Josef studied chemistry at the University of Göttingen, obtaining his PhD in 1992. In 1992 he joined BASF R&D working on Non-Linear Optical Materials in a joint Japanese MITI project, run pilot plants for Anionic Dispersion Polymers and Metallocene Catalysis.

After taking on responsibilities in technical service and marketing for polystyrene (packaging, refrigeration), he became a Market Dev. Manager for applications with specialty polymers mainly produced in China.

In 2000 he joined BASF Corp. in North America to take on responsibilities as Business Manager for specialty polymers when BASF raised capacity in Altamira, Mexico.

Returning to Germany in 2004, he became Senior Manager Strategic Planning with BASF SE, responsible for Global Innovation Management.

Josef joined BASF Venture Capital GmbH as CTO in July 2006.