EY-Parthenon Strategy Engagement Manager (Assistant Director), Retail and Consumer Products

At EY-Parthenon, you’ll have the opportunity to build a career as unique as you are, with the global scale, support, inclusive culture, and technology to become the best version of you. Join us, build an exceptional experience for yourself and shape the future with confidence.

About EY-Parthenon

EY-Parthenon is a global strategy consultancy. We challenge assumptions to design and deliver strategies that help improve profitability and long-term value. We have more than 9,000 professionals around the globe, working across three areas of focus:

• Corporate & Growth Strategy: Developing growth strategies by providing in-depth market, competitor and customer insights.
• Transaction Strategy & Execution (TSE): Developing, evaluating and executing transaction strategies across the whole M&A and investment lifecycle.
• Turnaround & Restructuring Strategy: Rapidly creating, preserving and recovering value in urgent and complex situations.

This particular job opportunity relates to Corporate & Growth Strategy UK only. In the UK, we are also recruiting for roles in our Transaction Strategy & Execution team.

About EY-Parthenon Corporate & Growth Strategy

At EY-P Strategy, we put our purpose — Building a better working world — at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to using unconventional yet pragmatic thinking to deliver actionable strategies to help our clients navigate the ever-changing business landscape. You’ll be a part of a collaborative team that contributes to transforming client businesses using cutting-edge research, analytics and AI powered tools.

The Work

Our current work is typically focused on applying our deep sector & strategy knowledge to various types of projects, including:

• Strategy development and assessment
• Market entry strategy and opportunity sizing
• Product and business unit strategy development
• Divestment options analysis

You’ll work with a high-performing, integrated team which focuses on a variety of global and local corporate clients and private equity clients. You’ll have a diverse range of stretching experiences which will give you continuous learning and development opportunities as well as a great sense of achievement.

The Opportunity

The EY-Parthenon Strategy team is currently seeking to expand their team and recruit Engagement Managers to our Retail and Consumer Products (RCP) Practice, who will be able to build on their current strategy development, transaction and commercial experience, and work on diverse and demanding projects for private equity as well as blue chip corporate and entrepreneurial clients.

Retail and Consumer Products is a large and rapidly growing sector at EY. Within this sector, we are building on our past success and are further expanding our team, with a clear ambition to build a leading strategy practice in the sector. We are hiring Engagement Managers to lead on buy- and sell-side commercial due diligence and strategy engagements spanning a range of RCP sub-sectors, including: packaged consumer goods, food & beverage, beauty and personal care, retail, e-commerce, restaurants and foodservice, travel – across a variety of different business models and geographic markets.

Joining this team as an Engagement Manager gives the right candidates the opportunity to accelerate their career in RCP sector strategy. The nature of the role demands a skill set that combines commercial diligence, strategy, qualitative and quantitative rigour to problem solving, with strong creative intuition and a can-do mindset. A genuine and deep passion for consumer products, retail and leisure sector topics is a clear advantage.

Key Responsibilities

As an Engagement Manager, you’ll typically be responsible for leading client projects, shaping deliverables, and developing client relationships, with the support and coaching of our directors and partners. You’ll also be involved in developing proposals and leading pursuits, and actively contribute to EY-Parthenon thought leadership and internal operational initiatives. This will include:

• Managing project teams of between 3 – 8 consultants on client projects
• Creating an inclusive culture throughout the team and within engagements
• Developing our business – identifying opportunities within existing clients and driving sales activity
• Working closely with wider EY teams – across Strategy & Transactions, Business Consulting, Tax and Assurance to bring the best of the firm to our clients
• Developing a community within the team – owning / developing an offer, or other internal practice build initiatives such as Training, Professional Development, Innovation, Recruitment, etc.
• Counselling of Consultants to provide career direction and advice
• Developing your own skills and experience and having fun with the team

Skills and attributes for success

Successful candidates are intellectually curious, passionate about solving complex problems, hardworking, have an enthusiastic and approachable demeanour with an entrepreneurial mind-set, combined with a passion for consumer products, retail and leisure sector topics. We want people who are great communicators, who collaborate well with people and teams, and who have a real desire to both learn and coach others.

To qualify for the role, you must:

• Have a minimum of 5 years working experience
• Have prior experience of strategy consulting, preferably with commercial due diligence experience, or have strong commercial experience and/or relevant transaction experience
• Have credible project management experience and demonstrate an ability to plan, deliver, structure, write and present work against tight deadlines
• Have analytical work experience
• Have proficiency in MS PowerPoint and Excel
• Be willing to share your technical and other knowledge with your team
• Have a passion for consumer products, retail and leisure sector topics, relevant work experience within the RCP sector, and an interest to focus on sub-sectors within RCP as your career develops

Ideally, you will also

• Have a relevant consumer products, retail and leisure sub-sector focus
• Be an excellent communicator, both oral and written
• Have a drive to solve complex problems with senior stakeholders
• Be an effective time manager, able to keep calm when under pressure to meet deadlines
• Be a coach to junior team-members helping them with on-the-job training, informal discussions and formal EY-Parthenon training modules
• Be a team player with the ability to build effective relationships at all levels in EY and with clients, both in the UK and internationally

What we offer

We offer an attractive remuneration package where you’ll be rewarded for your performance. Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes support for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs, covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions.

Plus, we offer:

• Continuous learning: Through continuous training, coaching and mentorship, you’ll develop the mindset and skills needed to accelerate your career and become a transformational leader
• Real exposure: Opportunities to work on a wide range of projects and be exposed to senior business leaders and investors across a number of different business models, subsectors and companies
• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs
• Success as defined by you: We’ll provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way

If you can demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible. The exceptional EY experience. It’s yours to build.