
not required.

Jet Aviation
I know a guy who worked here and he does not speak any German.

Keymile
I know a few people working here. The work permit issue is also secondary.

Lexmark
Depending on their clients, the job will require German or not.

Xerox
Same applies like for Lexmark.

Lodestone
One of my friends is working here and she does not speak German. Most of the
employees are international and I think the work permit issue is secondary here as
well.

Lonza
A few years back I worked with them and some positions do not require German.

Omya
They are based in the same building as the Adecco HQ is in Glattbrugg and many of
the jobs do not required German language skills.


Pfizer
They are very international and many of the jobs published do not require German.

Sicap
I know Sicap well and they have a very international work environment where most of
the people do not speak German and come from all over the world. Sicap is a
daughter company of Swisscom.

Straumann
Based on some of their job adverts, they only require fluent English language skills.

Synthes
Some of the jobs do not require German skills, depending on the department.

Tibco
The environment is very multinational and German is only required if the end client
requests it.

Tillotts
Based on their job adverts, they do not require German language skills.

Unisys
Many years ago, I worked with Unisys on a project and German was only desirable.



Universal Postal Union
I know a guy who is working here. He does not speak any German and is a non-EU
citizen.

Varian
I have worked with them many years ago and German was not a requirement for the
jobs.

VistaPrint
Same applies like for Varian.

Abraxis Informatik
I remember somebody who has worked at Abraxis and did not speak any German.

Adobe
I have not personally worked with them but based on their job adverts, I bet they hire
English speakers.

AIG Bank
Same applies here like for Adobe

Alcatel
I remember someone who worked here that and did not speak any German.

Altran
Based on their job adverts, they sometimes need German or French and sometimes
English is enough.


Emil Frey
I know them from a few years ago when I was working in Zurich. At that time they
used to hire Expats with no German language requirements.

Avaloq
Many times, fluent English is enough.

Green.ch
I know for some positions they do not request German language skills.
















Here is a list of companies I do not have worked with personally but based on
other people's statements, most of them do hire English speakers

Baxter
Cambridge Technology
Capgemini
Cisco
Citibank
Coca Cola
Cognizant
Cognos
Comit
Coutts
Deloitte
Essmertec
Gate Gourmet
General Electric
HP
Kuoni
ING Bank
IWC
Johnson & Johnson
Leica
Logica
Lufthansa

Mettler Toledo
Morgan Stanley
Nobel Biocare
Nokia Siemens Networks
Parallels
Cern
Sika
SIX
SQS
Oracle
Swiss
Swiss Life
Tecan
Thermo Fisher
Toshiba
Unic
VonRoll
Zimmer
Telekurs
Swisscard

Here are two more sources to find some company names
http://www.baselarea.ch/en/working-in-the-basel-area/foreign-companies.html
http://www.amcham.ch/publications/downloads/20060101_bcg_amcham_study.pdf