167 reviews from employees kununu Verification Process
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Breakdown
167 employees rated this employer with an average of 4.3 points on a scale from 1 to 5.
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167 reviews from employees
Lack of Accountability at the Top
Worked at air up group GmbH in München, Bayern until 2026.
What I like about the employer
the product has real potential - most junior employees are very motivated.
What I dislike about the employer
The management culture is the core problem. Strategic decisions appear to be made within a very small circle around senior leadership, often without realistic market understanding. When those decisions fail, accountability rarely seems to reach the decision-makers themselves. Instead, the consequences are typically carried by employees further down the hierarchy.
Favoritism felt structural rather than occasional. Career progression, recognition, and job security appeared to depend heavily on proximity to senior leadership and internal alliances rather than consistent performance or contribution. Meanwhile, strong performers who did not engage in that dynamic were often sidelined or eventually left the company. Over time, this noticeably affected team quality and morale.
Employee development did not appear to be a genuine priority. Investment in training and professional growth was limited, and questions regarding employee rights or available support were often handled with little transparency or clarity.
There was also a significant disconnect between the company’s external messaging and internal priorities. Topics such as sustainability and values were communicated publicly in a way that did not reflect the internal reality many employees experienced.
Bullying and unprofessional behaviour were, in my experience, not addressed consistently. The culture appeared to protect individuals with strong connections to leadership, often at the expense of broader team wellbeing and trust.
Suggestions for improvement
Introduce real accountability at leadership level instead of repeatedly pushing the consequences of failed strategic decisions onto employees lower in the organisation.
Create real transparent processes for promotions, compensation, and performance evaluation so that career progression is based on contribution rather than proximity to senior leadership.
Improve transparency around employee rights, internal processes, and organisational changes. Open communication builds trust; withholding information destroys it.
Take reports of bullying, toxic behaviour, and management issues seriously regardless of a person’s position or relationships within the company.
Finally, align internal culture with the values and messaging presented externally. Employees notice when there is a gap between public branding and day-to-day reality.
Instead of reporting every negative review on this platform to have it taken down, try to own it, make yourselves accountable and do something with the feedback.
Working atmosphere
Image
Work-Life Balance
Career/Professional development
Salary/Benefits
Environmental and social responsibility
Collegiality
Interaction with older colleagues
Leadership behavior
Working conditions
Communication
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Multiple Review
A great place to learn and test your ideas
ManagerWorked in IT at air up GmbH in München, Bayern at the time of review and has submitted multiple reviews for this employer. (Employees are allowed to review once per year.)
What I like about the employer
The ability to learn and test your ideas - competitive salary is important as we spend time, use our skills, and provide our expertise to ensure the best experience for our customers and fellow colleagues!
What I dislike about the employer
Nothing really. It's a scale up, I expected bumps along the road and continue to do so. If I want a settled job that never changes, has no challenges and is boring, I'd join coca-cola...
Suggestions for improvement
Do more for your image, you are actually a great place to work!
Working atmosphere
Rarely come across organisation with this many kind and yet driven people.
Image
We are still finding to ourselves when it comes to image. Air up a lot of fun and people with ideas they want to execute will strengthen this image. But a few years down the road, this will be more settled :)
Work-Life Balance
If you join a scale up, expect longer hours. But you are encouraged to take care of your own schedule and workload should be communicated to your manager, if overwhelming.
Career/Professional development
In your own hands. Air up encourages learning!
Collegiality
Great atmosphere dispite remote first.
Interaction with older colleagues
Seems fair in all regards.
Leadership behavior
Managers do their best to attend to their teamies. It's generally on a high level, but cannot judge for anyone in a 200+ people company.
Communication
Generally on a high level, but also depends on the department. Some are not used to the amount of information shared and get overwhelmed with tools like Slack, Asana and others. The typical miscommunications happens. Generally transparency is high and decisions are attempted to be made clear to everyone.
Salary/Benefits
For a scale up, a competitive salary!
Equality
People are actively looking into making sure there is fair treatment irregardless of gender or the likes.
Interesting tasks
Yes.
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Get Hy(drated)! Amazing company with amazing people
ManagerWorked in Finance / Controlling at air up GmbH in München, Bayern at the time of review.
Working atmosphere
Tolle Arbeitsatmosphäre! Von Tag 1 an spürt man, dass man wirklich gehört wird und sich und seine Ideen einbringen. Das ist unglaublich motivierend! Alle Gründer sind nach wie vor an Bord, begrüßen jeden neuen "air uppie" persönlich. Das schafft eine Bindung zum Produkt und der Unternehmensvision.
Work-Life Balance
air up besticht durch hohe Flexiblität, was den Arbeitsort und die Arbeitszeit angeht. Montagmorgen und der komplette Freitag ist geblockt und Meetingfrei (dies wird auch so gelebt und ist nicht nur blabla!). Natürlich gibt es in einem Start-up auch turbulentere Zeiten, in denen etwas höheres Arbeitspensum herrscht. Grundsätzlich erlebe ich hier bei air up aber eine super WLB!
Salary/Benefits
Das Gehalt ist angemessen. Der Arbeitsort (air hub, Homeoffice, Workation) und -zeit sind hochgradig flexibel. Weitere Benefits sind die Unterstützung des Deutschlandtickets, Urban Sports Club, (hoher) Mitarbeiterrabatt für air up Produkte, monatliches Event (After All-Hands), etc.
Collegiality
Der Kollegenzusammenhalt ist super! Herausforderungen werden zusammen angegangen und es wird nach (schnellen) Lösungen gesucht.
Leadership behavior
Die Hierarchien bei air up sind sehr flach. Ich erlebe sehr viel Vertrauen in meine Arbeit und meine Kompetenz.
Working conditions
Sehr modernes Office, welches sehr gut angebunden ist (Münchener Ostbahnhof). air up ist eine "Remote first" Company, die Mitarbeitenden sind bunt verstreut in Deutschland und Europa. Homeoffice gehört hier also zum "Standard" und wird auch finanziell unterstützt. Workation ist möglich.
Communication
Monatliches All-Hands Meeting zum Update der gesamten Orga ist sehr hilfreich. Im Day-to-Day-Business fehlt manchmal die Abstimmung zwischen den Teams, was aber in einem derart dynamischen Umfeld passieren kann, da man in der Regel auf Umstände sehr schnell reagieren muss.
Image
Career/Professional development
Environmental and social responsibility
Interaction with older colleagues
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Mit Vollgas durchstarten!
EmployeeWorked in Marketing / Product management at Air Up Gmbh in München, Bayern at the time of review.
Working atmosphere
Die Arbeitsatmosphäre bei air up ist sehr offen und respektvoll. Ab dem ersten Tag wird man mitgerissen, etwas zu bewegen. Die Gründer nehmen sich die Zeit, alle Mitarbeiter persönlich kennenzulernen, was den Austausch fördert. Es herrschen flache Hierarchien, sodass man sich auf Augenhöhe begegnet. Die Teams bestehen aus offenen, talentierten und motivierten Leuten, die gemeinsam das Unternehmen voranbringen.
Work-Life Balance
Die Work-Life-Balance ist gut. Flexible Arbeitszeitgestaltung. Es wird darauf geachtet, dass es in der Woche Zeiten gibt, in denen keine Termine eingeplant werden sollten (Mindful Monday, Focus Friday). Abgesehen von einigen festen Terminen steht es jedem frei, seinen Arbeitstag selbst zu strukturieren. Es gibt die Möglichkeit, im Home Office zu arbeiten, sowie die Option Workation zu machen. Es gibt Phasen, in denen das Arbeitspensum steigt und mehr Einsatz erforderlich ist. Dies lässt sich jedoch auch durch einen kürzen Arbeitstag am Freitag ausgleichen.
Salary/Benefits
Gutes wettbewerbsfähiges Gehalt, 30 Tage Urlaub, Workation Möglichkeiten, Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel werden untersützt, Urban Sports Club, gemeinsame Events, Team Events auch in kleineren Teamswerden gefördert, Discounts auf air up Produkte :)
Collegiality
Sehr guter Zusammenhalt, nicht nur im eigenen Team, sondern auch teamübergreifend. Alle arbeiten gemeinsam daran, das Beste herauszuholen.
Leadership behavior
Die Zusammenarbeit ist von einem hohen Maß an Respekt geprägt. Vorgesetzte sind jederzeit ansprechbar, wenn Herausforderungen auftreten oder ein Austausch notwendig ist, und gehen stets lösungsorientiert an Themen heran. Es gibt regelmäßige Feedback-Zyklen, die zur kontinuierlichen Weiterentwicklung beitragen. Mein Vorgesetzter ist sehr offen und teilt Informationen transparent, was das Vertrauen stärkt. Bereits ab dem ersten Tag zeigte er großes Interesse daran, dass ich mich gut ins Team integriere. Im Vorfeld wurde ein klarer Plan für mein Onboarding erstellt, um einen reibungslosen Einstieg zu gewährleisten. Der Austausch erfolgt stets auf Augenhöhe, was einen lockeren und dennoch professionellen Dialog ermöglicht.
Working conditions
Das Office ist hell und modern, mit einem sehr guten Standort ("München Werksviertel"), was eine angenehme Arbeitsatmosphäre schafft. Es gibt eine sehr gute Auswahl an Meetingräumen und Telefonzellen, die für unterschiedliche Bedürfnisse perfekt geeignet sind. Der technische Stand ist immer top. Küchenzeilen für die Mittagspause. Es gibt eine schöne Dachterasse auf der man in den wärmeren Jahreszeiten sein Lunch in der Sonne genießen kann. Dog friendly als sehr großes Plus!
Communication
Gute Kommunikation. Informationen werden regelmäßig mit allen im Unternehmen geteilt. Manchmal eher eine Überkommunikation, da es viele Kanäle gibt, in denen Updates geteilt werden.
Equality
Gleichberechtigung ist selbstverständlich.
Interesting tasks
Ab dem ersten Tag übernimmt man direkt spannende Projekte und trägt eigenverantwortlich dazu bei. Das hohe Tempo in den Themen sorgt für eine große Dynamik und Abwechslung, sodass keine Langeweile aufkommt und man immer wieder vor neuen, herausfordernden Aufgaben steht.
Image
Career/Professional development
Environmental and social responsibility
Interaction with older colleagues
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Tolle Arbeitsatmosphäre
Working StudentWorked in Design at Air Up Gmbh in München, Bayern at the time of review.
What I like about the employer
Wie flexibel die Arbeit ist, gerade für Werkstudenten.
Working atmosphere
Image
Work-Life Balance
Career/Professional development
Salary/Benefits
Environmental and social responsibility
Collegiality
Interaction with older colleagues
Leadership behavior
Working conditions
Communication
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Great place to work: generational company, dynamic environment, remarkable leaders, close team collaboration
EmployeeWorked at air up GmbH in München, Bayern at the time of review.
Working atmosphere
The work atmosphere is incredibly exciting. It's a dynamic environment where every team member works hand in hand. The professionalism is on a great level, and the behavior among colleagues is highly supportive. Everyone is eager to be part of the success story at air up, which fosters a strong sense of unity and a willingness to help each other quickly find solutions.
Work-Life Balance
You are super self-responsible how to schedule and organize your day. For sure there are some fixed schedules in your calender. But you have every time the opportunity to create your own best way to work in combination of your private life!
There are always phases where the workload increases, and you need to invest more time. However, everyone is intrinsically motivated, and the extra hours can be compensated with time off later on.
Career/Professional development
see above
Salary/Benefits
In general air up offers good salarys. There are solid benefits. But it would be great if air up can have a look on the benefits in the near future. Like JobRad, Sodexo vouchers, support for child care ...
Collegiality
We have a great working spirit at air up --> doesn´t matter in which department you work!
Interaction with older colleagues
We generally maintain a very respectful and collaborative way of working with each other.
Leadership behavior
Super respectful relationship. Feedback cycle every 6 weeks + performance round in October. Personal development is super important. We are not a corporate - so we do not have strict personal development plans for each role --> but this also means that you always have the opportunity to advance to a different position or seniority level more quickly if your performance is strong.
Working conditions
We have an amazing office in MUC - Werksviertel. Here people can collaborate and brainstorm together. Teamies who work with the physical product - they have a great innovation HUB in the Munich office to collaborate with their stakeholders and project teams. Other teamies in more operational roles are also able to make home office. Air up also offers workcation 6 weeks a year in the EU. Quiet flexible. So you can come to the office when you would like to have some more quality time with your teamies. But with the "remote first" approach in some roles you do not have "fomo" because most of all meetings are remotly.
Communication
Monthly all hands call --> Great transperency from the Exec Board what is ongoing in the company. Sometimes it would be good to get updates beside of the all hands call when something special already happend.
Equality
We have a great mix of male, female, and diverse team members, representing over 50 different cultures at air up. This truly highlights that what matters most is the talent and the individual, with the right "air up" mindset!
Interesting tasks
We are still a young professional company --> there are still green fields where you can include your own ideas and improve the processes.
Image
Environmental and social responsibility
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Gute Basis, aber offensichtliche Verbesserungsvorschläge.
EmployeeWorked at Air Up Gmbh in München, Bayern at the time of review.
What I like about the employer
Innovativ, agil, jung, coole Möglichkeiten.
Suggestions for improvement
Benennung der Probleme beim Namen. Vor den massiven Ausstellungen wurde keinerlei Info gegeben, was passieren wird und warum (geschweige denn, danach). Vertrauen wieder herstellen (ist bei einigen Kollegen angeknackst).
Working atmosphere
Image
Work-Life Balance
Career/Professional development
Salary/Benefits
Environmental and social responsibility
Collegiality
Interaction with older colleagues
Leadership behavior
Working conditions
Communication
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Best job I've ever had
Worked at air up GmbH in München, Bayern at the time of review.
Working atmosphere
You get the chance to work with incredibly talented and kind people.
Work-Life Balance
Work from home helps to manage my own schedule
Leadership behavior
Our leadership is talented and very dedicated. I trust them to do what's right for air up
Working conditions
amazing office
Communication
Open and honest.
Image
Career/Professional development
Salary/Benefits
Environmental and social responsibility
Collegiality
Interaction with older colleagues
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Multiple Review
Adapting to change and taking ownership should be second nature to you
ManagerWorked in IT at air up GmbH in München, Bayern at the time of review and has submitted multiple reviews for this employer. (Employees are allowed to review once per year.)
What I like about the employer
I love having freedom to choose, having a team that really wants to support each other and is working on trust. The clear focus on delivering customer value and ability to make mistakes and share them openly to learn from it together, has been tremendous and something I have not experienced in any company I worked in during the years before air up.
Being able to work remotely (if not working with or on the product directly, in which case you of course must be physically present) is fantastic and not a given at all in todays world.
Suggestions for improvement
As the company grew, we often have centralized certain areas of expertise and specialized too quickly, while we are still in a phase of the journey where we need people who are willing to try new things, are very talented to solve problem and are more generalist.
Image
Only three stars, as unfortunately, there are still people out there who do not believe the product of air up actually works with just water creating a scent taste (I promise, it does!), and some (also longer term) employees have parted ways with the company voluntarily or involuntarily in the first month of 2024 for various reasons, which seem to air out their frustration partially on this platform and at times understandably so, but other times show a wrong picture.
Work-Life Balance
It's left up to you for a large part to balance work and life and most managers advise their teamies and are being advised, to take your personal life serious and air up offers much flexibility for working hours.
Career/Professional development
A lot is happening on the job and people eager to learn new things are appreciated very well by everyone here at air up and given great opportunities to grow.
Salary/Benefits
Actually, for a company that is only just 5 years old, the income is pretty competitive.
Environmental and social responsibility
While we are a for-profit organization that is driven both by revenue and cost, there are many initiatives and values that are part of our DNA to consider our environment in everything we do.
Working atmosphere
Collegiality
Interaction with older colleagues
Leadership behavior
Working conditions
Communication
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Don't work here if you want job security, a good salary, or career progression. It would be foolish to work here
Worked at air up GmbH in München, Bayern at the time of review.
What I like about the employer
You can work outside of Germany (in the EU) for 6 weeks per year, which is cool. They have very good retirement benefits. The salary is average for Munich but no cost of living increases, 13th month, or holiday pay. There is a good mix of male/female at all levels. The company does a lot to reduce its environmental impact. The office is in a good location and new. They have fun company and team events. The hierarchy is mostly flat. 40% off of products for employees, 20% off for friends and family. When a new product is launched, you get a free one.
What I dislike about the employer
Many of the company founders are upper management with little or no work experience before starting this company. As you would guess, they make a lot of bad decisions.
They've fired 50+ people so far this year without providing any legitimate reasons. When people are fired, there is no handover so you suddenly find yourself doing things you have no idea about. Of course, added responsibilities and work load do not earn you any more money, just more stress.
Someone tried to form a worker's Union and they fired around 10 people the very next day (very suspicious) and then had an All Hands about how unions are bad.
The company seems to be struggling financially and I wouldn't be surpised if they became insolvent before the end of 2024. Many big decisions are "gut feeling" not data-driven and this will be the end of the company
Suggestions for improvement
Your employees are incredibly unhappy and you're doing nothing to fix that
Work-Life Balance
They do not care about how many hours you have worked and it is not recorded
Career/Professional development
There is no career progression. The only team that gets promoted is the Strategy team
Salary/Benefits
Salary is bad. No cost of living increases, even if you've worked there for years with good performance reviews
They provide 50 euro for Urban Sports and 50% refund for the Deutschland ticket.
Environmental and social responsibility
They put a big focus on sustainability, until profits started to be affected, then they just stopped focusing on sustainability
Interaction with older colleagues
I think there are only 2 colleagues close to their pension, but they seem happy
Communication
Improving, but still not very good
Working atmosphere
Image
Collegiality
Leadership behavior
Working conditions
Equality
Interesting tasks
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Questions about reviews and salaries
- Based on 216 experiences of current and former employees, Air Up is rated an average of 4.2 out of 5. This score is above the average for the Other Industries sector (3.5 points). 70% of the evaluators would recommend Air Up as an employer.
- Based on 216 ratings, employees like the Collegiality, Equality and Image factors about the company the most.
- In addition to positive feedback, employees also have suggestions for improvements to the employer. Based on 216 ratings, employees think Air Up can improve as an employer in the area of Work-Life Balance.