Director Strategy & Performance Transformation, Consumer, Retail & Leisure sector

Job description

The Role 

KPMG’s Strategy & Performance Transformation practice is looking for exceptional candidates for a Director role, with a sector focus on the Consumer, Retail & Leisure industry and with particular experience in Deal Strategy, one of our core propositions. Additional experience across our other propositions - Growth Strategy, Cost and Operational strategy (including Economic Profitability Analysis) and Enterprise-wide Transformation - will also be valuable.

The Strategy & Performance Transformation team 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 150 practitioners, working collaboratively with and orchestrating KPMG’s broad set of capabilities within our Advisory business.

Roles & Responsibilities     

To be an effective Director within our Strategy & Performance Transformation applicants will be expected to:
• Take a senior leadership role with the team, with clients and in the broader industry
• Have existing client relationships, particularly with the UK/European Private Equity and M&A community, which reinforce the team’s credibility and generate project opportunities – extensive experience of M&A related projects will be critical, eg 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 KPMG 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 S&PT 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

The Person 

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 belongSuccessful applicants will demonstrate the following:

Skills, Qualifications and Experience 

Experience 
• Demonstrable 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 broadly defined Consumer sector: Consumer Goods, Retail & Travel & Leisure businesses – and clear view on how these sectors are 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
o This should include an extensive coverage of recent M&A transactions, eg CDD, VDD, M&A Strategy or Value Creation projects in the Consumer 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 Skills 
• 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