Consulting Lead

Permanent employee, Full-time · London

The Role's Purpose

OPEN TO FTC (1 YEAR) OR PERMANENT ROLES

We are seeking a Consulting Lead with experience in strategy, transformation or advisory consulting (for example from a Big4 or strategy consulting background) to help design and deliver complex programmes, operating models and strategic initiatives for our clients.

The role focuses on providing practical consulting support to organisations tackling complex strategic, operational and innovation challenges. This includes helping organisations define strategy, design effective operating models, deliver transformation programmes and strengthen governance and delivery structures.

A key part of the role will involve working at the intersection of innovation and policy, helping organisations understand and harness emerging and frontier technologies such as AI, cyber, quantum, biotechnology and advanced digital capabilities.

The successful candidate will be able to structure complex problems, analyse evidence and develop clear, practical recommendations for senior stakeholders. The role involves working across multiple engagements, supporting strategy development, programme design, business case development, organisational change and delivery oversight.

You will work closely with senior stakeholders across industry, government and academia to shape programmes, improve delivery approaches and support the successful implementation of complex initiatives, particularly those focused on innovation ecosystems and the adoption of frontier technologies.

More broadly, the Consulting Lead will contribute to Plexal’s wider consulting and innovation activity, helping translate emerging technology opportunities into well-structured programmes, initiatives and investment propositions.

Plexal is a rapidly growing organisation and we are looking for individuals who enjoy working in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, engaging with cutting-edge technology sectors and solving complex strategic problems.

What You'll Do

Strategic Advisory: Provide strategic advice on complex programmes, organisational challenges and transformation initiatives.
Problem Structuring: Analyse complex issues and develop clear, evidence-based recommendations for senior stakeholders.
Business Cases: Develop business cases and investment propositions to support strategic and programme decisions.
Operating Models: Design and implement operating models, including governance, roles and delivery structures.
Transformation Delivery: Support the planning and delivery of transformation programmes and major initiatives.
Programme Governance & Assurance: Establishor strengthen programme governance, PMO structures and delivery assurance.
Stakeholder Engagement: Work with senior stakeholders across government, industry and academia to shape programmes and delivery approaches.
Consulting Delivery: Lead work streams, produce high-quality consulting outputs and support the development of new opportunities.

Your Skills

Consulting Experience: Experience working in consulting, advisory or complex programme environments (e.g. strategy consulting, Big4 or public sector advisory).
Strategy & Transformation: Experience supporting strategy development, transformation programmes or complex organisational change.
Problem Solving & Analysis: Ability to structure complex problems, analyse information and develop clear, evidence-based recommendations.
Operating Models & Governance: Experience designing operating models, governance frameworks or programme delivery structures.
Programme Delivery: Experience supporting or delivering large programmes or transformation initiatives, including PMO or programme governance.
Business Cases: Experience developing business cases or investment propositions to support strategic decisions.
Stakeholder Management: Ability to work effectively with senior stakeholders across organisations.
Communication & Delivery: Strong written communication skills and the ability to manage multiple work streams in fast-paced environments.

Domain Experience (Desirable)

Experience working within or supporting organisations operating in one or more of the following areas:

Emerging Technology & Innovation: Experience working within innovation ecosystems or technology-driven environments, particularly across emerging or frontier technologies such as AI, cyber, quantum, biotechnology or advanced digital capabilities.
Public Safety: Public safety or emergency services organisations.
Policing: Policing or law enforcement environments.
Home Affairs: Home affairs, homeland security or border-related organisations.
Defence: Defence or national security environments.

Qualifications: Essential

Higher Education degree, or equivalent knowledge gained via work experience.

Who You Are

Interest in innovation, technology and emerging sectors (e.g.AI, cyber, quantum, biotechnology, IoT)
Comfortable working in a collaborative consulting environment with changing priorities
Strong problem-solving mindset and ability to work through ambiguity
Resilient and able to remain focused while managing complex programmes and challenges
Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills when working across teams and stakeholders
This role may require some national travel for delivery of projects and travel to allPlexalsites.  
Due to the nature of this position, our work, and our client engagements, you must be willing and eligible to achieve a minimum of SC clearance and ideally already hold this clearance. To qualify for SC clearance, you must be a British Citizen or have resided in the UK for the last 5 years with no extensive periods outside of the UK.For more information about clearance eligibility, please see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/united-kingdom-security-vetting

Why us?

Plexal’s Values:
Mission: We inherit the mission of UK government and deliver it in an agile and creative fashion.
Collaboration: We believe in the power of working together.
Equality: We strengthen ourselves as a team by embracing the different.
Care: People are at the heart of what we do; we care about our customers, members and colleagues.

As a start-up, we thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced work environment dedicated to empowering innovators. We embrace individuals who leverage technology and creativity to tackle our greatest challenges head-on. We strongly advocate for maintaining a harmonious work-life balance, our goal is to ensure every member of our team can authentically be themselves and live their best lives. We firmly believe that innovation and creativity flourish when we cultivate a diverse workforce, comprising highly skilled individuals with a wide range of perspectives to contribute.

In return we will offer you:

Salary: £65,000 - £80,000 depending on skills and experience
Annual bonus scheme
A generous pension scheme (with a company contribution of up to 10%)
Private healthcare, life assurance and critical illness cover
25 days holiday plus bank holidays
Volunteering day

Plexal is an equal opportunities employer and we actively encourage applicants from individuals from all backgrounds. We are a Disability Committed employer and are willing to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

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About us

Plexal is the innovation and growth company helping to strengthen the UK’s technology capabilities through collaboration.

With teams in London, Manchester and Cheltenham, we work closely with government, industry, startups and academia to drive economic growth and reinforce national security.

Founded by Delancey in 2017, Plexal delivers four core services: creating workspaces for innovators, running innovation programmes and consultancy, building regional tech clusters and helping SMEs scale strategically.

By closing the gap between early-stage and established organisations – across the public and private sectors at home and abroad – we’ve impacted over 1,200 businesses, added £731m to the UK economy and helped create 9,400 jobs.

Headquartered at Here East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Plexal partners with organisations including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the National Cyber Security Centre, Airbus, Amazon, Barclays Eagle Labs, Google Cloud, TfL, The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Oxford.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for your interest in Plexal. Please fill out the following short form. Should you have difficulties with the upload of your data, please send an email to recruitment@plexal.com. If you require this job advert in another format (e.g. large print), are unable to submit via the application below, or have any other accessibility requirements please email recruitment@plexal.com.