Senior Principal - Energy Sector (Houston, USA)

About the role

Senior Principals shape, lead and deliver major client engagements, playing a pivotal role in Q5's commercial success and strategic direction. They build strong client relationships, create opportunities for growth, and role-model Q5's values in everything they do.

Responsibilities

• Exhibits a highly commercial mindset, demonstrating the ability to see the bigger picture and shape decisions that positively impact Q5.
• Manages margin and commercial risk confidently across large and complex accounts.
• Develops commercially sound approaches, understanding resource requirements across multi-stream engagements.
• Ensures account plans and commercials "do the right thing" for both Q5 and clients.
• Consistently grows large-scale accounts through proactive opportunity spotting and relationship building.
• Shapes client briefs into compelling strategies for new business.
• Architects complex, multi-offering solutions that demonstrate Q5's capability and insight.
• Acts as a trusted advisor, creating opportunities to extend, repeat, or expand work through value-adding conversations.
• Proactively nurtures senior-level relationships across multiple clients and networks.
• Grows networks of senior stakeholders and cultivates new entry points into organizations.
• Architects solutions that draw on a wide range of Q5 methodological and offering expertise.
• Analyses and synthesizes complex information at pace, simplifying concepts and defining clear recommendations.
• Handles challenging conversations confidently, offering constructive challenge to clients and teams.
• Creates clear, compelling narratives that cut through complexity.
• Synthesizes information into digestible messages that drive action.
• Communicates a well-reasoned point of view quickly and effectively.
• Adapts style to engage and influence diverse stakeholders with confidence and care.
• Reads the room expertly and knows when to intervene, question or advise.
• Confidently facilitates and leads high-stakes meetings with senior clients.
• Adjusts dynamically to changing session needs while maintaining direction and engagement.
• Creates open, inclusive environments and enables other Q5ers to contribute and lead.
• Manages large client accounts end-to-end, ensuring delivery is on time, on budget and to a high standard.
• Delegates appropriately while maintaining strong oversight of milestones, risks and quality.
• Creates delivery environments that balance performance expectations with wellbeing.
• Ensures scope, governance and delivery cadence are robust across accounts.
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills and applies both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Supports and challenges teams in producing robust data-driven insights.
• Enhances project outcomes through rigorous, structured analysis and creative thinking.
• Leads multiple teams across large engagements, supporting performance, growth and wellbeing.
• Sets clear direction and creates simplicity in ambiguity.
• Builds high-trust, values-driven cultures within project teams.
• Mentors and coaches Consultants, Senior Consultants and Principal Consultants.

Requirements

• 10 + years relevant professional experience with a significant period within management consulting ideally within the Energy sector.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and hit the ground running in new contexts.
• Experience leading complex organization transformation (ideally with experience in operating model and organization design).
• Experience in strategic workforce planning and workforce modeling in large complex organizations.
• Understanding of the end-to-end employee lifecycles and ability to advise clients on the levers to pull to get better operational and commercial outcomes.
• Experience working with large, complex people data and ability to connect with external data sources.
• Good overall understanding of strategy, operating model design, business operations and people analytics.
• Excellent communication skills and facilitation skills with the ability to explain complex results or concepts to non-data audiences.
• Advanced problem-solving and critical thinking skills with experience in producing high-quality, insightful outputs.
• Entrepreneurial mindset to help grow Q5's analytics practice.
• Qualifications and experience in a relevant discipline.

Skills and Attributes

• Highly adaptable and flexible in thinking style.
• Collaborative in working style.
• Genuinely care about your clients and colleagues and help them to succeed.
• Builds (and sustains) people trust and engages key people in the business to craft the right answer.
• Resilient in the face of challenges, tight timelines and demanding clients.
• Unique and offers something special.

Qualifications and Experience

• The sort of person we look for at Q5.

Benefits

• Finance 401K Plan
• Basic Life Insurance and AD&D Plans
• WageWorks Commuter Benefits
• Discretionary Performance related bonus
• Health & Wellbeing
• Health Insurance (Medical, Dental and Vision)
• Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Access to Health Advocate
• Internal Wellbeing Program