Andreia SantosThere is, and it is concentrated in service centres and German-language customer service – the shared services sector in Portugal has more than 30,000 jobs, 93 operations and 88 companies, and German is on the list of languages in shortest supply on the market. That is the context in which a company in Palmela is looking for people to assist customers in German. Your language is not an extra on your CV – it is the main requirement of the role.
People coming back from Germany are not a rare case
According to the Observatório da Emigração, in the first decade of this century at least 233,000 Portuguese-born emigrants returned to Portugal, and more than two thirds came from France, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany. The data comes from the 2011 Census – it is the snapshot available, not today's, and I will not pretend it is recent.
What this says is simple: the path you took is a well-trodden one. There are many people in Portugal with German from a German school, from a Lehre, from years of work in Stuttgart or Zurich. And almost none of them arrived thinking it was worth money.
Why your German is worth more here than it was there
In Germany, speaking German did not set you apart from anyone. In Portugal, it does.
Adecco's salary guide for shared service centres, from May 2026, describes the sector as a multilingual platform – the average centre operates in four languages – and places German among the languages with the least availability on the Portuguese market. Less supply, more demand: that is the whole explanation.
The same guide counts 58 new centres since 2015, equivalent to 62% of those that exist. The sector is not a curiosity – it is where a large part of the skilled jobs created in the last decade went.
English is what can hold you back, not German
This is the part that can hold back many returnees, and it is better to hear it now: the three Volkswagen Group Roadside Assistance roles in Palmela require fluent English as a mandatory requirement, alongside native or C1 German. The Automotive Service role is the only one that does not require English.
If you spent twenty years in Germany working in German, your English may have stayed where it was at the end of secondary school. There is no point trying to get around it. The posting says mandatory, and mandatory is what it means.
What is not asked for is any certificate. The postings talk about level – native or C1 at minimum – and not about a paper issued by an institute. Someone who learned German living in Germany fits the profile exactly, even without ever having taken an exam.
What these four roles ask for
There are four German-speaking Contact Center Agent roles, 100% remote, split across two projects: Roadside Assistance, which is assistance for drivers on the road, and Automotive Service, which answers questions about vehicles and services.
The requirements for the Roadside Assistance roles, all mandatory except 12th grade, which is preferred (the Automotive Service posting does not require English and does not mention shifts):
- Native German or C1 at minimum
- Fluent English
- 12th grade (end of secondary school) or equivalent (preferred)
- Availability to work in shifts
Customer support experience is listed as preferred, not required, and the amount of experience mentioned varies from level to level (Junior, Middle and Senior). The salary figures are on each role's page, to the euro, taken from the respective posting – check them there, where they are accurate.
And the return itself? There is the tax benefit
This has nothing to do with the role, but it has to do with you. The Programa Regressar, described on the Portal das Finanças, provides a 50% exemption on taxable employment income for anyone who becomes a tax resident in Portugal in 2024, 2025 or 2026, was not resident in the previous five years and had been resident in Portugal before emigrating.
The benefit applies to the year of return and the following four, with a limit of €250,000 of annual income, and it cannot be combined with the non-habitual resident regime. The exact conditions that apply to your case are confirmed with the Autoridade Tributária, not here.
Where you apply
You apply on the Volkswagen Group careers portal. Not by email, not through this site, and LinkedIn sends you to the same place.
Do I need a German certificate?
No. The postings ask for a level – native or C1 at minimum – and never a certificate.
My English is weak. Can I apply anyway?
Yes. The Automotive Service role does not require English. In the three Roadside Assistance roles, fluent English is listed as mandatory, and there it is up to the recruiters to decide.
Do I have to live near Palmela?
The roles are fully remote. The company's address is in Palmela; the posting describes the project as fully remote.
I worked in customer service in Germany. Does that count?
Customer support experience is listed in the postings as preferred. There is no indication that it has to have been in Portugal.
I don't have Portuguese 12th grade; I have German schooling.
The posting asks for a "high school diploma or equivalent" – in other words, equivalent counts. If your German qualification has an equivalence, that equivalence is what you should refer to.
How long does it take to hear back on an application?
It is not published in the postings, and I will not invent a timeframe.
- Middle Contact Center Agent (Roadside Assistance – German Speaker) posting, Volkswagen Group Services Portugal, accessed 2026-09-17 – https://pt.linkedin.com/jobs/view/middle-contact-center-agent-roadside-assistance-german-speaker-at-volkswagen-group-services-portugal-4440541534
- Volkswagen Group careers portal, Volkswagen Group Services, Palmela – https://jobs.volkswagen-group.com/Volkswagen-Group-Services/
- Guia Salarial para Centros de Serviços Partilhados 2026 (Salary Guide for Shared Service Centres), Adecco Portugal (May 2026), cited in Human Resources Portugal – https://hrportugal.sapo.pt/sector-dos-shared-services-em-portugal-cria-30-mil-empregos/
- Returns of Portuguese emigrants, 2001-2011, Observatório da Emigração, based on the INE 2011 Census – https://observatorioemigracao.pt/np4/5917.html
- Programa Regressar – tax regime for former residents, Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, Portal das Finanças – https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/en/tax-information/living-in-portugal/work-and-retirement/former-residents-programme-regressar/Pages/default.aspx