Director - Deal Strategy & Commercial Due Diligence - Media (Strategy Consulting)

Our client, a leading strategy consultancy is seeking a director to join and play a leading role, focusing on deal strategy within the media industry as a part of the wider TMT sector, with scope to work on the wider range of services including growth strategy, cost and operational strategy (including economic profitability analysis) and enterprise-wide transformation. You will be the second hire of a newly established team that has plans to grow to fifteen staff in the next 2-3 years, and you will play an instrumental part in helping to shape the growth of this team.

Role and responsibilities:

• Take a senior leadership role with the team, with clients and in the broader industry.
• Have existing client relationships, particularly with the M&A community in both corporates and PE houses, which reinforce the team’s credibility and generate project opportunities – extensive experience of M&A related projects will be critical, e.g. Commercial DD, M&A Strategy, Value creation, etc.
• Take responsibility for client relationships and act as a key contact point for those clients.
• Have the ability to anticipate, understand and articulate client requirements – in advance of and during projects.
• Demonstrate excellent communications skills – in written, slide and other reporting formats as well as verbal communications in informal and more formal situations.
• Lead the presentation of findings to senior clients and be comfortable in challenging the thinking of both clients and more senior Firm colleagues.
• Design and run large, complex projects, delivering to client requirements whilst acting as primary client liaison and be an \’ambassador\’ for the Firm.
• With limited input, guide the team to client-ready deliverables that exceed expectations and require minimal review.
• Support and test/review the design and execution complex analyses to ensure these are credible and accurate.
• Identify go-to-market, thought-leadership and marketing opportunities to lead on, and take responsibility for taking these to clients.
• Actively seek out leadership opportunities, take responsibility for a selection of internal processes and generally act as a leader in the the Strategy function and an inspiration to more junior team members.
• Take overarching responsibility that the firm\’s risk management frameworks are adhered to, by identifying and reviewing any key judgements – but also consulting with other senior staff members as appropriate.

Person requirements:

• Considerable experience working in a leading strategy consulting business, Big 4 firm or strategy / Corporate Development team in industry.
• Strong foundational understanding of the value drivers across the Media sector and clear view on how the sector is likely to evolve going forward.
• Experience of leading mid-sized and large projects: designing work plans, team structures and then managing these to (i) excellent client output and (ii) strong project economics.
• This should include an extensive coverage of recent M&A transactions, e.g. CDD, VDD, M&A Strategy or Value Creation projects in the Media sector.
• Ability to independently generate sales opportunities and maintain strong client relationships.
• Initiating marketing and sales efforts, proposals, scopes and pricing for mid-sized and large consulting assignments.
• Acting as the source of new business development initiatives and taking these from idea, through design and execution all the way to clients.
• Ability to work effectively and collaboratively with team members and broader (internal and external) stakeholders.
• Strong track record of building followership among more junior staff members.
• Non-client facing roles in taking on internal responsibilities on topics like team management, technical tool insight, liaison with service suppliers, etc.

Technical requirements:

• Strong academic track record.
• Evidence of strong problem-solving & analytical capabilities.
• Structured thinking skills combined with creativity.
• Ability to evaluate complex challenges and deliver insightful recommendations that can be practically executed.
• Ability review and assess large volumes of technical data and distil the key strategic insights – and the ability to guide a team through this process to focus on most important issues.
• Strong numerical capabilities combined with sound commercial acumen.
• Ability to build complex financial models that support our recommendations to clients.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Other language skills would be a strong bonus.

We have a briefing with the hiring partner on Wednesday 20th August so will be able to inform successful candidates as to more about the team and the role following this.

Successful applicants will be contacted within 24-48 hours.

Cambridge Credentials: adding people….adding value