Senior Principal
Job Brief
Senior Principals shape, lead and deliver major client engagements, playing a pivotal role in Q5’s commercial success and strategic direction. They build strong client relationships, create opportunities for growth, and role-model Q5’s values in everything they do.
1. Business & Commercial Acumen
- Exhibits a highly commercial mindset, demonstrating the ability to see the bigger picture and shape decisions that positively impact Q5.
- Manages margin and commercial risk confidently across large and complex accounts.
- Develops commercially sound approaches, understanding resource requirements across multi-stream engagements.
- Ensures account plans and commercials “do the right thing” for both Q5 and clients.
2. Gaining & Developing New Business
- Consistently grows large-scale accounts through proactive opportunity spotting and relationship building.
- Shapes client briefs into compelling strategies for new business.
- Architects complex, multi-Offering solutions that demonstrate Q5’s capability and insight.
- Acts as a trusted advisor, creating opportunities to extend, repeat, or expand work through value-adding conversations.
3. Relationship Building & Management
- Proactively nurtures senior-level relationships across multiple clients and networks.
- Seen as a highly credible, calm and authoritative partner, even in complex situations.
- Grows networks of senior stakeholders and cultivates new entry points into organisations.
- Role-models relationship-driven leadership, combining soft skills with delivery expertise.
4. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
- Architects solutions that draw on a wide range of Q5 methodological and Offering expertise.
- Analyses and synthesizes complex information at pace, simplifying concepts and defining clear recommendations.
- Handles challenging conversations confidently, offering constructive challenge to clients and teams.
- Role-models inclusive, open critical thinking that brings others on the journey.
5. Influential Communication & Engagement
- Creates clear, compelling narratives that cut through complexity.
- Synthesizes information into digestible messages that drive action.
- Communicates a well-reasoned point of view quickly and effectively.
- Adapts style to engage and influence diverse stakeholders with confidence and care.
6. Leading a Room
- Reads the room expertly and knows when to intervene, question or advise.
- Confidently facilitates and leads high-stakes meetings with senior clients.
- Adjusts dynamically to changing session needs while maintaining direction and engagement.
- Creates open, inclusive environments and enables other Q5ers to contribute and lead.
7. Programme & Project Management
- Manages large client accounts end-to-end, ensuring delivery is on time, on budget and to a high standard.
- Delegates appropriately while maintaining strong oversight of milestones, risks and quality.
- Creates delivery environments that balance performance expectations with wellbeing.
- Ensures scope, governance and delivery cadence are robust across accounts.
8. Analysis & Tooling
- Demonstrates strong analytical skills and applies both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
- Supports and challenges teams in producing robust data-driven insights.
- Enhances project outcomes through rigorous, structured analysis and creative thinking.
9. People Leadership
- Leads multiple teams across large engagements, supporting performance, growth and wellbeing.
- Sets clear direction and creates simplicity in ambiguity.
- Builds high-trust, values-driven cultures within project teams.
- Mentors and coaches Consultants, Senior Consultants and Principal Consultants.
10. Values & Behaviours
- Exemplifies Q5’s values in all relationships and decisions.
- Creates environments where others can live the values.
- Proactively gives and seeks feedback, investing in development.
- Challenges behaviours—client or internal—that fall below expectations.
Requirements
Skills and Attributes
- 10+ years of relevant professional experience, including a significant portion spent in management consulting
- Broad sector experience across multiple industries in particular Retail and/or Financial Services
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and hit the ground running in new contexts
- Experience leading complex organisation transformation (ideally with experience in operating model and organisation design)
- Experience in strategic workforce planning and workforce modelling in large complex organisations
- Understanding of the end-to-end employee lifecycles and ability to advise clients on the levers to pull to get better operational and commercial outcomes
- Experience working with large, complex people data and ability to connect with external data sources
- Good overall understanding of strategy, operating model design, business operations and people analytics
- Excellent communication skills and facilitation skills with the ability to explain complex results or concepts to non-data audiences
- Advanced problem-solving and critical thinking skills with experience in producing high-quality, insightful outputs
- Entrepreneurial mindset to help grow Q5’s analytics practice
- Qualifications and experience in a relevant discipline
The sort of person we look for at Q5
Highly adaptable and flexible in thinking style – We often find ourselves working across a variety of contexts and a ‘simple’ challenge turns out to be much more complex than it first appears. You need to be able to quickly join the dots together and develop a plan to move forward. You also need to be able to adapt that plan when it is not working.
Collaborative in working style – This is one of our key differentiators. It’s not about being the smartest person in the room but instead helping to bring different stakeholders together to create a solution that works for the business. There is a “we” not “I” mindset
Genuinely care about your clients and colleagues and help them to succeed– When Q5 was founded it was to be more than a typical, transactional consulting firm. We are genuine partners with our clients focused on their long-term success, which means we hire people who a wired to care, be empathetic and get joy from seeing others succeed.
Can build trusted relationships and bring people on the journey– One of the things our clients say about us is that we are able to bring people together and take them on the journey. This role will require building (and sustaining) people trust and engaging key people in the business to craft the right answer
Resilient in the face of challenges, tight timelines and demanding clients – We continually strive to create a positive working environment, but the reality of our work is that it is hard and therefore not for everyone. The people who succeed at Q5 can work under the pressure without losing their sense of humour or care for others.
You get your hands dirty and step-up – We have a flat structure. If you enjoy getting stuck into a client’s challenge, pushing the team forward and solving problems with others you will thrive. We pride ourselves on developing our junior team members and creating supportive environments where people can bring their true selves to work (and in turn do their best work). We're firm believers that everyone needs to roll up their sleeves to get the job done!
Unique and offers something special – We don’t do cookie-cutter or formulaic and we need people who think differently, are intensely curious about solving our clients’ problems and stand-out from the crowd.
Benefits
Finance
- Performance Related Bonus
- Contributory Pension Plan
- Life Assurance and Income Protection
- New Starter Loan
Health & Wellbeing
- Private Medical Insurance
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Access to Digital GP and Wellbeing Apps
- Internal Wellbeing Programme
Family & Lifestyle
- Electric Car and Cycle to Work Schemes
- Enhanced Parental Leave
- Subsidised eye tests and support with the cost prescribed glasses for DSE use
