Senior Manager, Staffing & Professional Development

WHAT MAKES US A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

At Bain Nordics, diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to our values and who we are. Through our community of extraordinary and diverse teams, we want everyone to feel empowered to be their authentic selves, grow to their full potential, and for DEI to be a lived experience with equitable outcomes for all.

Bain offers equal opportunities for success to all employees, providing comprehensive wellbeing support alongside efforts to foster an inclusive environment that values and celebrates diverse perspectives. We have a range of affinity groups that celebrate diverse identities and foster community across various areas of diversity, including LGBTQ+, ethnicity, gender, disability, and socio-economic background.

ROLE SUMMARY

The mission of this role is to lead a high-performing, high-touch Staffing team and programme for our consultant cohorts in Copenhagen. 

At the heart of this role sits the ambition to provide the high-quality and efficient delivery of the role activities in a way that balances and successfully prioritises the business's commercial needs whilst remaining true to our commitment to the professional development and wellbeing of our General Consulting population. The Senior Manager will lead and manage the day-to-day delivery of our consultants based in Copenhagen (pipeline overview and allocations). 

This role requires an individual who will be viewed as a senior advisor and thought partner on the topic of talent management, able to engage and influence on complex matters with senior stakeholders.

Specifically, role duties will include:

• Lead and manage the day-to-day delivery of Staffing supply/demand. This role will be responsible for the timely, efficient and balanced approach to staffing for our Copenhagen based consultant cohorts. The role will take into account the requirements of the businesses`overall commercial priorities, while being mindful of individual needs and professional development requirements. This person will drive the day-to-day staffing process for the market and often provide business-critical decision-making and strategic guidance. In addition, the Senior Manager will work closely with the remaining Nordic staffing & PD team to support, problem solve and be the resolution escalation point for sensitive/complex situations in Copenhagen.

• Effectively manage and contribute to the day-to-day delivery of the Professional Development cycle. This will include accountability for the promotions process, e.g. providing guidance, coaching and support where needed. In addition, this role will be required to be up-to-date on all PD-related processes to help guide the team's work (e.g. reviews, compensation, leave options, sponsorship/mentorship and wellbeing). 

• Develop the local Staffing & PD Team to be a motivated, well-connected and inspired team. At its core, the role will focus on providing inspirational leadership and advocacy for the team. The Senior Manager will leverage team members' expertise and experience; providing coaching as a subject matter expert in the field.

• Collaborate with the talent leadership team and act as a thought partner to generate and provide strategic insights into overall local performance. Proactively raising important issues and highlighting best practices across all PD & Staffing processes, initiatives and systems. Working closely with the Head of Staffing & PD Nordics Talent and the partner team involved to set the strategic direction for the Copenhagen consulting team.

• Engage and align with stakeholders across the business where necessary, mainly for Staffing & PD topics (i.e. in sounding boards, PD committee meetings, Finance team), but also for office related events. Regular presence in the office is a prerequisite to fully embrace this role. Furthermore, at times and in collaboration with the Head of Staffing & PD and the partner group, this role will need to engage in the more strategic alignment of stakeholders.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Senior Manager is expected to build over time recognised expertise in key areas of Consulting

Working closely with the group of decision makers to drive decision making on project allocations. This will include developing and maintaining relations with the consulting population – demonstrating an in-depth understanding of their PD needs and case preferences.

Specifically:

• Taking a rigorous approach to enable accurate planning for known upcoming allocation needs whilst keeping individual requirements in mind
• Overall understanding of client prioritisation for the Copenhagen office
• Leading on new joiner staffing and integration

Own the management of capacity within the Copenhagen group: 

• Maintain awareness of pipeline by preparing forecasting information as well as weekly interactions with decision makers
• Ensure individual affiliation decisions and capacity needs across industry and capability practices are aligned to strategic needs of the business

Close cooperation on HR: 

• Up to date view on people movements impacting capacity 
• Up to date view on individual’s morale via monthly pulse-check tools 
• Overview of  all holiday requests
• Flexibility options are tracked, ensuring capacity is balanced

Team leadership to deliver core PD related activities

Reviews & Performance 

• Identify and advise on additional coaching or training needs for specific individuals  
• Ensuring all consultants receive high quality and timely: 
  • Case reviews
  • Bi-annual PD review cycle
  • Bi-annual compensation reviews, collaborating with Finance & HR

PD processes 

• Provide regular updates on activity, risks and overall macro trend in the group
• Follow up on process changes
• Contribute to new joiner induction plans

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

• This role will suit someone with experience in a professional services environment.   You will need to demonstrate:
• Highly effective interpersonal and communications skills, managing diverse relationships and interactions, and applying business judgement and a strategic orientation
• Ability to influence conflicting parties on difficult subject matters
• Ability to multitask  
• Loyal, enjoys teamwork with both supervisor and on team level
• Professional, discrete and diplomatic
• Calm, positive and flexible manner
• Tenacity and “street-smarts” to deal with tough cases
• Ability and confidence to make high quality decisions effectively
• Proactive and motivated

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• Degree standard education 
• Computer literate – Excel, PowerPoint, Word, HR Databases
• Strong organisational and interpersonal skills
• Talent Management experience i.e. within professional services firms
• Knowledge of Danish culture and Nordics work environment

Desirable

• An individual who has performed a similar role in another consultancy firm
• Former service firm professional who has moved out of consulting, subsequent professional development experience an advantage