Recent Graduate Consultant

Kaizen Institute; Sydney; On-site; AUD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Annual performance bonus

International opportunities

Phone budget

Continuous training and mentoring

Annual training week abroad

Job summary

Kaizen Institute Australia is seeking highly motivated, recently graduated engineers to join our consulting team as Junior Consultants. You will work on client engagements across manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and financial services, applying Lean and Kaizen methods to improve operational processes.

This hands-on, client-facing role offers exposure to leadership teams, measurable business impact from day one, and opportunities to develop your consulting skills through real-world projects

Qualifications

• Recent graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical or Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, a Double Degree in Engineering (Honours) with Commerce or Project Management, or a Master of Engineering, Engineering Management, Industrial Engineering or Mechanical Engineering.
• Legal right to work in Australia: employer sponsorship is not available for this role.
• Strong analytical skills, curious, and driven to solve problems, with comfort working with quantitative data.
• A true team player with excellent written and verbal communication skills, empathy, and the ability to present ideas clearly to client teams and foster collaboration.
• Proactive mindset, adaptable, and a strong willingness to learn and grow in a challenging environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead and facilitate transformation and redesign workshops, co-designing improvement proposals with multidisciplinary client teams using Kaizen and Lean tools.
• Redesign operations to drive measurable, evidence-based performance improvements, translating strategic objectives into practical, executable solutions.
• Support the implementation of pilot improvement initiatives and monitor early results against defined KPIs.
• Prepare client-facing deliverables including reports, presentations, improvement roadmaps, and final documentation of outcomes and recommendations.
• This is a hands-on, client-facing role carried out at customer sites with direct access to decision-makers and leadership teams.

Skills

Analytical skills

Team player

Communication skills

Problem solving

Willingness to learn

Education

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering

Double Degree in Engineering (Honours) with Commerce

Master of Engineering / Industrial Engineering / Engineering Management

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Power BI

Job description

Start your career in consulting with Kaizen!

Since 1985, Kaizen Institute has been partnering with organisations worldwide to drive continuous improvement and operational excellence through Lean and Kaizen™ methodologies. With over 40 years of experience and a presence in more than 60 countries, we work with organisations of all sizes across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania — spanning manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, retail, financial services, and the public sector.

Our specialist consultants deliver end-to-end process optimisation, Value Stream Mapping, waste reduction programmes, and the development of continuous improvement cultures within client organisations. Consultants are embedded within client project teams, gaining direct exposure to real operational challenges and contributing to measurable results from day one.

About the role:

Kaizen Institute is seeking highly motivated, recently graduated engineers to join our consulting team as Junior Consultants in Australia. You will work alongside experienced Kaizen consultants on client engagements across manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and financial services, leading the analysis and improvement of operational processes through Lean and Kaizen™ methodologies. This is a hands-on, client-facing role focused on operational transformation, with direct exposure to leadership teams and the opportunity to deliver measurable business impact from day one.

What we expect from you

You will work with industry-leading clients to redesign and elevate their operations, transforming inefficient processes into high-performance ways of working.

You will:

• Conduct an initial assessment of client operations, including preliminary data collection and observation of current processes.


• Analyse quantitative and qualitative data to identify improvement opportunities within client operations.


• Map and assess end-to-end processes using Value Stream Mapping and other Lean diagnostic tools to uncover inefficiencies, waste, and bottlenecks.


• Lead and facilitate transformation and redesign workshops, co-designing improvement proposals with multidisciplinary client teams using Kaizen and Lean tools suited to the problem context.


• Redesign operations to drive measurable, evidence-based performance improvements, translating strategic objectives into practical, executable solutions.


• Support the implementation of pilot improvement initiatives and monitor early results against defined key performance indicators.


• Prepare client-facing deliverables including reports, presentations, improvement roadmaps, and final documentation of outcomes and recommendations.

This is a hands-on, client-facing role carried out at customer sites, with direct access to decision-makers and leadership teams.

Candidates are required to meet the following criteria:

• Recent graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical or Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, a Double Degree in Engineering (Honours) with Commerce or Project Management, or a Master of Engineering, Engineering Management, Industrial Engineering or Mechanical Engineering.


• Legal right to work in Australia: employer sponsorship is not available for this role.


• Strong analytical skills, curious, and driven to solve problems, with comfort working with quantitative data.


• A true team player with excellent written and verbal communication skills, empathy, and the ability to present ideas clearly to client teams and foster collaboration.


• Proactive mindset, adaptable, and a strong willingness to learn and grow in a challenging environment.


• Project management knowledge, including the ability to manage timelines, prioritise tasks, and coordinate with teams to meet client objectives.


• Willingness to travel and work on-site with clients; a current driving licence is required.


• Available to work full-time.

Preferred skills/experience:

• Prior exposure to Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement concepts through coursework, student projects, or extracurricular activities;


• Experience with data analysis tools such as Microsoft Excel, Power BI or similar software for processing operational or performance data;


• Any previous internship, part-time employment, or project work in manufacturing, operations, logistics, or consulting environments;


• Participation in academic or community leadership activities demonstrating initiative, teamwork, and problem-solving capability.

What we have to offer?

• Competitive salary, annual performance bonus.


• A steep learning curve with fast and transparent career progression.


• International opportunities to work on projects abroad and mobility programs.


• Budget for mobile phone purchase updated yearly & communication plan.


• Continuous training and mentoring to develop your consulting skills.


• An amazing annual training week abroad with all colleagues.