Working and living in Salzburg

Working and living in Salzburg: Your career location for environment, planning and geodata

An overview of the city

Salzburg, the city of Mozart with around 155,000 inhabitants, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The city on the Salzach river impresses with its Baroque old town, the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the location between the Alps and the foothills of the Alps and its cultural heritage as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As a university town with the Paris Lodron University Salzburg (PLUS) and the Department of Geoinformatics — Z_GIS, one of the leading competence centers for GIScience in Europe, Salzburg combines historical splendor with scientific excellence. Salzburg as a place of work scores points with Z_GIS as an internationally renowned research center, SAGIS (Salzburg Geographic Information System) and the annual AGIT conference as an established user forum for geoinformatics as well as a lively cultural scene. Living in Salzburg means Austrian quality of life against an alpine backdrop, festivals, Baroque architecture and a city that combines tradition with innovation. For professionals who want to combine a career in Salzburg with cultural heritage and GIS excellence, the city of Mozart is an excellent choice.

Labor market for environmental and planning occupations

The Salzburg job market offers excellent prospects for specialists in the environmental, planning and geodata sectors. Salzburg's particular strength lies in geoinformatics: Z_GIS (Department of Geoinformatics at the University of Salzburg) is a long-established competence center for GIScience with international reach. The research expertise lies in EO Analytics with object-based image analysis (OBIA), monitoring, resource management, landscape structure analysis, security and vulnerability research, and mobility research. UNIGIS, the world's largest German-language geoinformatics distance learning program, is offered by the University of Salzburg and has an enormous network of graduates.

GIS Jobs Salzburg benefit from SAGIS® (Salzburg Geographic Information System) as a comprehensive geodata infrastructure of the state of Salzburg, the geoinformation system of the city of Salzburg and the high density of GIS expertise provided by Z_GIS. The annual AGIT conference brings the GIS community together and makes Salzburg a beacon of the German-language geoinformatics scene. Environmental planners in Salzburg find jobs with the state and city as well as with planning offices. Geodata jobs in Salzburg are created at SAGIS, at the city, at engineering firms such as Forsthuber ZT with GISBERT software for sewer and water management and in the GIS industry. Surveyors in Salzburg benefit from geodesy courses in the region.

Vacancies in Spatial Planning Salzburg include positions in the state and city. Geoinformatics Salzburg is the absolute strength: With Z_GIS, UNIGIS, the Applied Geoinformatics, Digital Communication & Computer Science degree programs with a GIS focus and the “Geoinformation — Digital Earth” supplement, Salzburg offers a unique GIS ecosystem. The unique combination of z_GIS excellence, AGIT conference, UNESCO World Heritage and alpine quality of life makes Salzburg a top location for GIS professionals.

Quality of life and infrastructure

Working in Salzburg means living in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The cost of living is at Austrian level. Living in Salzburg is expensive and the housing market is tight. The transport connections are good: Salzburg is centrally located between Munich (1.5 hours) and Vienna (2.5 hours). Salzburg Airport offers European connections. Salzburg's work-life balance benefits from the location: the Salzburg lakes, the Alps, the Salzkammergut and Bavaria are on the doorstep. Salzburg is world-class culturally: The Salzburg Festival, Mozart's birthplace, the old town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Baroque architecture and a lively cultural scene characterize the city.

career prospects

Salzburg's job opportunities for specialists in the environmental, planning and geoinformatics sectors are very good, particularly in geoinformatics. Z_GIS is an international leader in GIScience research. The Bachelor Geography, Master Applied Geoinformatics (English language), UNIGIS MSc (distance learning) and other programs train highly qualified specialists. The career of environmental engineer Salzburg is supported by the departments of Environment and Biodiversity as well as Social Science Geography. Vacancies in Spatial Planning Salzburg and in particular GIS positions are supported by Z_GIS, SAGIS and the AGIT community. For GIS specialists, Salzburg is therefore a top location with an international reputation, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an alpine quality of life.