Private Capital x Commercial Effectiveness – Associate/Engagement Manager-Toronto

Practice Overview

The Private Capital and Value Creation team at Oliver Wyman specializes in supporting private equity investors throughout the entire deal lifecycle—from opportunity identification through due diligence to post-transaction value realization. Our approach is multi-specialist, leveraging deep industry knowledge and functional expertise to help clients achieve differentiated results in their investments.

The Commercial Effectiveness (CE) arm of our Value Creation team specifically works across industries to drive breakthrough revenue and margin improvement. Our approach is multi-specialist, leveraging deep industry knowledge and functional expertise to help clients achieve differentiated results. This role offers an opportunity to work within a fast-growing, dynamic team.

Job Specifications

Practice Group: Private Capital, Performance Transformation – Commercial Effectiveness (CE)

Location: Toronto

Role: Associate/Engagement Manager

About the role

Our consulting roles offer excellent career and growth opportunities for talented, highly motivated professionals with relevant prior experience. As an Engagement Manager, you will lead project teams in both post-deal value creation efforts and pricing/GTM due diligence activities. Specific responsibilities include:

• Leading teams of consultants on a wide range of commercial topics including pricing, sales, and/or marketing. This includes developing hypotheses; managing data collection, model creation and analyses; conducting primary and secondary research; creatively tackling information limitations; and surfacing insights
• Guiding the consulting team as they develop hypotheses, review client information, conduct interviews, generate insights, and produce deliverables
• Synthesizing findings into written presentations; reviewing and discussing with clients and other stakeholders
• Supporting Partners in project execution through excellent project management, including work planning, workflow management, and coaching, mentoring, and formal career development support for junior team members
• Cultivating strong client relationships and networks, presenting to senior audiences, and working day-to-day with C-Suite, senior executives, and mid-level clients
• Communicating issues and solutions in formal and informal settings, through written and verbal communication
• Applying best practice, your own (and your team’s) expertise and the firm’s wider technical competencies to deliver successful projects
• Guiding and influencing client and team thinking
• Contributing to business development efforts, including proposals, pitches, and identification of follow-on opportunities within accounts
• Guiding clients through implementation and change management, ensuring adoption and measurable impact of new commercial strategies and tools

Desired Skills and Experience

Oliver Wyman is a diverse and entrepreneurial partnership of individuals who like to pursue new opportunities or build a unique franchise doing what they do best in a collegial, fun environment. While specific responsibilities will vary based on previous experience, the ideal candidate will have most of the following:

• For an Engagement Manager, minimum of 5-8+  years of relevant experience, ideally in management consulting (or other similar organizations with project-based, team-oriented environments) with a focus on top-line growth strategy, pricing, go-to-market strategy
• For Principals, 8 + years of experience in a relevant role, probably in a top-tier strategy consulting firm or similar organization.
• In-depth knowledge of pricing and/or sales and/or marketing topics with familiarity in analytics-driven approaches and commercial effectiveness tools (e.g., pricing systems, sales performance management, and digital go-to-market platforms)
• Solid understanding of private equity dynamics and operational frameworks
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams and work collaboratively in fast-paced environments
• Strong background in strategic problem solving with demonstrable analytical skills
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills with experience presenting to senior leadership
• Willingness to travel as required on a project basis
• Proven ability to mentor and develop diverse teams, fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture
• Undergraduate degree; advanced degree (MBA or similar) preferred

Additional background on our team and work

Commercial excellence engagements frequently cut across the following:

• Optimizing commercial levers:
  • Sales force and channel optimization: account management, field sales and territory design, multichannel sales
  • Pricing, packaging, and promotions: B2C transactional and subscription models, B2B pricing, packaging, and large contract revenue management, after-sales pricing, discounting and promotional effectiveness
  • Marketing effectiveness: marketing ROI, loyalty program design, customer value management / “ADR”, test and-learn platform, propensity modelling, and digital campaign optimization
• Creating new propositions:
  • Commercial strategy: competing with disruptors, price repositioning strategy, market entry and growth acceleration
  • New value propositions: future market stimulation, business design and launch
  • Product and service offering: bundling and tariff design, ancillary revenue strategy / “add-ons”, own-brand development, customer experience design
• Enabling organizations to achieve both:
  • Tools and dashboards: visibility & control platform, B2B and B2C sales and pricing tools
  • Technology: 3rd party vendor assessment, agile datamarts, and commercial effectiveness tools (e.g. pricing systems, sales incentive systems, e-commerce platforms, digital go-to-market enablers)
  • Commercial organization: pricing organization design, talent retention, salesforce incentives and compensation design
  • Change enablement: building governance, training programs, and performance management processes to ensure sustainable adoption

Some examples of our recent work include:

• Re-designing SaaS pricing and packaging for a PE-owned software player and quantifying price ranges for each of the packages sold
• Rapid pricing diagnostic for a growth-stage, PE-owned mortgage appraisal software player to identify ~5-10 high criticality, actionable pricing and packaging value creation levers
• Upskilling a PE-owned B2B services organization to renegotiate 100+ customer contracts to drive margin impact
• Developing a pricing organization and operating model for a legacy manufacturer incl. team size, responsibilities, tools, and governance
• Leading a sales turnaround for an industrial gas supplier, including right-sizing the organization, redefining roles of reps, creating new roles and key account structures, and developing a communication program for leadership
• Implementing discounting controls for a global travel operator, redesigning commission structures, policies, and systems
• Designing incentive plans and scorecards for a leading insurance broker, driving 10% sales growth and 20% margin expansion

Beyond client delivery, our practice also invests in developing proprietary IP, tools, and thought leadership (e.g., frameworks, white papers, and case studies) to advance client impact.