Strategy Consulting Manager

Delectus Partners; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Delectus Partners in New York is building a new commercial diligence practice and seeks leaders with real CDD reps from MBB, a Big Four transaction practice, or high-volume boutiques to own engagements end to end. You will turn a thesis into testable hypotheses, design research, market size and bridges, and lead a small team while shaping the system and methodology for future projects.

Equity in the parent company and strong bonus tied to earnings are possible.

Job description

If you've spent four or five years doing CDD, you already know the model is under strain. Sixty-hour weeks, most of them spent on execution rather than thinking. A pyramid of juniors to manage before you get near the actual question. Fees that clients increasingly struggle to justify.

This firm was set up to do the same work differently. It's a new commercial diligence practice, built on top of a venture-backed AI research platform and led by partners who spent their careers at established CDD firms. The output going to PE investment committees looks like a Bain or L.E.K. deck. The way it gets made doesn't.

A few reasons people are moving across:

The ratio is shifting. On the first projects, the platform helped at the margins and the hours looked familiar. Now it's taking on a growing share of the research and execution, and every project is measurably better than the last. You'd be joining while that curve is still steep, which is the interesting bit.

Two or three people per engagement plus a partner who's in the weeds with you. There's no layer beneath you to hand risk to, and no one above you to rewrite your pages.

You'll be in front of PE deal teams from your first week, running check-ins and readouts and taking the questions that come back after the send.

You'll have a real say in how the practice works. Methodology, what gets built into the platform next, who gets hired. The plan is to grow to several teams over the next year, and the people joining now shape what that looks like.

Comp is in line with traditional firms, with a bonus tied to the firm's earnings (which has run well ahead of standard consulting bonuses for the senior hires so far) and equity in the parent company.

What the job actually is:

You own an engagement end to end. Turning a thesis into testable hypotheses, designing the research, keeping the fact base honest, owning the market sizing and the bridges, building the narrative, leading a small team and improving the system after every project. Judgment is the value you add. The production work still comes with it.

Who this suits:

Someone with real CDD reps, from MBB, a Big Four transaction practice or a high-volume diligence boutique, who has led or co-led full engagements and stood in front of PE partners. You still like the work. You've just stopped believing in how it's done. You're probably already the person your colleagues ask about AI workflows, and you don't take the tool's first answer as the final one.

Who it doesn't suit:

Anyone who wants out of consulting, never wants to see another CDD, or is looking for a full team underneath them.

New York, three days a week in the office. Titles are flexible in both directions for the right person, from strong senior associate up to senior manager.

Two conversations with the partners and a walk-through of some of your past work. No abstract market-sizing cases. They move quickly when it's right.