Associate Director - Operations & Supply Chain

The Strategy Group, Operations and Supply Chain CoE

KPMG’s Strategy Group is looking for exceptional candidates for an Associate Director role, with a background in Manufacturing, Logistics or Supply Chain ideally within the Consumer Goods & Retail sector (other sectors could be considered for exceptional candidates) and ideally with some exposure to Deals (Integrations, Separations and Due Diligence).

The Operations and Supply Chain COE is part of KPMG’s rapidly expanding Strategy Group, which delivers value for clients by challenging conventional thinking, bringing deep industry and functional insights and executing with investor-grade rigour. We are a diverse team of over 200 practitioners, working collaboratively with and orchestrating KPMG’s broad set of capabilities within our Deal Advisory business.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Act as the Engagement Manager for operations related areas of Deal Execution projects, including the management of people, risks, and budget.
• Act as the primary point of contact for the client and senior KPMG stakeholders, build strong relationships with senior client operations leaders, and quickly establish credibility and trust through the application of solid functional and sector expertise.
• Lead KPMG engagement teams and oversee the drafting and delivery of high-quality outputs at pace ahead of Partner / Director reviews.
• Support the development of separation / integration documents such as “blueprints” and other detailed plans within pre or post-deal transaction environments including cutover plans, Day 1 plans, and post-deal implementation plans.
• Have deep operational industry experience within the C&R sector in order to bring credibility when working with clients.
• Work with the respective Director and/or Partner on an engagement to develop the engagement strategy, budget and delivery plan etc.
• Support the identification, pursuit and conversion of a pipeline of business development opportunities.
• Actively develop own knowledge and expertise in Sector focussed proposition(s).
• Lead the design of complex engagements and take responsibility for leading day-to-day delivery.
• Act as a leader and mentor to the wider Ops & Supply Chain CoE team, supporting them with your deep sector and functional experience.
• Undertake scoping and fee negotiation on standard engagements.
• Proactively develop thought leadership.
• Build and maintain a strong network across the Strategy Group, wider internal KPMG network and externally.
• Understand risk and ensure that the Firm's risk management frameworks are adhered to.
• Inspire, motivate, coach and develop project team members and appraisees, and give constructive 360-degree feedback.
• Identify, design and lead critical, complex practice development initiatives, while coordinating other members of the team.

Key Competencies

At KPMG, we seek candidates who can thrive in our high-performance culture and can demonstrate the following behaviours:

• Deliver Impact: Make sound decisions: Exercises sound business judgment when making decisions.
• Foster innovation: Embraces a culture of innovation and experimentation to create value.
• Apply a strategic perspective: Uses diverse sets of inputs to develop a broad perspective on business and people issues.

Seek Growth:

• Take opportunities to learn and adapt: Uses insights and self-reflection to build capability and embrace new challenges.
• Develop and motivate others: Engages teams, instils confidence, and coaches people to find meaning in their work and achieve exceptional results.
• Build collaborative relationships: Establishes strong relationships internally and externally and builds wide and productive networks.

Inspire Trust:

• Drive quality: Delivers high-quality products and exceptional service that provide value.
• Act ethically and responsibly: Behaves ethically and encourages others to do the same.
• Advocate for Equality: Creates opportunities to address inequity and enables all people to feel like they belong.

Your Experience

• Extensive experience working in a leading strategy house or Big 4 firm and/or a senior role within industry, with a focus on operations within the Consumer & Retail sector.
• Industry experience should include line management and/or other management and leadership responsibilities.
• Ideally, some experience working within a Deals/M&A environment.
• Detailed understanding of the value drivers within operations within a relevant Sector.
• Track record of leading complex projects in with multi-disciplinary teams in a consulting or corporate environment.
• Experience of managing or supporting high-value business development activities with senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrable ability to build and commercialise relationships with senior executives.

Technical skills:

• A solid understanding of the Consumer & Retail sector as well as end-to-end supply chain / operations practices are essential.
• An excellent awareness of the overall operations functions and the typical organisational structures, processes, controls, systems, and performance metrics / benchmarks.
• Awareness of current leading practice and future trends in creating efficient and effective operational functions, including supporting business strategy, operating model design and implementation, disruptive technologies and creating insight from data.
• Exposure to the operational issues created by integrations, separations and carve outs.
• Experience of supporting operational change projects and business improvement in industry or a consulting environment.
• Awareness of organisational change in operational functions.
• Strong academic track record.
• Sales and business development skills.
• Evidence of strong problem-solving & analytical capabilities.
• Structured thinking skills combined with creativity.
• Ability to talk credibly with C-level clients on the key issues and strategic considerations facing the industry.
• 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.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Other language skills would be a strong bonus.

Locations: London (preferred) or KPMG Regional Office (Manchester, Birmingham or Leeds) with frequent travel to London.