After beginning his youth career and its first steps in senior football[9] with SV Auersmacher in his home state of Saarland, Hector transferred to 1.

[10] He was promoted to the first team by coach Holger Stanislawski for the 2012–13 season and was given a debut in the first round of the DFB-Pokal against SpVgg Unterhaching on 18 August 2012.

[6] In 2013–14, Hector started 33 of Köln's 34 matches as the FC won the second division championship, gaining promotion to the Bundesliga.

[12] The following season, he again played in all but one of Köln's league matches, making his Bundesliga debut against Hamburger SV on the first matchday.

[16] After a successful season and an impressive Euro campaign, Hector received interest from the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea, which led to negotiations on a new contract.

[21] On 7 November 2014, Hector was called up to the Germany national football team for the first time ahead of a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Gibraltar and a friendly against Spain.

[26] On 2 July 2016, Hector scored the winning kick in the quarter-final penalty shootout against Italy to take the German team into the Euro 2016 semi-final stage.

[31] On 14 October 2020, it was reported that Hector had retired from international football and would no longer represent Germany's national team.