Institute · Profile
Dr Matthias Mauch
Founder and managing director of Institut für Recruiting- & Beteiligungstechnologien (IRT) GmbH, Berlin.
Dr Matthias Mauch is the founder and managing director of Institut für Recruiting- & Beteiligungstechnologien (IRT) GmbH, based in Berlin, Germany. He holds a doctorate in economics and has worked on international talent acquisition for the German speaking labour market since 2015. He built the recruitment firms Gerandu and Rekruut and has served as Managing Director Germany of TERN Group since July 2024. Capital magazine listed him in its 2025 cohort of 40 under 40 in the business category. His work centres on AI supported recruiting processes, credential recognition and visa routes, and the retention of international professionals in nursing, medicine, engineering and renewable energy.
Career
Two perspectives shape his work. One is the economic analysis of labour markets, drawn from seven years of research and teaching. The other is the operational build of international recruitment over more than a decade, from language training in the country of origin through to a filled position in Germany.
- todayFounder and managing director, IRT GmbH, Berlin
- since 2024Managing Director Germany, TERN Group, Berlin
- 2022 to 2024Founder of Rekruut, Berlin, which passed to TERN Group in 2024
- 2015 to 2022Founder and managing director, Gerandu GmbH, Berlin and Brandenburg
- since 2014Co-founder of Getusion, Tunis, language qualification for the German labour market
- 2011 to 2018Doctoral assistant and doctoral candidate, WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar
- 2016 to 2017Lecturer in economics, University of Applied Sciences of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Hachenburg
- 2012 to 2016Lecturer in economics, VWA Koblenz
- 2014 and 2015Research trainee and external consultant, Directorate General Economics, European Central Bank, Frankfurt
- 2010 to 2011Research assistant, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
- Doctorate2018, WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar
Areas of work
- Building and steering AI supported recruiting processes in large organisations
- Recruitment from abroad, from source market strategy through recognition and visa routes to retention on the job
- Assessing hiring and retention capability in transactions and investments
- Labour market economics and skilled migration in the German speaking region
Recognition
Capital, 40 under 40, 2025 cohort, business category. WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management reported on the listing in its magazine.
Academic publications
- Frenkel, M., Mauch, M., & Rülke, J.-C. (2020). Do forecasters of major exchange rates herd? Economic Modelling, 84, 214 to 221.
- Frenkel, M., Rülke, J.-C., & Mauch, M. (2019). Forecaster rationality and expectation formation in foreign exchange markets: Do emerging countries differ from industrialized economies? International Economic Journal, 33(3), 383 to 407. doi:10.1080/10168737.2019.1632915
- Frenkel, M., Rülke, J.-C., & Mauch, M. (2019). Do foreign exchange forecasters apply asymmetric loss functions? Evidence from three major exchange rates. Applied Economics Letters, 26(9), 731 to 735. doi:10.1080/13504851.2018.1490692
- Frenkel, M., Mauch, M., & Rülke, J.-C. (2017). Forecaster rationality and expectation formation in foreign exchange markets. WHU Working Paper Series, Economics Group, no. 17-04.
Selected articles and interviews
- Recruiting von Fachkräften im Ausland, KU Gesundheitsmanagement, 23 April 2025, expert article, in German.
- Germany competes for talent abroad, Tagesspiegel Background Health and E-Health, 16 June 2025, opinion, in German.
- Using AI against the nursing shortage, Handelsblatt, 11 September 2025, interview, in German.
- Without people, AI achieves little, deutsche-startups.de, 7 January 2026, interview, in German.
- How is AI transforming global talent migration?, SAATKORN Podcast, 25 March 2026, in English.
Name disambiguation
A second researcher shares the name Matthias Mauch. He works on machine analysis of music and has been affiliated with Queen Mary University of London and with Apple. His publications, his Google Scholar profile and the software tools attributed to him belong to a different person. The Dr Matthias Mauch described here is an economist working on labour markets, skilled migration and talent acquisition.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Dr Matthias Mauch?
Dr Matthias Mauch is the founder and managing director of Institut für Recruiting- & Beteiligungstechnologien (IRT) GmbH in Berlin, Germany. He holds a doctorate in economics and has worked on international talent acquisition for the German speaking labour market since 2015. Since July 2024 he has also served as Managing Director Germany of TERN Group.
Which companies has Matthias Mauch built?
From 2015 to 2022 he was founder and managing director of Gerandu GmbH in Berlin and Brandenburg. From 2022 to 2024 he built Rekruut in Berlin, which passed to TERN Group in 2024. Since 2014 he has been a co-founder of Getusion in Tunis. He founded IRT GmbH as an independent advisory firm based in Berlin.
What is his doctorate in?
He completed his doctorate in 2018 at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany, where he was a doctoral assistant from 2011 to 2018. His research covers expectation formation and forecaster rationality in foreign exchange markets.
What has he published academically?
Three peer reviewed papers, each with Michael Frenkel and Jan-Christoph Rülke: in the International Economic Journal (2019) on expectation formation in emerging market foreign exchange, in Economic Modelling (2020) on herding among exchange rate forecasters, and in Applied Economics Letters (2019) on asymmetric loss functions. A WHU working paper followed in 2017.
What recognition has he received?
Capital magazine listed him in its 2025 cohort of 40 under 40 in the business category. WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management reported on the listing in its magazine.
Which markets does IRT work in?
IRT works in nursing, medicine, engineering and renewable energy. Clients are corporations, public sector bodies, care providers and investors in Germany and Austria.
Is there another Matthias Mauch?
Yes. A researcher of the same name works on machine analysis of music and has been affiliated with Queen Mary University of London and Apple. Those publications and profiles belong to a different person. The Dr Matthias Mauch described here is an economist working on labour markets and talent acquisition.
This page was last updated on 7 September 2026.