Principal – Consulting

Jobs at Dubai; Dubai; Hybrid; AED 350,000 - 650,000; Full time

Job summary

Wood Mackenzie seeks a Principal in Consulting based in Dubai to lead energy and natural resources advisory engagements across the EMEA region. You will manage projects, develop client relationships and help expand our strategic accounts consulting practice.

This role requires deep sector knowledge, ability to travel, and a track record in energy consulting. You will mentor junior staff, collaborate with cross‑sector teams, and contribute to new offerings while upholding Wood Mackenzie values.

Qualifications

• Minimum of Bachelor degree in relevant field.
• At least 6 years experience within the energy and natural resources sector or equivalent management consulting experience.
• Consulting experience mandatory (MBB experience advantageous).
• Knowledge of other languages (e.g. Arabic, French) is advantageous but not mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Project planning and execution to deliver high‑quality insights within budget and timeline.
• Maintain close communication with clients to provide strategic value and updates.
• Organise resources and oversee project delivery across teams.
• Identify follow‑up and resale opportunities in engagements.
• Develop relationships with consulting clients to foster repeat business.
• Collaborate to scope opportunities and estimate fees for quotations.
• Coach and mentor junior consultants and support regional leadership.

Skills

Project Management

Business Development

Practice Development

Analysis

Teamwork

Communication

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA/MS/PhD preferred

Tools

PowerPoint

Excel

Job description

Principal – Consulting

We are seeking an individual with energy and natural resources management consulting skills, to help grow our Strategic Accounts consulting practice in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Region. The Principal Consultant will be a senior member of the EMEA SA consulting team based in Dubai, responsible for delivering an expanding range of strategic consulting assignments. As a Principal Consultant, you will take a leading role in our project team delivering a wide variety of consulting projects to clients.

As a key member of our EMEA team, you will be responsible for project managing energy related consultancy projects and for helping us enhance and deepen our advisory relationship with clients. You will be supported to grow your understanding of the evolving energy and natural resources sector to become an energy consultant. The position requires the ability to apply detailed knowledge of and experience in the energy space to a broad range of client situations, including the implications and opportunities inherent to the energy transition, and to develop strategic insight from an array of analyses, making use of our in-house tools and products.

While the role is part of the EMEA team, you will be involved in a range of consulting projects spanning the globe including the Americas and Asia. The successful candidate will therefore be expected to travel on a project-specific basis. Our clients include energy companies, private equity firms, financial institutions, infrastructure operators, investors, traders, governments and others.

Main Responsibilities

Project Management

• Project planning – define course of action to accomplish goal of assignment
• Maintain close communication with clients to keep them informed of progress and ensure projects bring impactful insights that add strategic value
• Organise proper resources for projects, manage project implementation, structure deliverables and ensure high-quality delivery within the budget and timeline
• Oversee the work of other members of the team including Associates
• Identify follow-up and resale opportunities
• Follow company consulting procedures and methodologies

Business Development

• Develop relationships with consulting clients to foster repeat business
• Discuss consulting needs with clients, prepare and present proposals to clients
• Collaborate with the team to scope opportunities and to estimate fees for quotation
• Participate in industry events to network with potential clients, where appropriate

Practice Development

• Coach and mentor more junior consultants, taking personal responsibility for their development and tracking of their progress
• Support the regional VP of Gas & LNG Consulting in expanding the consulting practice
• Assist with the development of new consulting offerings, to provide better insights and solutions to our clients
• Work with colleagues in other sector consulting teams – Upstream, Downstream, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Hydrogen, Emissions and Carbon Management – to ensure good coordination across the value chain for our clients
• Lead project reviews to foster continuous improvement

Analysis and Commercial/Strategic Intelligence

• Identify, obtain, sort and organise sources of information, both from the public domain, industry network and internal databases.
• Validate, analyse and critically assess sources of information
• Select an appropriate analytical tool(s) for each assignment, with the ability to also build simple excel models where required
• Utilise Wood Mackenzie products to extract information and data useful for the consulting engagement, when applicable
• Take ownership of and responsibility for analysis undertaken

Teamwork

• Work in an open and trusting way ensuring team spirit is maintained
• Ensure high quality work standards are met
• Show empathy towards others
• Adopt flexible approach towards work

Communication and approach

• Keep abreast of developments across the energy and natural resources space, to identify business development opportunities and to provide insightful discussions and results to clients
• Collaborate closely with project team members, consultants from other projects / regions / sectors, research and sales teams, etc.
• Offer solutions to problems and challenge the status quo

About You

Qualifications

• Minimum of Bachelor degree in relevant field
• Preference for advance degree candidates (e.g. MBA, MSc, PhD)
• At least 6years experience within the energy and natural resources sector with a strong understanding of the trends and drivers that are shaping the industry or equivalent experience in management consulting (energy-related management consulting preferred)
• Consulting experience mandatory (MBB experience is advantageous)
• Knowledge of other languages (e.g. Arabic, French) is advantageous but not aall mandatory requirement

Key Competencies

• Demonstrated passion for the energy and natural resources sector
• Ability to quickly become knowledgeable and speak credibly about a wide-range of subjects and themes related to energy and natural resources
• Ability to travel as required
• High levels of self-motivation anddrive
• Results-oriented
• Personal time management skills and self-direction
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Excellent communication, influencing, negotiating and interpersonal skills
• Track record of ensuring high quality work standards are met and appropriate audit trails and processes are maintained
• Creativity and adaptability
• Determination and resilience
• Organisation and logical thinking
• Issue identification, problem solving and analysis
• Strong analytical and presentation skills
• Advanced Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel skills

Expectations

• The successful candidate will be expected to work mainly from one of our offices. However, we are a hybrid working company and the successful applicant may work up to 2 days each week from home, however, this may be subject to change in the future.
• Due to the global nature of the team and clients, a degree of flexible working will be required to accommodate different time zones

Wood Mackenzie Values

• Inclusive – we succeed together
• Trusting – we choose to trust each other
• Customer committed – we put customers at the heart of our decisions
• Future Focused – we accelerate change
• Curious – we turn knowledge into action