Principal Consultant

Ishe; Richmond, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

DevelopWell is a people operations consulting firm that partners with social impact organizations to drive growth and transformative change. We blend strategy and execution to create equity-first, human-centered solutions that scale with client missions.

The Principal Consultant role leads senior engagements, shapes firm growth, mentors consultants, and co-develops offerings while maintaining a strong focus on client impact and organizational development.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of consulting experience, including leadership in people operations, HR, or organizational development.
• Proven track record leading complex client engagements and delivering strategic solutions.
• Strong financial acumen with budgets, margins, and utilization forecasting.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex client engagements with alignment and high-quality outcomes.
• Design and facilitate executive retreats, leadership meetings, trainings, and other group processes.
• Advise on people operations, HR, DEIJ, and organizational development with practical, context-specific recommendations.
• Build long-term client partnerships by understanding culture, goals, and challenges and expanding engagement opportunities.
• Mentor consultants, support professional growth, and contribute to staffing decisions.

Skills

Executive coaching

Facilitation skills

Client leadership

Strategic advisory

Slack

Tools

Slack

Job description

About DevelopWell

DevelopWell is a people operations consulting firm that helps social impact organizations navigate pivotal moments of growth, transition, and cultural transformation with an equity-first, human-centered, and systems-smart approach. We build the systems, structures, and culture that keep teams aligned, supported, and ready to lead—so bold missions don’t lose momentum when change hits. Missions scale when people thrive.

Our current partners include SEIU, Solidaire, Humanity United, Scale to Win, and more. We are a growing practice that balances strategic precision with human depth—thoughtful, honest, and direct.

Our Approach

At DevelopWell, we believe exceptional consulting starts with exceptional relationships. We partner deeply with our clients to understand their unique context, co-creating practical solutions rather than relying on one-size-fits-all approaches. The same philosophy shapes how we work together as a team.

We're at our best when we:

• Lead with curiosity. We ask thoughtful questions, listen deeply, and seek to understand before offering solutions.


• Build relationships before transactions. We invest in trust—with our clients and with one another—because lasting impact is built through partnership.


• Take ownership. We value high autonomy paired with high accountability, and we expect everyone to think like an owner by contributing to the growth of the firm, not just their own client work.


• Collaborate generously. We share ideas, feedback, and expertise freely, recognizing that our strongest work comes from learning and building together.


• Embrace continuous learning. Feedback, iteration, and reflection are a normal part of how we grow as consultants and as an organization.


• Bring both rigor and warmth. We care deeply about delivering exceptional work while creating an environment where people feel supported, challenged, and genuinely enjoy working together.

Role Overview

The Principal Consultant is a senior leader at DevelopWell. Principals lead complex client engagements and contribute to the firm’s growth and culture. Each Principal holds a portfolio of client work and is also accountable for business development, internal leadership, product development, and mentoring consultants.

This is a highly versatile role for a leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution—someone who can guide clients through transformation, strengthen our team’s delivery, expand our partnerships, and help shape DevelopWell’s next chapter.

Principals succeed by pairing deep expertise with thoughtful facilitation, designing solutions that are tailored to each client's unique context rather than relying on one-size-fits-all approaches.

A Typical Day

No two days look exactly alike. One morning you might facilitate a session on role clarity and collaboration with an executive team for an organization undergoing a major leadership transition; that afternoon you might brainstorm a few options for visualizing and presenting survey findings with a consultant; you might wrap the day drafting a scope of work for a long-term client partnership after a sales call, or providing feedback on a draft proposal for a client who wants to add a three month project to extend an engagement. Throughout it all, you'll move fluidly between facilitation and strategy, big-picture thinking and hands‑on execution and you’ll be called on to bring clarity to complexity, strengthen organizations and systems, and ensure our work is both values-alive and results-driven.

Responsibilities

• Client Service & Strategy (70%)
  
  
  
  • Lead complex client engagements, ensuring alignment and delivery of high-quality outcomes.
  
  
  • Design and facilitate executive retreats, leadership meetings, trainings, and other group processes that foster alignment, decision-making, and organizational change.
  
  
  • Advise on people operations, HR, DEIJ, and organizational development with practical, context-specific recommendations tailored to each client’s unique needs.
  
  
  • Partner closely with clients to understand their culture, goals, and challenges, developing thoughtful customized solutions rather than applying a one-size fits-all approach.
  
  
  • Own the financial performance of assigned client engagements by managing budgets, monitoring margins, and forecasting utilization.
  
  
  • Cultivate long‑term client partnerships by anticipating needs, identifying opportunities for expanded engagement, and owning satisfaction, retention, and renewal outcomes.
    
  
  
  
  


• Firmwide Leadership & Growth (15%)
  
  
  
  • Partner with the CEO and fellow Principals to shape strategy, offerings, and internal systems.
  
  
  • Model and foster a collaborative, equitable, and growth‑oriented team culture.
  
  
  • Contribute to firm decision‑making, capacity planning, and organizational priorities.
  
  
  • Build and steward a healthy pipeline; qualify opportunities that align with our values and strengths.
  
  
  • Lead discovery, shape scopes, and steward proposals that are practical, outcomes‑anchored, and right‑sized.
  
  
  • Contribute to thought leadership and visibility through webinars, writing, and speaking.
    
  
  
  
  


• Consulting Practice Leadership (10%)
  
  
  
  • Manage and mentor consultants by providing coaching, feedback, and support for professional growth, while contributing to hiring and staffing decisions.
  
  
  • Identify opportunities to transform client work into reusable methodologies, tools, templates, and other intellectual property that strengthens DevelopWell's consulting practice.
  
  
  • Continuously improve DevelopWell's consulting approaches by incorporating lessons learned from client engagements into future delivery.
  
  
  • Partner with consulting and operations leadership to strengthen delivery systems, quality assurance practices, and knowledge management, ensuring offerings remain equity‑first, human‑centered, and scalable.
    
  
  
  
  


• Firm Stewardship (5%)
  
  
  
  • Share resources, tools, and insights across the team to elevate collective practice.
  
  
  • Participate in learning initiatives and contribute to DevelopWell’s equity‑first culture.
  
  
  • Complete internal operational responsibilities—including timekeeping, expense reporting, documentation, compliance, and other firm processes—in a timely and accurate manner.
  
  
  • Contribute to firm meetings, cross‑functional initiatives, and continuous improvement efforts that strengthen organizational effectiveness.
  
  
  
  

Who You Are

You’ve done your fair share of tours through nonprofits, public sector, and/or social impact organizations. You care about social, economic, and political issues and believe that the organizations and people doing that work should be able to do so within environments that help them thrive.

You also geek out on systems, structures, policies, and processes, but you also know deep down that systems and tools -- as good and shiny as they are -- don’t solve people problems. So you have the ability to ask questions to get at the heart of what the people problems really are inside teams and you have the people skills to support them to move through challenges and blockers.

Maybe you’re a practitioner who wants to support leaders in positions you’ve held before. Maybe you’re a seasoned independent professional services consultant ready to join a team. Or, maybe you’re a seasoned consultant looking for a new firm because the one you’re at no longer suits your needs or workstyle. Whichever you are, we’re interested in meeting you! We’ll be interested in getting to know how you see yourself adjusting to the challenges of joining a new firm, how you’ve handled steep learning curves before, and getting a clear sense of whether the way you work aligns with our approach and collaboration practices.

Most importantly, you’re committed to an equity‑first, human‑centered way of working. You approach every engagement with humility, recognizing that meaningful organizational change happens through relationships, thoughtful systems, and a willingness to listen before leading.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of consulting experience, including at least 5 years focused on people operations, HR, organizational development and/ or change management, with experience advising organizational leaders.


• Proven track record leading complex client engagements and delivering strategic solutions.


• Business acumen with experience managing consulting engagement financials, including budgets, margins, and resource or utilization forecasting.


• Strong people leadership skills, including coaching, mentoring and supporting the growth of consultants.


• Proven ability to cultivate and grow client partnerships by leading renewals, expanding existing engagements, and generating new business through personal and DevelopWell networks.


• Experience developing and strengthening consulting methodologies, tools, templates or other intellectual property.


• Excellent facilitation, interpersonal, and communication skills.


• Deep commitment to equity‑first, human‑centered, and systems‑smart consulting practices.
  

Bonus Qualifications

• Expertise in executive coaching, organizational diagnostics, and/or training development.


• Experience participating in a collaborative, relationship‑based business development or sales function within a consulting or professional services firm.


• Established network within progressive organizations, nonprofits, labor, philanthropy, or other mission‑driven sectors


• Experience representing an organization through writing, speaking engagements, webinars, or other thought leadership activities.

Work Environment & Travel

This is a fully remote role. Our team primarily works across the Eastern and Central time zones, and candidates should be available during core business hours to effectively collaborate with colleagues and support clients.

We work in a highly collaborative environment, using Slack as our primary internal communication tool and email primarily for external communication. We value flexibility in how people structure their work, paired with proactive communication, shared availability, and a willingness to jump in and support one another.

This role requires approximately 20-30% travel for client engagements, team retreats, conferences, and other in‑person gatherings, (typically a trip per quarter).