Nothing on this page is legal advice. Restrictive covenants, notice provisions and garden leave turn on their exact wording and on the law of the relevant jurisdiction, and enforceability varies. Take independent legal advice before acting on anything set out here.
For Partners and Directors in management consulting
Partner, Principal and Director moves in strategy consulting
Wherever you are in the thinking. Most senior moves start eighteen months before anyone applies for anything. We are built for that conversation — not for a pipeline.
Everything you tell us is held in strict confidence. We keep the circle tight, and we never disclose anything you tell us without your express approval — not to a client, not to your firm, at any stage.
Manager to PartnerUK · DACH · EuropeConfidential, alwaysNo CV sent without your approval
We handle your details as set out in our Privacy Policy and our Candidate Privacy Notice.
Three conversations
Pick the one that is true today.
Door one
I am actively looking
A defined search, a real timeline. We map what is live, tell you honestly where you fit, and stay in it through offer, counter-offer and signature.
- A candid read on the live market at your level
- Your track record framed for a partnership vote, not a job spec
- Interview, offer and counter-offer support to signature
Door two — where most people are
I am open, but not looking
The most valuable conversation, and the one nobody makes room for. No process, no pressure, nothing to declare. We come back to you when something genuinely fits — and not before.
- A market read at your level, roughly once a quarter
- A private compensation benchmark when you want one
- We approach you — you are never in anyone’s pipeline
Door three
I am thinking about moving my team
The most consequential move a Partner can make — and the one platforms pay most attention to. A functioning team commands investment, autonomy and terms an individual hire rarely sees.
- A confidential viability test before anyone is approached
- The commercial case built with you, not on you
- Covenants and timing surfaced early, with legal advice
At Manager level? Our mandates centre on Partner, Principal and Director appointments — but much of our Manager and Senior Consultant hiring happens inside the practices we help build. When a new leader lands, the team is hired in waves behind them. Send your CV in confidence and we will hold it for the builds we run.
Partner economics
The mechanics nobody explains
Most of what decides the outcome of a move is structural — how the firm counts revenue, which track you are actually on, what the covenant really restrains. We set out the questions to ask, because almost nobody else does.
Tracks
Is the expert track a dead end for partnership?
Why expert and specialist tracks lead to a senior title but rarely to equity — and how to tell which track you are actually on.
Read →
Compensation
How revenue credit works
The rule that decides whose number a piece of work counts toward — and why it matters more than base salary over three years.
Read →
Pay
What partners and directors are actually paid
Package bands for associate partner, partner and senior partner across the UK, Germany and Switzerland, and what you have to sell to hold the seat.
Read →
Who we work with
At the point the move actually matters
The focus
Partner, Principal and Director — and the routes to both
Whether you built your career in consulting or are returning to it from industry, we work at the point where a move is a capital decision, not a job change.
M→PManager to Partner — with our centre of gravity at Director and Partner, and whole teams moved together
Where you are now
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MBBMcKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company.Tier One StrategyRoland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Kearney, Arthur D. Little, OC&C Strategy Consultants, L.E.K. Consulting.Big Four Strategy HousesStrategy&, EY-Parthenon, Monitor Deloitte, KPMG Strategy.Restructuring HousesAlixPartners, Alvarez & Marsal, FTI Consulting, Teneo, Interpath, Kroll.Transaction AdvisoryDeal and restructuring advisory — Rothschild & Co, Houlihan Lokey, PJT Partners, Lazard, Perella Weinberg, and the Big Four deal advisory and transaction services teams.Tech ConsultingAccenture Strategy, IBM Consulting, Capgemini Invent, Infosys Consulting, BearingPoint.German-FoundedRoland Berger, Simon-Kucher, Horváth, zeb, H&Z, EFESO Management Consultants, Porsche Consulting, MHP, Ingenics, 4flow, Miebach Consulting.UK IndependentsBerkeley Partnership, Elixirr, CIL, Newton, Q5, Baringa.Private EquityValue creation and portfolio operations teams, and operating partners — KKR Capstone, Blackstone Portfolio Operations, Bain Capital, EQT, Cinven, Permira, Apax, CVC, Triton, Hg, Bridgepoint.Industry, Returning to ConsultingIn-house strategy, corporate development and PE portfolio operations — moving back into a client-facing consulting seat.
What you are weighing
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Partner trackUsually it is not the title. It is discovering the track you are on does not lead there, or that the year it happens keeps moving.A ceiling you can seeExpert and specialist tracks reward depth rather than origination — and equity is awarded for origination. The ceiling is rarely stated plainly.Meaningful equityEquity, fixed-share and salaried all carry the word partner. What you own, contribute and take out differs enormously, and is often explained late.Being credited for what you bringTwo firms can pay the same base and produce completely different outcomes, depending on whose number the work counts toward.Autonomy at partner levelA recurring frustration: a top-heavy structure, limited freedom at partner level, and a rate card that makes origination harder than it should be.An international moveWhether a platform is genuinely global or a set of country P&Ls decides how you can work, who you can bill and what you can build.Building a practice of your ownWhite space is the strongest pull we see at this level — shaping a practice rather than inheriting one. The question is what investment and autonomy come with it.Moving with your teamA functioning team commands investment, autonomy and terms an individual hire rarely sees. It also carries risk worth testing before anyone is approached.
What we can tell you that your network cannot
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What this level actually paysNot a survey. A private read on what the market is doing at your level right now, drawn from live mandates rather than self-reported averages.Which firms are genuinely investingInvestment shows up in hiring patterns long before it shows up in a press release. We see the patterns across the market, not one firm at a time.Where the admissions bar really sitsEvery firm says the bar is high. We can tell you what the pattern of recent admissions across the market actually suggests it takes.Who is hiring quietlyMost senior mandates are never advertised, and some are not named until the second conversation. Your network sees the public half of the market.How buy-ins and guarantees really workWhat a buy-in costs and how it is financed, what happens when a guarantee lapses, and the questions that expose a weak answer.
When you are ready
From first conversation to first hundred days
01
Conversation
Where you are, what you want, what you are worth. Nothing starts without your say-so.
02
Positioning
Your track record framed for a partnership vote — client following, commercial case, fit.
03
Access
Introductions to firms that genuinely fit. You are named only when you agree.
04
Process
Interview preparation, the business case, and what each firm actually decides on.
05
Offer & after
Package, covenants, resignation and counter-offer — and a check-in at ninety days.
Prepare
Prepare for the interview process
A partner move is not an interview. It is a process — typically seven distinct stages over two to three months, in front of five to eight people who have never met you and who each decide independently. Each stage tests something different, and the thing that got you through the last one is rarely the thing that gets you through the next.
So we wrote the whole thing down. Seven stages, a full page on each, published openly — no sign-up and nothing held back. For every stage: what it is actually testing, what best practice looks like, what the market is doing right now, the questions worth asking, and the ones that cost you.
Seven stages · a page each · free and open · nothing gated
1 · Take stock
Decide your criteria before anyone shows you a package. Nine factors you come back to at every stage after this.
2 · Exploratory call
Thirty minutes that settle your level, your motive, and whether the work you sold would come with you.
3 · Business case
The document the decision actually rests on — what goes in it, how to polish it, and how to pre-empt the doubts.
4 · Interviews 2–5
Every partner is a cold start. How to give context, stay consistent, and survive the cross-practice rooms.
5 · Final round
Presenting the case to the partner group — plus the due diligence you owe yourself before you can accept.
6 · Offer & negotiation
What to ask for, how to phrase it, what not to touch, and when to walk away.
7 · Resign and land
Leaving properly, and the hundred days that decide whether the move actually worked.
Questions
Candidate FAQ
Does it cost me anything to work with you?
No. Our fees are paid by the hiring firm, always. There is no charge to you at any stage, and no version of this where you owe us anything — including if you take our advice and stay where you are.
Will my CV be sent anywhere without my approval?
Never. Your CV goes to a named firm only after you have approved that firm for that mandate, and we have confirmed that back to you in writing. We do not send profiles speculatively, and your profile is never published, listed, or made available to any third party to search. You can ask at any time who has seen what.
I am not actively looking — is a conversation still worth having?
It is the most useful one we have. Most Partner, Principal and Director moves are opportunistic: a practice gets investment, a competitor stumbles, a platform decides to build. The people who move well are already known to us when that happens. No process starts, nothing is declared — we simply know what would genuinely interest you, and stay quiet until it exists.
What happens in the first conversation?
Thirty to forty-five minutes, entirely off the record. Where you are, what you want next, and an honest read on the market at your level — what is moving, what it pays, where the real opportunities sit. You leave with a clearer picture whether or not we ever speak again.
Can you help me understand partner economics — buy-ins, points, guarantees?
Yes, and it is often where we add most value. Equity versus fixed-share, what a buy-in really costs and how it is financed, guarantee periods and how they interact with a client following, drawings versus distributions. We benchmark your position privately against what the market actually pays, not what it advertises.
What about restrictive covenants, notice and garden leave?
We surface them at the start, because at this level they shape the timetable more than anything else. Non-compete, non-solicit and non-deal clauses restrain different things, and the UK and German positions differ materially. We flag what we see and both sides take their own legal advice — we never encourage anyone to test a covenant.
I want to move with my team. Where do I start?
With one quiet conversation, before anyone else is involved. We test viability first — market pull, revenue transferability, cohesion, platform fit, timing — and nobody on your team is approached until you have seen that assessment and agreed to it. Platforms invest differently for a functioning team; the economics are worth understanding even if you never move.
How is my data handled?
Your details are held securely, shared with no one without your approval, and never sold or syndicated. Ask us what we hold and we will show you; ask us to delete it and we will, promptly and in writing, keeping only the minimum record the law requires us to keep. We work to UK and EU data protection standards across both markets.
Start where it suits you
A confidential conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing — and you will leave it knowing more about your market than you did. If you are earlier than that, send your CV in confidence and we will hold it until something genuinely fits.
We handle your details as set out in our Privacy Policy.