Strategy& Deals - Manager - Education - London

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Job description

In Deals we solve the important problems that stand in the way of value being created, sustained, realised or protected for our clients - working together to aid responsible recovery and growth.
We put together major mergers and acquisitions and resolve business crises - from international take-over bids to financial crime investigations and cases of insolvency. Our teams work on iconic deals with national and global clients as well as operating and investing in businesses, new ventures and entrepreneurs in our local market and communities. It's both a responsibility and a privilege to guide our clients through moments that matter deeply to them. Our breadth of clients in an ever-changing market means we need to be agile - responding when we need to, in a way that really makes a difference.
We draw upon our deals experience across many industries to support and partner with our clients, to positively impact society and the communities in which we operate. The insight we create, coupled with the innovative tools and methodologies we use to access and evaluate the data that matters, contributes to the success of our clients in all Deals situations. We encourage our clients to think more broadly - connecting their actions today with their successes tomorrow. We help our clients throughout the Deals lifecycle to create lasting value for their businesses.
Each of our key areas within Deals, delivers services to the market individually or together by combining our specialists to provide comprehensive client solutions.

Who we are looking for

Are you from a Strategy Consulting or Corporate Strategy background with a focus on Education? Do you have Commercial Due Diligence experience?

PwC's Strategy& Deals practice is growing quickly and we are looking for strategy professionals to join us through the next phase of our journey.

The Strategy& Deals Education team is looking for Managers to join our team. The ideal candidate will be an experienced strategy consultant from a recognised firm or has experience in the strategy department, and specifically in conducting commercial due diligence, in a corporate environment.

About the Strategy& Deals Team more broadly:

PwC's Strategy& Deals practice is comprised of approximately 170 consultants in London with strong international practices across the PwC & Strategy& network. Our teams work with a wide variety of corporate clients and investors, with a mix of transaction-related work (commercial due diligence, synergy assessment, pre and post-deal value creation) and strategy development (growth strategy, market entry, initiative prioritisation, policy assessment). We support private equity firms, investment funds and corporate clients through their toughest decisions including group and business unit strategy, investment trade-offs, M&A and much more. In all of these cases we provide detailed evaluation of the target or our client's proposition and market need, and help identify opportunities or constraints to be addressed.

About the Strategy& Deals Education team:

You would be joining an award-winning and fast growing team that consistently works with leading UK and international businesses and private equity investors. Our Education team works across Primary Education, Higher Education, Education Services, and International Schools; with a real variety of assignments from funding new models of higher education, developing the strategy for modern learning and assessment providers, to investing in international schools.

The strategy professional we are looking to recruit will likely specialise in Education however you may be required, from time to time, to work in other sectors as per business need.

About the role

Our projects are typically short and sharp, providing the opportunity to gain a variety of experience across sectors and/or engagement types, whilst continuously learning and developing. You'll work on client projects in teams of varying sizes, coaching less experienced team members. You will be interacting with clients and operating closely with senior members of the team, this combination of responsibility and senior support provides individuals with significant development opportunities.

Typical duties include:

• Leading a team of consultants and taking responsibility for project delivery
• Running projects on a day-to-day basis, structuring and managing the work streams and supervising delivery
• Coordinating with key project stakeholders including clients and other internal teams
• Managing appropriate senior team input and ensuring progress and risks are effectively communicated to senior team members throughout the project
• Planning initial hypotheses and analysis; formulating initial hypotheses based on previous experience, knowledge of the sector and understanding of the scope of work
• Storyboarding to present a compelling narrative to the client
• Developing the approach to address the project brief, and driving research and analysis with appropriate tools and techniques
• Contributing to conclusions and supporting senior team members in presenting back to the client
• Contributing to the wider business through business development, knowledge sharing, coaching and mentoring junior team members and other activities

Our team is primarily based in the London Bridge office, with c. 10-20% of time spent on client sites, typically throughout the UK and Europe.

Requirements:

• Previous strategy consulting experience from either a strategy consulting firm or a corporate strategy or business development function
• Some commercial experience in the education sector, with an interest in developing this to a position of market-leading expertise
• Direct experience of managing strategy and commercial due diligence assignments for private equity or corporate clients, with the ability to act independently
• Strong technical skills in;
  • Market and competitor analysis (market sizing, drivers and dynamics, competitive intensity, etc.)
  • Customer analysis (segmentation, customer journeys)
  • Internal analysis (capabilities, business model review, financial assessment)
• An ability to multi-task effectively and balance time between project delivery and business development support effectively
• Good client management skills, including an understanding of how to communicate with clients of different backgrounds and opinions
• Proven experience of coaching junior team members
• Evidence of contributing to the wider team and leading on business development opportunities
• We expect candidates to have an outstanding academic track record and have demonstrated a pattern of exceptional achievement

• Fluency in another (European) language is an asset but not essential

You'll be joining a driven and diverse team that's welcoming of your opinions and enables you to develop within one of the world's leading professional organisations. With an increasingly agile workforce, we're open to flexible working requirements where appropriate and have many successful arrangements currently in place. Please apply if you have a keen interest in the work we do.

Deals
Our Deals business is an exciting, fast-paced and an ever-growing business that focuses on deals and crisis situations for our clients. Collectively, we deal with the types of situations you hear about regularly in the news and we provide support, insight and analysis to the management, shareholders and financiers of business.

Not the role for you?
Did you know PwC offer flexible contract arrangements as well as contingent work (ie temporary or day rate contracting)?

The skills we look for in future employees
All our people need to demonstrate the skills and behaviours that support us in delivering our business strategy. This is important to the work we do for our business, and our clients. These skills and behaviours make up our global leadership framework, 'The PwC Professional' and are made up of five core attributes; whole leadership, technical capabilities, business acumen, global acumen and relationships.
Learn more here:

The Deal
We want all of our people to feel empowered to be the best that they can be, which is why we have 'The Deal'.
Find out more about our firmwide Employee Value Proposition:

Diversity
Valuing Difference. Driving Inclusion.
We work in a changing world which offers great opportunities for people with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We seek to attract and employ the best people from the widest talent pool because creating value through diversity is what makes us strong as a business, enabling us to solve important problems and deliver value to our clients. We encourage an inclusive culture where people can be themselves, are valued for their strengths and are empowered to be the best they can be. As an organisation with an increasingly agile workforce, we also support different ways of working offering flexible working arrangements. Learn more here about our work to support an inclusive culture.