Strategy & Operations Manager, Sustainability Practice

ABOUT US

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future. Across 67 offices in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest $2 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1 percent among other consulting firms. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

Sustainability (which covers environmental, social, and economic justice issues) is an increasingly important topic for our clients. In the Sustainability Practice, we help our clients make critical decisions that impact the core of their business strategy, related to sustainability strategy, the environmental and social impact of operations, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability-related growth and cost opportunities. We work to ensure that sustainability efforts are anchored in business fundamentals and demonstrate a clear return on investment – and that those efforts are then firmly embedded within our clients' strategy and operations.

Read more about our Sustainability consulting services to learn more about our work.

The Strategy & Operations Manager is a pivotal role within Bain’s Sustainability Practice – functioning much like a general manager for a business unit. This is not a stepping stone into client consulting. It’s a strategic business role at the heart of a global business, suited for someone who thrives on shaping and running a business unit from the inside, brings strong problem-solving, analytical, and stakeholder skills, ideally from strategy consulting or an equivalent strategic/operational role and is motivated by enabling others’ success and building lasting capabilities.
You’ll focus on driving the internal strategy, operations, and execution that enable our partners and case teams to deliver outstanding client and people results. You’ll also work side-by-side with senior practice leadership to shape and deliver our growth strategy, ensure operational excellence, and make high-quality, data-driven decisions. Your work will directly influence the practice’s priorities, investments, and ability to scale our expertise globally.

If you enjoy strategy, business management, and operational leadership, want to apply your skills in a role where impact is measured in practice-wide success, internal capability building, and long-term value creation from a business point of view, this role offers that unique opportunity.

You will lead our internal Strategy & Operations team, helping to manage and ensuring smooth operations across the practice. The scope of work is flexible, but will fall into the following main categories.

Practice planning and strategy execution

• Partner with practice leadership to define and deliver the practice’s short- and long-term strategy
• Shape annual strategic plans, integrating and synthesizing elements (e.g. solution, sector, region) into the full plan, adding and balancing inputs from stakeholders such as Finance, Marketing, Partners, senior PPK members, and translate them into actionable initiatives with measurable outcomes
• Act as a key point of contact for the senior leadership team, serving as a co-pilot to help lead the practice
• Support practice leadership with ad hoc requests (on data analytics, budgeting, strategy, etc.)
• Support and drive the practice planning process, integrating and synthesizing elements (e.g. solution, sector, region) into the full plan; adding and balancing inputs from stakeholders such as Finance, Marketing, Partners, senior PPK members
• Interpret trends and highlight issues requiring intervention, e.g. cost recovery or commercial initiatives

Manage the practice budget, including regular tracking and managing the input process and aggregation for annual budget submission and reforecasts

Practice operations and reporting

• Identify issues, create hypotheses, and execute analysis; translate data into meaningful insights; present recommendations to key decision-makers
• Drive the design and execution of practice reporting, in coordination with PPK Reporting & Analytics team, leveraging advanced analytical tools and AI
• Interpret results to uncover performance drivers and opportunities for improvement Prepare senior leadership meeting materials for key stakeholders, including client-ready summaries of practice performance
• Ensure solution/sector/regional teams are aware of and adopt KPI definitions established by global practice team, Finance, and others
• Optimize intra-practice operational work through best practice sharing, centralization, automation or zero-basing; champion consistency in reporting standards

Affiliate management and meetings

• Drive talent projects and cultivation, e.g. outside hiring, capability building, team surveys, internal staffing allocations, engagement
• Support leadership on practice meetings and calls; oversee operations-related content; coordinate on meeting logistics with Events team
• Own affiliate management (e.g., support on resourcing/staffing decisions)

Commercial Operations

• Monitor and drive agreed commercial pipeline actions; coordinate on evolving client priority list (regions/sectors); ensure consistent account management approach and prepare materials for calls
• Connect to frontline feedback loops and use to inform analysis; share best practices, e.g. business development requests, use of client promoters
• Work across sectors/solutions to align marketing presence with practice priorities into an integrated plan
• Coordinate with Marketing Lead on marketing backlog

Practice communications and teaming

• Drive internal PPK team management, e.g. coordinates practice-wide NPS monitoring, ombudsperson role
• Ensure high quality results, may manage analysis done by junior(s) within or outside of the Operations team
• Effectively manage the personal development of juniors on team through coaching and performance feedback
• Work seamlessly across Bain functions to share information and create alignment

ABOUT YOU

Education

• Bachelor of Arts, Engineering, Science, or equivalent undergraduate degree with strong academic credentials; Statistics, Business, or Economics concentrations also applicable
• MBA is a plus

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in a professional services firm environment, with direct external client contact
• Current or former top-tier management consultant or equivalent experience is a plus
• You have a consistent track record of delivering strong results in a fast-paced environment and cross-functional, global, and senior stakeholder environments
• , including the ability to execute multiple projects at once using strong work planning skills You are a strong team player with a demonstrated ability to motivate team members and a willingness to be flexible in meeting the needs of the practice and stakeholders
• You have experience and proficiency in creating high quality presentations, strong communication and executive-level presentation skills and the ability to establish credibility with senior business executives

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• You are intellectually curious and have a positive mindset
• You are known for your high-quality work, attentive to detail and very organized

• You can operate independently (comfortable with a remote supervisor, juniors, and wider team) and manage competing priorities with minimal supervision
• You have the maturity and integrity to manage confidential information and use technology in a responsible way (e.g. AI)
• You are comfortable with data modelling, analysis and other tools (e.g., Alteryx, Tableau, AI/GBTs/prompt engineering) with a command over Microsoft and automation applications (Excel, PowerPoint, PowerApps, Python)
• You have experience with business and performance measurement, strategic planning, finance/budget management, project management

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities