 By 1928 he had been named an alternate member of IG Farben's managing board and was made plant manager at Merseburg in 1936.Soon after Adolf Hitler came to power Schneider sought to underline his commitment to Nazism by becoming a sponsoring member of the Schutzstaffel.He held the rank of honorary Standartenführer within the organisation and developed a number of close contacts in the office of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.