Principal - Assessment & Succession

At Korn Ferry, we grasp every opportunity to surprise others and ourselves by going beyond expectations to deliver a bit extra. We call it exceeding potential. To inspire and excite people, teams, even entire organizations. To bring companies' strategies to life. To unite boardrooms and workforces. To unlock potential, realize ambitions, and change lives. Together, we are smarter. Together we are stronger. Together, we are more than.

Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm. We help clients synchronize strategy and talent to drive superior performance. We work with organizations to design their structures, roles, and responsibilities. We help them hire the right people to bring their strategy to life. And we advise them on how to reward, develop, and motivate their people. 

Our 7,500 colleagues serve clients in more than 50 countries. We offer five core solutions.

• Organizational Strategy
• Assessment and Succession
• Talent Acquisition
• Leadership Development
• Rewards and Benefits

The Role 

We are always looking for talented consultants for all our solution areas, but especially Assessment & Succession, Organizational Strategy and Leadership Development. Principal consultants work closely with colleagues to deliver complex, customized and multi work-stream solutions that meet and exceed client expectations. At this level, business development and client relationship management feature as an important focus of the role in addition to delivery.  Individuals will contribute to bids, and manage/lead relationships and/or projects of considerable complexity.

Key Accountabilities 

• Develop and manage effective client relationships either as a member of an account team or, by directly managing accounts including potential key accounts.  
• Look for ways to build new client relationships e.g. active networking, asking for referrals, partnering across KF lines of business.
• Lead research, analysis and interpretation on client / sector business issues with a view to identifying possible opportunities. Leverage insights to define, recommend and /or co-create strategic solutions for the clients.
• Assess the needs of large/complex clients, designing and delivering solutions to meet their needs. Contribute to winning profitable business by proposal writing, pricing, shaping opportunities, pitch preparation and opportunity spotting in clients.
• Deliver high quality work that meets or exceeds client expectations and project manage work streams and/of lead delivery teams.
• Facilitate project teams by defining scope, objectives and project management structure ensuring a constant focus on outcomes. Plans for resource needs and implements plans to ensure consultants are developed to meet business needs. Leverage the expertise of internal industry or practice experts across the KF business. Projects may span multiple service lines and would typically involve managing multiple consultants from other offices/countries.
• Contribute to thought leadership and/or research. Speak at local or national events in own area of expertise to enhance the KF brand. Develop relationships with industry and thought leaders externally to increase awareness and prestige of KF.
• Support less experienced consultants through mentoring and project-based development and coaching.
• Develop deeper expertise in at least one expertise area, and become conversant in of all Korn Ferry (KF) Advisory offerings in order to draw on appropriate practice expertise to provide business solutions, including those that may require inter-service line approaches.
• Continue to deepen and broaden own consulting skills, business or sector understanding and expertise. Extend a strong internal brand and network of KF Advisory consultants.
• Work with KF industry leaders to develop and customize offerings within a service line and targeted at a particular industry.

Skills & Experience 

• A relevant higher (Master’s or Doctorate) degree plus significant (c. 8 years) relevant work experience in a consultancy and/or a client HR function. Alternatively, significant work experience (c. 8 years) in a top tier professional services firm.
• Is recognized as a go-to person in a defined ‘major’ discipline and is able to scope, design and deliver non-standard solutions to meet client needs.
• Has an in-depth understanding of clients/industries supported and apply business offerings at the senior level.