After studying politics and law at the University of Hamburg and Brussels, Thomas Vaupel started his professional career in 2005, working for the International Department of the SPD Executive Committee in Berlin. In the following years his main focus was on coordinating the European policy of the SPD including the cooperation with and within the Party of European Socialists (PES). Since 2018 he worked for the SPD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag as coordinating adviser for the policy areas and related working units in the fields of budget, finance and Europe. Also in the past years Thomas Vaupel remained engaged within the PES and supported different key activities, for example by coordinating the PES Congress in Berlin in 2023.