Principal Consultant, Organizational Design

About Q5

Q5 is a global organisation transformation consultancy that builds organisational health for the working world; from emergency support through to the development of peak performance. Since our founding in 2009 we have had the privilege to partner with some of the world’s leading businesses, providing them with expert analysis, creating dramatic new strategies, overhauled struggling operations and made sure the right people, were in the right place doing the right things for the business to thrive.

We work in three tightly linked domains to help organisations transform: Strategy (setting the right direction), Design (creating operating models to deliver the strategy) and People & Change (developing people and putting the elements in place to make the change work). We work across different sectors, and our specialties are Media & Technology, Retail & Consumer Goods, Infrastructure & Resources, Financial Services, and Public Sector & NFPs.

What sets us apart though is not the ‘what’ we do but ‘how’ we do it. We take a partnership approach to our engagements, helping clients to come together to create tailored and holistic solutions that works for their business and context. Our working style is highly collaborative, which in practice means us enabling leaders through a structured approach and transformational expertise so that they can define, design, and enable their vision.

Role overview

We are looking for people in both Sydney and Melbourne, who can provide transformational expertise and create a collaborative space that enables our clients to create genuine change. Our team is expanding to support some very exciting projects across a variety of industries. We need people who can quickly join our team and hit the ground running.  We are looking for both Principal Consultants (who lead engagements) and Consultants (who support engagements). We are looking for individuals on both a permanent and contract (what we refer to as “Associate” basis).

Regardless of level, the type of person we are looking for is:

• Highly adaptable and flexible in thinking style – We often find ourselves working across a variety of contexts and a ‘simple’ challenge turns out to be much more complex than it first appears. You need to be able to quickly understand the challenge a client is facing, join the dots together and develop a plan to move forward. You also need to be able to adapt that plan when it is not working.
• Collaborative in working style (both internally and with clients) – This is one of our key differentiators its not about being the smartest person in the room but instead helping to bring different stakeholders together to create a solution that works for their business.
• Genuinely care about your clients and colleague and help them to succeed – When Q5 was founded it was to be more than a typical, transactional consulting firm. We are genuine partners with our clients focused on their long-term success, which means we hire people who a wired to care, be empathetic and get joy from seeing others succeed.
• Can build trusted relationships and bring people on the journey – One of the things our clients say about us is that we are able to bring people together and take them on the journey. This requires building (and sustaining) their trust. Integrity is an essential here, but so is being seen as a trusted advisor who knows what they are doing and are a safe pair of hands.
• Able to handle ambiguity and complexity – Often the biggest challenge is helping the client to bring together the core elements in messy, uncertain situations where there isn’t an easy answer to the problem, and then craft a meaningful narrative that helps people make sense of the situation and create practical meaningful change.
• Resilient in the face of challenges, tight timelines and demanding clients – We continually strive to create a positive working environment, but the reality of our work is that it is hard and therefore not for everyone. The people who succeed at Q5 can work under the pressure without losing their sense of humour or care for others.
• You get your hands dirty and step-up – We have a flat structure in our projects. If you enjoy getting stuck into the challenge, pushing the team forward and solving problems with others you will thrive. We pride ourselves on developing our junior team members, and creating supportive environments where people can bring their true selves to work (and in turn do their best work). We’re firm believers that everyone needs to roll up their sleeves to get the job done!
• Unique and offers something special – We don’t do cookie-cutter, formulaic projects and we need people who think differently and stand-out from the crowd. We want to know what makes you stand out and prepare the ground so you can shine and enrich those around you.

Expected capability / experience

Principal Consultant

• 6-10+ years in relevant consulting or industry roles
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically about client challenges
• Significant experience leading complex transformation projects / programmes
• Extensive experience leading projects in one or more of the following areas: strategy, operating model / organisation design, transformation (enterprise and functional), strategic change
• Strong interpersonal skills, including stakeholder management and facilitation skills
• Able to lead a project team, coaching and mentoring less experienced teammates
• Significant experience partnering with and providing counsel to C-suite leaders
• Track-record in developing client accounts, with the ideal candidate having experience of originating business development activity

Consultant

• 2+ years relevant consulting or industry roles
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead a workstream within a wider project / programme
• Experience / exposure to one or more of the following areas: strategy, operating model / organisation design, transformation (enterprise and / or functional), strategic change.
• High attention to detail
• Strong qualitative and quantitative analysis skills
• Highly developed writing skills
• Able to develop ideas into visual outputs that have a clear narrative
• Strong problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills

Please note that only the successful candidates will be contacted.