After graduating from the Hardtberg Gymnasium in Bonn in 1992, Pagel began studying business administration at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, majoring in business informatics, controlling and international companies, graduating in 1998. In parallel, he studied Business Organisation at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh from 1994 to 1995 and at the University of Montpellier from 1996 to 1997. After completing his studies, Pagel was a lecturer in the business administration department in the IT division of ZDF in Mainz from 1998. After 2 years he became a freelancer for the digital bouquet at ZDFvision and moved to Südwestrundfunk in Mainz in 2002 as a consultant for online coordination. He also worked as a freelancer in service multimedia at ARTE in Strasbourg.