Associate Director – Deal Strategy (Consumer, Retail & Leisure)

Locations: London, United Kingdom

Company: Big Four Firm

Salary: 85k to 100k depending on experience

The Deal Strategy team operates within the firm’s wider Strategy & Performance Transformation group – a fast-growing business unit that supports clients across growth, transaction, and transformation situations. The team works in close collaboration with colleagues across Advisory and with international partner firms, bringing together diverse expertise to deliver exceptional client outcomes.

Responsibilities:

• Lead client engagements and maintain a credible presence in the market, with proven experience across a range of M&A-related projects (e.g. Commercial Due Diligence, M&A Strategy, Value Creation).
• Design and deliver mid-sized to large projects, or complex multi-workstream programmes.
• Act as the primary client contact, representing the firm and managing key stakeholder relationships.
• Produce high-quality, client-ready deliverables that meet or exceed expectations.
• Solve complex strategic problems and challenge the thinking of senior stakeholders.
• Guide teams in building detailed financial and business models, including scenario and sensitivity analysis.
• Contribute to business development by identifying market opportunities, developing pitches, and maintaining active client relationships.
• Support knowledge sharing and thought leadership initiatives within the team.
• Ensure risk management policies are adhered to and take responsibility for governance processes.
• Provide coaching, feedback, and leadership to junior colleagues while actively contributing to practice development and internal initiatives.

Key Competencies:

• The role requires strong leadership, client delivery, and business development skills. Candidates will be assessed against the following competencies
• Make sound, evidence-based decisions and exercise strong business judgment.
• Embrace innovation and creative problem-solving to deliver value.
• Apply a strategic perspective, drawing on diverse insights to address client challenges.
• Take opportunities for personal development and embrace new challenges.
• Motivate and inspire team members, building capability across the practice.
• Foster strong, collaborative relationships both internally and externally.
• Deliver consistently high-quality outputs and excellent client service.
• Act ethically and responsibly, setting the right example.
• Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion within the team.

Required Experience:

• Significant experience in strategy consulting, ideally within a Big Four firm, leading strategy house, or corporate development team.
• Strong understanding of the Consumer, Retail & Leisure sector, with clear perspectives on its key value drivers and future trends.
• A proven track record of managing large consulting projects, including design of scope, work plans, and delivery of high-quality outputs with strong project economics.
• Substantial experience of recent M&A transactions (CDD, VDD, M&A Strategy, Value Creation) in the Consumer sector or related industries.
• Evidence of designing and pricing proposals for mid- to large-scale consulting assignments.
• Active involvement in business development, including client relationship management, pitch design, and development of market insights.
• Strong leadership skills, with experience in team building, coaching, and practice development.

Technical Skills:

• Strong academic track record with excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities.
• Structured and creative thinking with the ability to assess complex challenges.
• Experience in reviewing and interpreting large datasets to extract actionable strategic insights.
• Advanced numerical and commercial acumen.
• Ability to build and review complex financial models.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Additional language skills would be advantageous.