Principal (Consulting Programme Engagement), London

Korn Ferry International; India; On-site; INR 11,342,000 - 16,383,000; Full time

Job summary

Korn Ferry seeks a Principal for Consulting Programme Engagement in London, working in a hybrid model and leading complex client engagements across People & Organisational Consulting. You will coordinate multiple workstreams, manage senior stakeholders, and ensure delivery aligns with client and business goals.

Ideal candidates bring strong commercial acumen, programme governance experience and the ability to guide teams through ambiguity while maintaining focus on outcomes and client value.

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex, multi-workstream engagements across senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness including scope, risk and financial performance.
• Ability to operate with ambiguity and keep complex programmes moving.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, multi-workstream engagements, bringing clarity, pace and structure to delivery.
• Build trusted relationships with senior clients and lead conversations on progress, risks and decisions.
• Take ownership of the commercial health of engagements, including scope, financials and risk.
• Coach and develop others to strengthen engagement management capability across Consulting.

Skills

Engagement leadership

Client management

Programme delivery

Financial acumen

Job description

Principal (Consulting Programme Engagement), London

Requisition ID 28564

Country United Kingdom

Location type Hybrid

State / Province Greater London

City Multiple Locations

About Us

Korn Ferryis a global consulting firm that powers performance. We unlock the potential in your people and unleash transformation across your business - synchronizing strategy, operations, and talent to accelerate performance, fuel growth, and inspire a legacy of change. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking companies across every major industry turn to us - for a shared commitment to lasting impact and the bold ambition to Be More Than.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, our over 17,000 colleagues globally serve clients from more than 130 offices across the globe. We offer five core capabilities that span the full talent lifecycle:

• Organizational Strategy
• Assessment and Succession
• Talent Acquisition
• Leadership and Professional Development
• Total Rewards

Principal – People & Organisational Consulting

London | Hybrid You will be in our London Office 2-3 days per week

Are you the person who makes complex consulting programmes actually work?

You know the type of engagement. Multiple workstreams. Senior stakeholders. Shifting priorities. Lots of brilliant specialists, but somebody needs to see across the whole picture, connect the dots and keep everything moving.

That’s where you come in.

You’ll sit at the centre of complex, multi-workstream client programmes, bringing together consultants, project teams and senior stakeholders to keep delivery moving and achieve the right outcomes for our clients.

This is where engagement leadership, client management, commercial thinking and programme delivery come together.

You’ll:

• Lead complex, multi-workstream engagements, bringing clarity, pace and structure to delivery.
• Connect different consulting teams and capabilities, ensuring priorities, dependencies and key decisions stay aligned.
• Build trusted relationships with senior clients, confidently leading conversations around progress, challenges, risks and decisions.
• Anticipate issues early, manage risks and keep delivery moving when priorities shift.
• Take ownership of the commercial health of your engagements, maintaining a strong grip on scope, financials, risk and delivery.
• Bring multidisciplinary teams together, creating clarity around responsibilities and helping people perform at their best.
• Work closely with senior colleagues, ensuring the detail is under control whilst contributing to the wider client picture.
• Coach and develop others, helping to strengthen engagement management capability across our Consulting business.

Ultimately, you’ll bring order to complexity, keeping clients, teams and delivery moving in the right direction.

You’ll be comfortable getting into the detail when it matters, whilst never losing sight of the bigger picture. You’ll know when to challenge, when to adapt and how to keep a complex programme moving when there isn’t a neat playbook to follow.

We’re looking for a Principal to join Korn Ferry Consulting, leading complex, high-profile client engagements across our people and organisational consulting portfolio.

Our work spans Organisational Strategy, Total Rewards, Leadership & Development, and Assessment & Succession, with programmes also touching areas such as culture and organisational change.

This isn’t about being the deepest technical expert in one particular area. And it’s not traditional IT programme management as our work is focussed on aligning people strategy with business strategy.

It’s about being brilliant at programme engagement and being the pivotal person.

What are we looking for?

We’d particularly love to hear from people coming from:

• Human Capital / People Consulting
• HR or People Transformation
• Organisational Effectiveness / Organisation Design
• Leadership, Talent or Assessment
• Learning & Development
• Culture & Change
• Broader professional services, where your work has centred around people and organisations

You’ll have experience leading complex, multi-workstream engagements, bringing together different teams and stakeholders and confidently operating with senior clients. Commercial awareness matters too, including understanding scope, risk, financial performance and what excellent client delivery looks like.

Most importantly, you’ll be someone who is comfortable with ambiguity.

Someone who can get into the detail without getting lost in it, bring calm to complexity and make sure everything gels together.

Why Korn Ferry?

This is an opportunity to build real breadth.

Rather than being defined by one narrow specialism, you’ll work across different areas of Korn Ferry Consulting, alongside experts tackling some of the most interesting people, talent and organisational challenges facing our clients. The role is deliberately solution-agnostic, with the emphasis on engagement leadership and delivery excellence.

If you come from HR, Human Capital or people-focused professional services and love being at the centre of complex client work, we’d love to hear from you.

Korn Ferry may use AI as part of its recruitment process, but all hiring decisions are made by humans.

Internal Mobility at Korn Ferry

If you currently work for Korn Ferry or one of our affiliates, you must be eligible to apply for a different position within Korn Ferry to use the Careers Site. If you accept such a position, your benefits programs and Human Resources policies may change. Please consult with your HR contact for the new position concerning application eligibility, including any immigration/visa needs, benefit programs, and HR policies applicable to that position.

Korn Ferry is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.