ZEISS Digital Partners: Filling a crucial talent gap in niche Data & AI roles.
The Challenge
ZEISS is an internationally-leading technology enterprise operating in the optics and optoelectronics industries. Its Digital Partners division sits at the sharp end of that innovation, building out data-driven and AI-enabled capability across the wider ZEISS group.
When ZEISS Digital Partners' Talent Partner for Data & AI first approached MAM Gruppe, they were facing a familiar but stubborn problem: niche Data & AI vacancies had been sitting open for too long without attracting a strong enough field of candidates, and the profiles that did come through weren't consistently at the level the roles demanded. With a genuinely limited talent pool to draw from, and hiring managers working to fixed deadlines, every week a role stayed open added pressure to an already urgent search.
The Solution
MAM Gruppe moved quickly to get under the skin of exactly what ZEISS Digital Partners needed. Rather than treating Data & AI hiring as a generic technology search, the team invested time upfront to understand the specific technical requirements of each role; the frameworks, the seniority level, the kind of problem-solving each hiring manager was actually looking for.
That investment paid off fast: suitable candidates were typically presented within two weeks of the initial briefing call, and the quality of profiles kept improving as the partnership progressed. Communication stayed open and transparent throughout, and MAM Gruppe supplemented the search with genuine market insight, including salary benchmarking, helping the hiring team plan ahead rather than just react to the search in front of them.
The Outcome
The numbers speak for themselves. Over 80% of the candidates MAM Gruppe introduced went on to interview, and one of those candidates ultimately filled the role. That's a rare hit rate in a market as tight as Data & AI recruitment, and it reflects how closely each profile was matched to what ZEISS Digital Partners actually needed, not a broad, spray-and-pray approach.
The relationship has continued to grow since. ZEISS Digital Partners and MAM Gruppe now work together with a high degree of trust, built on a process both sides describe as efficient, collaborative, and, rarer still in recruitment, genuinely enjoyable.
