foto: Tom von Below / Deutsche Bahn AG/Illustrative photo
Press start on a real-world upgrade. Deutsche Bahn (DB) is recruiting gamers and turning esports instincts into paid, future-proof rail careers.
A cohort raised on controllers is now a talent pool. DB has launched a gaming-led recruiting drive built around an Esports Scholarship and targeted outreach to Gen-Z, aligning competitive gaming skills with railway operations and technical roles. The company says it aims to hire around 20,000 new colleagues in 2025, including well over 5,000 apprentices and dual-study entrants in operational jobs, according to a DB press release.
Gaming Enters DB Recruiting
DB’s core move is the DB Esports-Stipendium, awarded annually since 2022 with the esports player foundation (epf). It is open to DB InfraGO apprentices and dual-degree students who also compete seriously in esports. The company has supported 42 scholars and logged about 1,500 applications through gaming-specific channels since launch, according to DB. "With DB Gaming, we connect passion with prospects — anyone who shows team spirit, strategy, and stamina is exactly right for us," said Heinz Siegmund, CHRO at DB InfraGO AG. "Esports trains skills such as technical understanding, stress resilience, multitasking, and precise communication. Those are exactly the strengths we’re looking for, which makes gamers ideally suited to our technical and operational roles." These are the exact strengths DB says it needs in train control, track construction, electrical engineering, and mechatronics.
The scholarship is positioned as a dual pathway: participants pursue a rail career while receiving performance coaching (including sports psychology and nutrition) to compete at a high level. "Gaming and esports are not only part of youth culture; they also open diverse career opportunitieі," said Julius Althoff, Managing Director at epf. "With the DB Esports Scholarship, DB continues to set internationally distinctive standards in supporting esports athletes. Several talents have already made it into the top national leagues while completing their training at DB. Expanding the commitment to the gaming community shows how credibly and forward-looking young people are being supported."
What The Esports Scholarship Provides
At its center, the scholarship integrates ERT-style performance routines into a vocational timetable, with coachings that build discipline, teamwork, and focus—competencies DB argues transfer directly to safety-critical operations. DB first introduced the model publicly in 2023, inviting DB Netz/InfraGO trainees to apply via epf. The announcement set the foundation for the current, scaled-up intake. The company presents the stipend as "a second pillar" next to a stable apprenticeship or dual degree.
Eligibility and outreach now extend across InfraGO’s operational fields, with structured selection through DB and epf channels. The 2025/26 application track is live on the epf site, which positions the program as a "dual career in esports" tied to DB roles. This codifies esports and education under one roof, similar to athlete-student models in traditional sports.
Campaign Ecosystem And Outreach
Beyond the scholarship, DB is investing in gamer-native touchpoints. A dedicated Discord community with well over 1,000 members hosts tournaments, events, and peer support, while Esports is part of DB’s official company sports offering. The company is also present at Gamescom—positioning a stand at Cologne Central Station to catch commuter and convention footfall, and it collaborates with named influencers to reach digital-affine candidates, according to the press release. These channels try to turn casual interest into actual applications.
DB’s brand and media strategy builds on a 2025 recruiting initiative developed with FischerAppelt and Apollo GG, which extends the Was ist dir wichtig? employer-branding platform into Gaming and Esports to spotlight InfraGO roles for a younger audience. W&V reports the creative concept targets a previously under-addressed subculture for HR marketing, with Apollo GG adding esports-specific credentials. Freunde der Künste also points out LAN-party formats and esports-context storytelling in the mix.
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Skills, Roles, And Fit
DB explicitly links gamer skill sets to railway operations. The company cites technical understanding, stress resilience, multitasking, and precise communication as core strengths for train control, track works, electrical systems, and mechatronics—roles that demand situational awareness and teamwork. The narrative is pragmatic: translate competitive focus into operational reliability. "That’s why gamers are a natural fit for our technical and operational roles," Siegmund said.
Onboarding levers include coaching frameworks, structured practice, and community scaffolding—mechanisms familiar to esports—but now aimed at qualification pipelines. DB points out that competencies from ranked play (strategy, comms, consistency) mirror crew-room and control-center realities, helping new hires ramp faster in safety-first environments.