Associate Consultant

First - the role
Horizon Strategy, a London/Oxford-based strategic consultancy specialising in tech & telco, is looking for a Consultant/Graduate/Post-graduate to enter our generalist track and to work on international strategic assignments in the area of customer experience (CX), marketing strategy, product/service strategy and Go-To-Market.
The role would involve both qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews and quantitative analysis of data from research surveys and secondary research sources. The role would be reporting to and working closely with a Senior Consultant and/or a Director. The successful candidate will be required to display exceptional analytical skills and an ability to communicate a clear and compelling narrative.
Horizon Strategy intends to invest significantly into the candidate’s training through robust, on- the-job coaching, mentoring and specialist courses. There is a potential for the candidate to make significant impact on the business from day one, working directly with C-suite.
Second - Horizon Strategy In brief
We are a young business that's growing very fast. We work globally with a focus on four core sub-industries:
Technology hardware (consumer, commercial and industrial hardware)
Software, services and platforms (specialised software, IT services, marketing
technology and platforms)
Mobile and telecoms (smartphones, wearables and networks)
Emerging technologies (3D/4D printing, AI, quantum computing, autonomous robotics).
We are already a preferred consulting partner of a Fortune 50 company and are advising SVPs and C-suite clients. If you join us, you'll get very early exposure to high-level, strategic conversations. Larger and established agencies will probably want to place you in a role that is several layers removed from these conversations. That's not the Horizon model.
With us, you will have access to senior client personnel as well as the highest quality thinkers and doers who will be there to turbocharge your development as a consultant and as a strategist. Our clients hire us because we give them very credible and actionable advice they can’t get from other sources (including the Big Four consultancies). You will be able to learn from our unique blend of intellectual firepower, commercial nous and an insatiable appetite to make a difference for our clients.
Third - the Horizon mission
Our mission is to reinvent and democratise strategic advice. Our focus is customer experience and its commercial implications for our clients.
At the heart of our brand is COMMERCIAL EMPATHY. That means empathising our clients’ commercial objectives and delivering real change against THEIR objectives and not ours.
We combine the power of rigorous customer research, design thinking and strategic approach. This enables us to achieve a balance of a deeper customer understanding with changing commercial realities.
Horizon’s Core Service Focus:
We focus on four strategic objectives as this allows us to provide our clients (including Fortune 50 businesses) with the most effective and actionable advice:
- HUMANISE - Strategic Human Insights
- CONNECT - Experience Strategy and Design
- COMMERCIALISE - Product and Go-To-Market Strategy
- COMMUNICATE - Marketing Activation Strategy
Horizon’s Core Beliefs:
- INTRINSIC INTEGRITY - we only employ those who have it and value it above all else
- HONEST CHALLENGE - we believe in giving our clients the best solutions, even if it
means telling them that they need to change course
- GENUINE CURIOSITY - explore the world with a fresh pair of eyes and never stop asking
why things are the way they are
- PURPOSEFUL EXCELLENCE - We are pathologically unable to settle for the lowest
common denominator and always strive for the highest quality possible
- DISCIPLINED CREATIVITY - We believe that following a process and being disciplined
empowers you to be both creative and efficient
So why Horizon Strategy and not others?
Real world strategic impact
Many agencies claim they have an impact, we actually do and we can prove it from customer data.
Collegial, straight to the point atmosphere focused on excellence and powerful outcomes
We don’t do politics. We don't do egos. Others might expect you to fit into the office politics. We're not that company.
With us you get transparency, accountability and an unrelenting focus on the quality of the thinking and work you deliver. We offer unusual level of insights with doctoral-level projects happening at a lightning speed and without unnecessary bureaucracy. One of our founders is a published author with a PhD in design and strategy (from Newcastle & Oxford). You will have direct access to him as well as others on your journey to becoming a seasoned consulting professional.
Ability to shape our business and its culture
Coming in at this stage of our development you will be in a position to influence how we develop and grow as a business. If you are the type of person that can grab an opportunity, you may be able to carve out a disproportionate role for yourself in this process. What this could mean is, for example, faster promotion, a much more attractive pay package and a bigger team to manage more quickly than could be the case elsewhere.
Responsibilities & deliverables
90% Project Delivery; 10% Business Operations & Support
Project Delivery & Management (including fieldwork and financial project management):
Strategy:
Delivering cutting-edge analysis at the business unit level with a view to impacting C-level
conversations
Influencing senior stakeholders and helping to reframe their thinking
Challenging assumptions and offering solutions that make a real business impact
Design:
Employing cutting-edge design thinking methods (which we can teach you) to understand
human nature and propose solutions that are attractive, feasible and viable
Designing compelling presentation documents
Proposing frameworks that are both strategically sound and visually powerful
Insights:
Conducting in-depth interviews and co-development groups
Qualitative research development (discussion guides, templates)
Synthesising insights
Analysing qualitative and quantitative reports
Preparation of virtual and agile research environments (e.g. Miro)
Client interaction:
• Client workshop input, moderation and assistance • Presenting to Director, VP level clients
Project delivery:
• Contributing to delivering written PPT/Word-based reports
• Quality control of documents produced (including copy-editing for maximum client
impact)
Personal prerequisites sought: Essential capabilities
A degree from a top university
A* thinker-doer
Experience of delivering high quality written reports and spoken presentations
Absolute fluency in spoken and written English is a must
PowerPoint, Excel and Word skills are essential
Attitude factors sought
Entrepreneurial, can-do attitude
Readiness to invest emotional commitment into the business
Ability to work under pressure, manage several tasks simultaneously and respond quickly
to changing circumstances and priorities
Ability to lead upwards, downwards and sideways (practising 360 degrees leadership –
see Extreme Ownership by Jacko Willink)
Cooperative/good communicating skills/ability to interact at all levels
Pride in producing the best outputs possible
Fluency in any one of the following languages is a benefit: German, Spanish, Russian,
Mandarin, French
Working Relationships:
External:
• Clients, fieldwork suppliers, vendors
Internal:
Work with all levels of the company
Build up good working relationships with all members of the core and extended team
Timings and package:
Full-time (5 days/week) working from home and London/Oxford office. We operate a flexible hybrid model.
The financial package is competitive and dependent on the level of experience. It consists of:
Competitive base salary (£30,000-40,000)
Bonus scheme
Company pension scheme
Private medical insurance
Flexible working from home policy
23+ holidays p.a. (in addition to bank holidays)
Health benefits
Additional perks