Dusseldorfruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Japanese corporate Europe
Mitsubishi Corporation, Marubeni, Mitsui, ITOCHU, and around 410 Japanese firms in total
Düsseldorf is the largest Japanese business location in continental Europe — trading houses, machine tool makers, electronics and logistics firms, plus the banks, law firms and schools built around them.
Telecoms & digital
Vodafone Deutschland, Trivago, sipgate, Uniper's digital arm
Vodafone runs its German headquarters from a purpose-built campus in Heerdt, and the MedienHafen holds a cluster of digital businesses including Trivago.
Consumer goods & chemicals
Henkel, L'Oréal Deutschland, Teekanne, Wilkinson Sword
Henkel has been headquartered in Holthausen since the nineteenth century and is one of the city's largest employers, with Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite all run from here.
Industry, energy & defence
Rheinmetall, Uniper, GEA Group, Vallourec, Metro AG
A concentration of listed industrial headquarters that is unusual for a city this size, and a legacy of Düsseldorf's role as the administrative capital of Ruhr heavy industry.
Consulting, advertising & professional services
McKinsey Deutschland, BBDO, Grey, the Big Four audit firms
Historically Germany's advertising capital and still one of its main consulting centres — Düsseldorf sells services to the industry that Essen and Duisburg carry out.
Fashion, retail & trade fairs
Messe Düsseldorf, Peek & Cloppenburg, C&A, Esprit (Ratingen)
The wholesale fashion showrooms and the Fashion Days keep Düsseldorf as Germany's fashion trading centre, while Messe Düsseldorf runs several of the world's biggest industrial fairs.
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