Career Path

A meritocracy where positions are role based

Partners, who have P/L responsibility, are the true managers of Roland Berger's operations. In addition to running the office and developing new business, they are also in charge of client relations. One of their key roles is to manage the contents and quality of their client projects, providing the project manager and all team members with leadership and direction.

All partners belong to one or more of our industry- and function-based competence centers and bring a very high level of expertise to the client. Roland Berger expects its partners to be active as both industry and functional experts, in their home office and internationally.

The most important mission of a partner is to develop new clients and build and maintain long-term relationships with existing clients. Partners communicate regularly with the top management of their clients, proposing projects to help clients meet the latest challenges and improve their positions, thereby helping them to resolve issues and drive their businesses.

As the managers in charge of operations, partners also have critical responsibility for office and team development. Each partner creates a business policy for the industry and topics of which he or she is in charge, taking into consideration the current market situation in Japan. At the same time, each partner also contributes broadly to reinforcing the office and teams through organization- and team-building activities, the hiring and management of new staff, and the strengthening of internal systems, for example.

Principals, with their industrial and functional expertise, represent Roland Berger at the client, and usually run several projects concurrently. While bearing responsible for project quality, a principal pushes each project forward, providing team members at the project manager level and below with leadership and direction.

Another equally important responsibility of principals is winning new projects and building and maintaining long-term relationships with existing clients. In close contact and cooperation with partners, principals maintain lines of communication with client top managers. They propose projects to help clients meet the latest challenges and improve their position, thereby helping resolve issues and drive the client business.

Principals belong to industry- and function-based centers of competence and, unlike consultants at the project manager level and below, are expected to constantly deepen their functional and industrial expertise. It is important for principals to be visible as functional and industrial experts, both internally and externally.

As the actual person in charge of the project frontline, the project manager runs the project, bearing responsibility for its progress, contents and quality, while maintaining close contact and cooperation with the partner in charge.

After having gained insight into the essential issues facing the client, the project manager is responsible for the overall project up to the final presentation. This includes organizing the issues to be resolved and thinking through the overall project framework and work plan, as well as the structure of the final report and the main message. Another important role of the project manager is to divide project work among team members, from the senior consultant down, keep track of the progress and contents of that work, and educate team members throughout the duration of the project.

The project manager also reviews the appropriateness of the project scope and planned end products, holding discussions as necessary with the client team leader and top management – the audience for the final report – and reconfirming their expectations of project results.

Project managers are also expected to be active on the business end. Although such work is mainly the province of partners and principals, project managers sometimes join them in visiting potential clients, help develop letters of proposal and participate in discussions. They are also expected to explore the possibility of conducting the next phase of the projects they run.

Thus, project managers interact with clients as Roland Berger's representatives. They are our “face” and play a very important role in guiding their projects to a successful end. Indeed, they hold the keys to the success of their projects. Of course this makes their work even more difficult, but every project manager realizes it is worth the hard work when the he or she experiences the irreplaceable deep emotion aroused by the client's words of gratitude and feels the thrill of success after the final presentation.

Main responsibilities

• Designs the overall project (organizes issues, develops the framework and work plan)
• Structures the final report, ponders and develops the main message
• Makes observations from a higher viewpoint and reviews the client recommendation
• Manages project progress and quality
• Manages the project, educates the team
• Maintains regular communication as the contact person with the client
• Conducts the final presentation

A senior consultant coordinates team members on the practical work level under the leadership and direction of the project manager, with responsibility for creating several modules and handling their contents.

With the project framework and work plan mainly developed by the partner and project manager as a base, the senior consultant oversees a wide range of project work. This includes determining the detailed tasks required to create output, allocating work to the consultant and the junior consultant, providing them with leadership and direction, and contemplating the message to be derived from the project. At times, the senior consultant is required to actually play the role of project manager and run the entire project. In this way, under the project manager's supervision, the senior consultant actually puts together a large part of the report. The senior consultant also works with the project manager to facilitate discussions with the leader and members of the client team and prepares the necessary materials.

A senior consultant is, of course, expected to possess all the skills required up to the consultant level. He or she must also be able to understand the essential issues facing the client and think through a concrete proposal for resolving them. In addition to designing the necessary project tasks and skillfully leveraging the consultant and junior consultant, the senior consultant also has the important mission of educating them.

Thus, a senior consultant requires a wide range of capabilities and is the engine that drives the project. While senior consultant is a very tough position, the role always allows the individual to experience the best part of consulting.

Main responsibilities

• Designs the work plan for the overall project or for the modules for which he/she is responsible
• Compiles the results of surveys and analyses related to the modules of which he/she is in charge and puts together the final product
• Draws up the final report (storyline, structure, etc.)
• Provides leadership and direction to the consultant and junior consultant
• Mines, collects and organizes secondary information (newspaper articles, magazine articles, survey reports, etc.)
• Gathers and analyzes a variety of figures (macro data, client financial data, performance data, etc.)
• Conducts interviews with the client and other related parties, takes minutes
• Deals with the leader and members of the client team

The consultant on a team is responsible for developing one or more of the modules that the project comprises, receiving leadership and direction from the project manager and senior consultant as necessary.

In line with the framework of the overall project and with an understanding of the message to be communicated in his or her module(s) and the needed output, the consultant creates a work plan to elicit the information and analytical results required. Skillfully leveraging the junior consultant as necessary, he/she follows the work plan to move his/her module toward completion. Feedback from the project manager or senior consultant is incorporated to raise the quality of the output even further.

In addition to a strong understanding of the positioning of his/her module(s) within the overall project and of the final product that he/she needs to produce, the consultant is required to be able to develop an appropriate work plan. Unlike the junior consultant, who receives work already divided into manageable chunks, the consultant needs to put a work process together.

Providing direction to the junior consultant is another important mission of the consultant. In addition to helping the junior consultant develop basic consulting skills and knowledge, the consultant is also responsible for ensuring that the junior consultant possesses at least the minimum required social manners and behavior of a working adult.

Main responsibilities

• Develops the work plan for the module(s) for which he/she is responsible
• Compiles the survey and analytical results related to his/her module(s) and develops materials
• Provides leadership and direction for the junior consultant on the team
• Mines and compiles secondary information (newspaper and magazine articles, survey reports, etc.)
• Collects and analyzes a wide variety of figures (financial information, performance data, etc.)
• Interviews the client and other related parties and takes notes and meeting minutes
• Deals with client project team members

The consultant on a team is responsible for developing one or more of the modules that the project comprises, receiving leadership and direction from the project manager and senior consultant as necessary.

In line with the framework of the overall project and with an understanding of the message to be communicated in his or her module(s) and the needed output, the consultant creates a work plan to elicit the information and analytical results required. Skillfully leveraging the junior consultant as necessary, he/she follows the work plan to move his/her module toward completion. Feedback from the project manager or senior consultant is incorporated to raise the quality of the output even further.

In addition to a strong understanding of the positioning of his/her module(s) within the overall project and of the final product that he/she needs to produce, the consultant is required to be able to develop an appropriate work plan. Unlike the junior consultant, who receives work already divided into manageable chunks, the consultant needs to put a work process together.

Providing direction to the junior consultant is another important mission of the consultant. In addition to helping the junior consultant develop basic consulting skills and knowledge, the consultant is also responsible for ensuring that the junior consultant possesses at least the minimum required social manners and behavior of a working adult.

Main responsibilities

• Mines, collects and organizes secondary information
• Collects and analyzes a variety of figures (macro data, client financial information, performance data, etc.)
• Interviews clients and related parties, takes notes and minutes
• Develops materials under the leadership and direction of the senior consultant and the consultant
• Deals with client project team members