Academic Hiring Process and Practices for Junior Professors in Germany I am being considered for a job in Germany (W1 junior-professorship) and I was hoping to get some insights regarding the process as I come from the US system and am unfamiliar with how things work in Germany. 


I notice that the application packages do not require inclusion of recommendation letters. In the US, the typical requirement is that the application package includes at least 3 letters. Will the schools require recommendation letters once selected for an interview or the job? Do letters or references play any significant role at all?
Selection: I know this should vary by case, but how many people do they tend to put on their short list? 
Interviews: I get a feeling that the interview process is brief and a lot less tiring than the American system (for a R1: Typically a 3-day campus visit, job talk, endless meetings with professors, deans, grad students, teaching demonstration, etc, etc). What do they focus on in Germany? (I am asking this as I was invited for an interview, but I was not even asked to do a job talk or teaching demonstration) Are there typically multiple rounds of interviews? 
Selection committee: That some European departments practically have a one-person decision making body came as a surprise when I first came to Europe. How is the case in Germany? How many people in the department are typically involved in the decision making process? 
Final decision: How fast do they move with their final decisions? For example, the job I am considering only has about a four month gap between application deadline and position start date. This is significantly shorter than a typical US-Search where many schools begin examining applications a year before the position start date, and tells me that they should be moving fairly fast with the decision. Any inputs? 


I know these might be a lot of questions. As someone unfamiliar with the system, I am hoping to gain as much insight as possible.
As xLeitix mentioned in his answer, I do indeed hold such a position, and have also sat in on a search committee (as a non-voting "interested bystander"). 


  1) I notice that the application packages do not require inclusion of recommendation letters. In the US, the typical requirement is that the application package includes at least 3 letters. Will the schools require recommendation letters once selected for an interview or the job? Do letters or references play any significant role at all?


It could go either way, depending on the preferences of the chair of the committee. In my process, my references were asked for recommendations; for the committee I observed, they asked "neutral parties" who could comment on all of the finalists.

However, one thing is absolutely certain: your PhD advisor (or Doktorvater in German parlance) will never be asked to submit a letter of reference on your behalf.


  2) Selection: I know this should vary by case, but how many people do they tend to put on their short list?


Typically four to six people are put on the list of interviews, while two or three usually make the final "ranked" list to be asked if they are interested in the position.


  3) Interviews: I get a feeling that the interview process is brief and a lot less tiring than the American system (for a R1: Typically a 3-day campus visit, job talk, endless meetings with professors, deans, grad students, teaching demonstration, etc, etc). What do they focus on in Germany? (I am asking this as I was invited for an interview, but I was not even asked to do a job talk or teaching demonstration) Are there typically multiple rounds of interviews?


Typically, there is only a single interview, and it is indeed far briefer than a US-based job or faculty search interview. None of the interviews I've had have been longer than two hours in duration, including any teaching presentations. 

The focus in such junior positions is almost always on research, with very limited emphasis on teaching. You should plan to talk about what you've already done, and what proposed work you'd want to start. You'd also want to give some thought as to how you would recruit students (always a challenge for junior faculty in Germany).


  4) Selection committee: That some European departments practically have a one-person decision making body came as a surprise when I first came to Europe. How is the case in Germany? How many people in the department are typically involved in the decision making process?


It's not a one-person decision making process, but it's also not a very large group, either. Typically, there will be between five to nine voting members of the selection committee, including the chair, other professors, and possibly students and equal opportunity staff from the university (who can refuse to give permission for the hiring process to go forward if viable underrepresented candidates were not given due consideration). 


  5) Final decision: How fast do they move with their final decisions? For example, the job I am considering only has about a four-month gap between application deadline and position start date. This is significantly shorter than a typical US-Search where many schools begin examining applications a year before the position start date, and tells me that they should be moving fairly fast with the decision. Any inputs? 


It took about six months after my interview to receive an "offer" from the university, which I found rather slow, but having had more experience with German academic bureaucracy, I no longer find that surprising. (I find the four-month timetable frankly overly aggressive, and would expect that the actual start date would be substantially later than their target date.) However, every university and faculty within a university has its own way of doing things, so what might take six months in one faculty might take two months in another.