Thomas Ulbrich studied automotive engineering at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. In 1992, the engineering graduate started his career in plant logistics at Wolfsburg, where he assumed a management role in 1995.
In 1996, he became head of logistics at FAW-Volkswagen in Changchun, China. Two years later he assumed responsibility for assembly “segment II” at the Wolfsburg plant before becoming head of plant logistics at Emden in 1999.
He was technical managing director and speaker of the management board of AUTO 5000 GmbH in Wolfsburg from 2001 to 2008. He became Board of Management Member for Production at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Hannover in 2008.
Ulbrich moved to SAIC VOLKSWAGEN, China, as Technical Executive Vice President in 2010, taking charge of development as well as production and logistics at a total of five locations.
From April 2014 until January 2018, Ulbrich was responsible for Production and Logistics as Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand. He was then given responsibility for the “E-Mobility” department. He became Member of the Board of Management with responsibility for the Technical Development division of Volkswagen Passenger Cars in February 2021 and took charge of the newly-created "New Mobility" division at Volkswagen Passenger Cars on October 1, 2022.