Data privacy information for the Rheinmetall Group recruiting process (Switzerland)

I. Controller

 

The electronic applicant management system is operated by Rheinmetall AG as a central recruiting service for handling the recruiting and application process also for other Rheinmetall Group companies. 

The Rheinmetall Group company specified in the respective job advertisement is the Controller for that job advertisement and the processing of personal data in the respective application process.

Contact details of Rheinmetall AG:

Rheinmetall AG
Rheinmetall Platz 1
40476 Düsseldorf
Datenschutz-im-bewerbungsprozess@rheinmetall.com

Contact details of the responsible Rheinmetall Group company: 

see job advertisement

II. Personal data

 

As part of your job application, it is required that you provide at least the following information:

• First name
• Last name
• E-mail address
• Phone number
• Address
• Cover letter
• CV
• Mandatory fields in the application form (including salary expectations, notice period, previous employment with Rheinmetall)
  
  

In the further course of the application process, you may provide additional information relevant to your application in order to supplement your application documents (e.g. by providing transcripts of records, certificates or additional information).

Special categories of personal data (data relating to religious, philosophical, political or trade union views or activities, health, private life or racial or ethnic origin, genetic and biometric data, data relating to administrative or criminal proceedings or sanctions, or to social welfare measures) are requested or collected by Rheinmetall (with the exception of voluntary disclosure regarding any severe disability). Accordingly, we ask that you generally refrain from providing any information relating to the above criteria as part of your application.

Should specific information be required due to the nature of the post to be filled, such as:

• Police clearance certificate
• Credit reports
• Aptitude tests (e.g. for top management)
• Medical suitability examination (suitable, not suitable, conditionally/restrictedly suitable)
• Security clearance in accordance with the Swiss Information Security Act (ISG) and associated regulations (VPSP)
  
  

we will inform you separately in the application or hiring process and collect this data.

Online assessments / aptitude tests

For selected positions, we may conduct online assessments. For this purpose, we use external service providers (currently among others ELIGO Psychologische Personal-software GmbH, Arndtstrasse 34, 10965 Berlin). If you are shortlisted for such a position, we will invite you by e-mail to take part in an online assessment. This usually requires the prior transmission of certain personal data (e.g. name, e-mail address) to the respective service provider (e.g. ELIGO) in order to enable your participation. On the provider's platform, you will find more detailed information about the respective assessment and the associated processing of your personal data. Participation in such online assessments is usually based on your voluntary consent.

In the case of applications for apprenticeship positions, an aptitude test (usually held locally) is scheduled, depending on the location. You will also be informed about this separately during the application process.

III. Source of data

 

In principle, we receive the data directly from you as part of the application process.

Should you be further considered in the application process, we will need to run a check against official sanctions and terror lists (see Section V. for more information). 

In addition, for selected position, we will check and validate your details and the information you provided. For this purpose, we may, if necessary, check your information by making inquiries with the employers you have mentioned, by querying databases/credit agencies (e.g. Dun & Bradstreet, Thomson Reuters WorldCheck), and by conducting searches on Google, XING, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. For more information, please refer to Section IX. Pre Employment Screening (PES).

If you have taken part in an external online assessment, aptitude test or similar recruitment test, we will receive the results/evaluations of these assessments/tests from the service provider used for this purpose.

IV. Purposes of processing

 

All personal data provided by you on the application platform or in the application process (including the data resulting from all attachments you have enclosed) will be processed by Rheinmetall AG and the Rheinmetall Group company responsible for the respective job advertisement exclusively for the purpose of carrying out the application procedure and for the purposes specified in this data privacy information.

Rheinmetall processes your personal data in particular in accordance with the applicable data protection regulations (FADP – Federal Act on Data Protection) and other relevant legislation.

The necessity and scope of the data collection is determined, among other things, based on the position to be filled. If the position you are applying to is associated in particular with the performance of particularly confidential tasks or increased personnel and/or financial responsibility, or is linked to certain physical and health requirements, more extensive data collection may be necessary. These special data collections or procedures (e.g., aptitude test, police clearance certificate, pre-employment screening) usually take place only at the end of the application process or immediately before you are hired.

In certain cases, we also process your data to safeguard our overriding legitimate interests or those of third parties, in particular:

• For the defense against legal claims (in particular under the Swiss Equal Treatment Act – GlG). In this context, we process your data for evidence purposes.
• In the case of selected positions, we are required to check the applicants and their details for reasons of due diligence. In these cases, a so-called pre-employment screening is carried out (for more details, see Section IX). 
• Passing on your data to other Rheinmetall Group companies insofar as this is necessary for carrying out the application process.
• Exclusion from the recruitment process (possibly for a longer period of time, including future applications) for the protection of our employees and our company. Such reasons may include, for example, inappropriate behavior towards our employees or facts that would also justify extraordinary termination of employment.

In addition, we are required by law to perform certain data processing activities, in particular:

• Data comparison (screenings) with official sanctions and anti-terror lists: As a company, we are required by international and/or national regulations to perform certain screenings. For this reason, we are obliged to collect and process information (in particular citizenship and links to sanctioned states) relating to our applicants.
• Verification of nationalities and ties: We are subject to national and international laws governing the implementation of defence-related projects. Consequently, we are obliged to verify applicants’ current and former nationalities, as well as, in certain cases, their current and former ties to sanctioned states.
  
  

In certain cases, we also process your data on the basis of  your voluntary consent.

We carry out data processing based on your consent in particular for:

• Voluntary inclusion in the applicant pool ("Talent Pool"), i.e. we store your application documents beyond the current application process in order to consider you for further or subsequent positions (for more details, see Section IX.)
• Satisfaction survey in connection with the application process (for more details, see Section XI.).

V. Recipients of the data

 

Your application documents and personal data are accessible to the respectively responsible recruiters and HR managers within the Rheinmetall Group and - where necessary - are made available to selected managers or other responsible persons. These may also include executives of other Group companies within the scope of technical supervision. Technical supervision means that specific topics are bundled together across the Group under a single management. It is therefore possible that, depending on the position advertised, you will be employed by one company but your manager/superior will work for another Group company. 

The electronic applicant management system is operated as "software as a service" by an IT service provider, which means that the latter could also gain access to the system and thus potentially to your data in the course of maintenance and service activities. Appropriate data protection and confidentiality agreements have been concluded with the service provider.

If you take part in an external online assessment, aptitude test or similar recruitment test, the service providers used for this purpose (currently in particular ELIGO Psychologische Personalsoftware GmbH, Arndtstrasse 34, 10965 Berlin) will receive the personal data required for the preparation, performance and evaluation of the test.

Further (potential) data recipients may arise when a pre-employment screening is carried out: see section IX.

VI. Disclosure of data outside Switzerland

 

Your personal data will be processed in Switzerland and, beyond that, within the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) by companies within the Rheinmetall Group.

The applicant management system is operated for Rheinmetall as part of a commissioned data processing. Since this system is used worldwide for Rheinmetall as an internationally active group, it is hosted by our IT service provider (processor) at Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL, Luxembourg (AWS Europe) with server locations within the EU. The applicant management system stores and transmits data in encrypted form throughout. To ensure an appropriate level of data protection, the service provider has additionally concluded EU standard data protection clauses with AWS in accordance with Article 46 (2) lit. c GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

If your line manager is based outside Switzerland, your personal data will also be transferred to that group company as part of the application process. 

Your personal data will be disclosed to our IT service provider and to Rheinmetall companies involved in the recruitment process if an adequate level of protection has been established for the country in question. This is the case for countries in the EU and the EEA. Where personal data is disclosed to countries without an adequate level of protection, this is done in connection with pre-contractual purposes (Article 17(1)(b) of the FADP).

To protect your data, we take special measures to ensure that your personal data is processed by us abroad with the same level of security as within Switzerland.

VII. Retention period

 

We store your personal data for as long as is necessary for the decision on your application. If an employment relationship between you and Rheinmetall does not materialize, we will store your data for another four months in order to consider you again for the advertised position, and additionally because it is necessary, among other things, to defend ourselves against possible legal claims.

The deadline begins with the completion of the individual application process (rejection, application withdrawal or hiring). This period applies to each of your applications. If an employment relationship is established, your application documents will be transferred in full or in part to your personnel file (you will be informed separately about this data processing when you are hired).

In the event of voluntary inclusion in the Talent Pool (see Section VIII.) and the associated storage of your personal data, the data will be deleted with the provision that we will generally request an update of your consent to remain in the Talent Pool from you 30 days before the eight-month period expires. If you do not respond to this request or do not update your consent, we will remove you from the Talent Pool and delete your personal data and your applicant profile.

VIII. Inclusion in the Talent Pool

As part of the application process, we will check whether we can offer you an inclusion in our Talent Pool. This is a database in which your applicant data is stored in order to be able to consider you directly in the future for suitable vacancies within the Rheinmetall Group (worldwide). At the beginning of your application, you may voluntarily consent to inclusion in the Talent Pool. If your application documents are transmitted to a Rheinmetall company outside Switzerland for consideration for a potentially suitable position, your consent also explicitly applies to this disclosure abroad (Art. 17(1)(a) of the FADP). For more information on the storage of your data, please refer to Section VII.

IX. Pre Employment Screening (PES)

 

In accordance with our corporate due diligence obligations, we carry out a so-called Pre Employment Screening (PES) for selected positions that we classify as high-risk. At present, a PES is specifically envisaged for the following positions:

• Board members
• Supervisory board members
• Managing Directors
• Department heads and comparable management levels and above 
• Senior staff, particularly in the areas of sales, procurement, research & development and finance, as well as the strategy department 
• Positions in security-relevant areas such as corporate security, compliance, information security and IT security
• Officers whose roles are relevant due to statutory provisions or arising from statutory or internal organisational obligations, or due to regulatory requirements (e.g. confidentiality officers, IT officers responsible for classified information)
• Positions in defence technology projects subject to national or international restrictions
  
  

The PES aims to prevent the hiring of personnel linked with compliance, security or other reputational risks, to fulfil management’s duties regarding the diligent personnel selection, and to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

The PES aims to preventively address, in particular, the following risks for the Rheinmetall Group:

• Damage to reputation due to employment of "fraudsters”
• Terrorism and extremism
• Danger of industrial espionage
• Unintended information leakage
  
  

The PES may include:

• Screenings against state and sanctions/anti-terror lists (SECO or ITAR lists);
• Identification of past and present nationalities and links to countries
• Verification by means of external research sources/databases (e.g. Dun & Bradstreet or Thomson Reuters World Check) and online research (e.g. Google or foreign search engines);
• Analysis of social media platforms (e.g., professional networks or Twitter);
• Queries with your former and/or current employers (only after prior consultation and your approval).
  
  

This typically involves processing the following personal data about you as part of the PES:

• Name
• Address (private and business, if applicable)
• Telephone and fax number (private and business, if applicable)
• E-mail address (private and business, if applicable)
• Curriculum vitae details
• Job references
• Training and qualification certificates
• Nationalities
• Connections to specific countries and further details
• Information about you from the research sources/databases and social media platforms used
• Credit reports credit reports (only obtained for selected positions, e.g. functions with budget responsibility or in security-relevant areas)
• Criminal record (obtained only for selected positions, e.g., positions with budgetary responsibility or in security-sensitive areas).
  
  

In addition to the recipients listed under Section V., your personal data will also be transferred to the Compliance Department of Rheinmetall AG as part of the PES. Other recipients may also include service providers (e.g. credit agencies, online databases) through which we carry out screenings, cross-checks and/or searches.If a PES becomes relevant in the context of your application and requires you to provide data, the recruitment team of the data controller will contact you.

You may refuse the performance of a PES. However, we will then probably not be able to consider you for the position concerned.

X. Satisfaction survey

 

In order to improve our recruiting process, we will ask you during the application process whether you would like to take part in an online survey. If you agree, we will invite you by e-mail to an online questionnaire and ask for your opinion. 

Participation in the survey is voluntary and anonymous. For this reason, please do not provide any personal data (e.g. names, individual persons) in the free text fields.

You can also refuse or revoke your consent at any time at a later date with effect for the future. For this purpose you can also contact 

Datenschutz-im-bewerbungsprozess@rheinmetall.com

or by mail to Recruiting Center, Rheinmetall Platz 1, 40476 Düsseldorf, Germany, with the sub-ject "Revocation of participation in satisfaction survey”.

XI. Job Alert

 

On our Career pages, you have the option to sign up for a "Job Alert". This is a search agent that automatically informs you by e-mail about new job offers (based on your previously defined search criteria).

In this context, your e-mail address and job search criteria will be processed. You can specify the duration of the job alert while signing up. You can also unsubscribe at any time via a link in the "Job Alert e-mails". Alternatively, you may also unsubscribe by e-mail to datenschutz-im-bewerbungsprozess@rheinmetall.com. 

Our IT service provider, who is also responsible for operating our electronic applicant management system, sends out the "Job Alert" and processes the data involved.

XII. Your rights

 

Under the FADP, you have the following rights with regard to the processing of your personal data:

In particular, you have the following rights vis-à-vis us with regard to the processing of your personal data: the right to access, the right to information and data portability, and the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Further legal rights, such as the right to rectification, erasure and restriction of processing, are available within the framework prescribed by law. 

To exercise your rights, you may contact the data controller using the contact details provided in the job advertisement or contact the Recruiting Centre at

Datenschutz-im-bewerbungsprozess@rheinmetall.com

or by mail to Recruiting Center, Rheinmetall Platz 1, 40476 Düsseldorf, Germany, with the subject "Data protection complaint". We will process your inquiries promptly, taking into account the legal requirements, and subsequently inform you of the measures we have taken.

XIII. Miscellaneous

 

We reserve the right to adapt this Data Privacy Information if changes of the legal situation or of our data processing make it necessary.

When visiting our website, only the latest privacy policy applies.

Where necessary and possible, we will inform you if any changes require your involvement (e.g. renewed consent) or individual notification.

Please note that addresses and contact information of other companies that we have provided in this privacy policy may change over time.

 

_{Status of this Data Privacy Information: 01. October 2026}