Full Job Description
Overview of the Role
Are you a seasoned consulting leader ready to build something meaningful? Modern Executive Solutions is looking for a Partner who combines deep expertise in leadership, culture, and organizational consulting with the entrepreneurial drive to grow a firm that is redefining what talent consulting can be.
As a Partner, you will be the senior-most point of accountability for client relationships and engagements, shaping the strategy of our work, opening and expanding client relationships, and developing the next generation of our consulting team. You will bring a clear point of view on how organizations and their leaders need to evolve, and you will translate that point of view into work that creates lasting impact for our clients.
What you'll do:
Client Leadership & Relationship Management
• Serve as the senior-most point of accountability for major client relationships and engagements
• Act as a trusted advisor to C-suite executives, board members, and their direct reports on people, leadership, and culture topics
• Shape the overall strategy and direction of client engagements from scoping through delivery
• Ensure quality, timeliness, and measurable impact of all client-facing work
• Anticipate and proactively address evolving client challenges and strategic needs
Business Development & Revenue Generation
• Lead the pursuit of new client relationships and expand existing accounts
• Develop and present proposals, pitch materials, and business cases to prospective clients, owning the full arc from initial conversation through signed engagement
• Identify cross-selling opportunities across firm service lines and practice areas
• Meet or exceed individual revenue and business development targets
• Build and leverage an external network of senior executives, decision-makers, and referral sources
Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Lead and inspire consulting teams, setting clear expectations and creating conditions for high-quality work
• Provide timely, direct coaching and performance feedback that develops team members' strengths and addresses areas of opportunity
• Staff projects appropriately and hold teams accountable to delivery standards
• Contribute to recruiting, onboarding, and retention of top consulting talent
• Model the firm's values and ethical standards in all client and internal interactions
Thought Leadership & Knowledge Development
• Develop and articulate a clear, differentiated point of view on at least one domain relevant to the firm's work
• Represent the firm externally through speaking engagements, publications, and media
• Contribute to the development of firm methodologies, tools, and intellectual capital
• Stay current on industry trends and bring fresh thinking to familiar client problems
• Build a recognized external brand as a subject matter expert
Firm Leadership & Strategy
• Contribute to practice area strategy, growth initiatives, and firm-wide priorities
• Support the development of new service offerings, capabilities, and market positions
• Serve as an ambassador for firm culture and values with clients, recruits, and the public
Knowledge Needed for the Role
• Leadership & Organizational Topics: Deep, applied expertise in leadership and organizational consulting - particularly leadership development and culture. Must understand the mechanics of how HR organizations operate: their structure, mandate, key processes (e.g., talent management, L&D, performance, rewards), and the challenges CHROs and their teams face. Depth sufficient to advise a C-suite client independently.
• Background in Organizational Psychology: Advanced degrees in organizational psychology, industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology, or related behavioral sciences are preferred, but not required.
• Business Development: Deep knowledge of the full business development cycle: identifying opportunities, shaping solutions, developing proposals, pricing strategically, negotiating and executing contracts, and transitioning to delivery.
Skills Needed for the Role
• Strategic Thinking: Able to rapidly orient to a client's business context, surface the underlying people and leadership challenges embedded in their strategy, and translate them into prioritized, actionable recommendations tied to measurable business impact.
• Business Development: Able to identify, pursue, and close new client opportunities through both formal and informal channels - developing compelling proposals, pricing strategically, negotiating scope and terms, and managing the sale-to-delivery transition.
• Problem-Solving: Structures ambiguous problems into solvable components, develops and tests hypotheses, and draws on qualitative and quantitative data to form conclusions. Brings intellectual rigor without making the process feel academic.
• Top-Down Communication: Communicates with executives and boards in their language: crisp, jargon-free, and anchored in business context. Synthesizes complex findings into clear narratives that drive decisions rather than presenting inventories of information.
• Facilitation: Designs and leads executive workshops and working sessions that generate insight, alignment, and commitment. Manages group dynamics confidently and ensures sessions produce concrete outputs.
• Team Leadership: Sets clear expectations and creates conditions for teams to do their best work under deadline pressure. Provides direct, developmental feedback; staffs projects appropriately; and holds teams accountable without micromanaging.
• Thought Leadership: Has a clear, differentiated point of view on at least one domain relevant to the firm's work, grounded in experience and evidence. Able to articulate it in writing, conversation, and formal forums.
• Confidence & Executive Presence: Commands credibility with C-suite and board members from the first interaction - through quality of thinking, clarity of communication, and composure. Does not defer unnecessarily or shrink from expressing a well-reasoned view a client may not want to hear.
Attributes Needed for the Role
• Entrepreneurship: Approaches the Partner role as a builder, not just a deliverer. Takes ownership of growing the firm's footprint in clients, capabilities, and reputation without waiting to be directed. Comfortable with the uncertainty of early-stage firm building.
• Adaptability: Operates effectively across a wide range of client industries, functional contexts, and organizational cultures. Adjusts approach, tone, and method based on what the situation requires rather than defaulting to a single playbook.
• Resilience: Maintains effectiveness and sound judgment under pressure, ambiguity, and adversity. Does not catastrophize setbacks or require external validation to stay grounded. Orients around long-term outcomes to grow the firm sustainably.
• Innovative: Brings fresh thinking to familiar problems and resists "how we've always done it." Actively seeks new ways of approaching problems and client service. Continuously tests ideas and adjusts to find the right solution.
Experience Needed for the Role
• Consulting Tenure: 7+ years of progressive experience in consulting or professional services, with demonstrated growth in scope of responsibility - from delivery contributor to engagement leader to client relationship owner.
• Business Development: Has owned the full arc of at least one (preferably multiple) client opportunities from initial conversation through signed engagement and successful delivery - including proposal development, pricing, contracting, and transition to delivery.
• Complex Client Engagements: Has managed high-stakes engagements in people, leadership, and/or culture topics across at least two distinct industries. 'Managing' means accountable for the overall engagement (not only a workstream) in multi-stakeholder, ambiguous, or change-intensive contexts.
• Budget Management: Has held financial accountability for client engagement budgets or broader organizational budgets, including scoping accurately, managing to margin, and making resourcing trade-offs under pressure.
• C-Suite Client Partnership: Has served as the primary relationship owner - not just a delivery participant - for C-suite executives, including CHROs, CEOs, and other senior leaders on people and leadership matters.
Compensation includes base plus variable compensation.
Why Modern?
• Purpose-Driven Work: Join a team committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and that gives back to the community by donating 10% of annual profits to support underserved youth and educational opportunities.
• Impactful Projects: Contribute to meaningful work that positively impacts clients' organizations, communities, and the development of diverse leaders.
• Professional Growth: Shape the direction of a growing firm, with opportunities to build a practice, develop talent, and establish your external brand.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Robust benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance and a 401(k) match.
• Flexibility & Balance: Flexible remote work environment, paid parental leave, and an office setup stipend to support your work-from-home needs.
Our Values
• Be Bold: Think strategically, seeing implications and creative paths. Innovates commercially - seeks to understand client perspective to drive impact. Innovates internally - seeks to improve processes, procedures, and technology used within and across their teams.
• Be Excellent: Deliver client-ready work with attention to detail, raising the bar of expectations within the team and with data integrity to include the use of all company tools and systems. Motivated by excellence to the benefit of clients and our firm.
• Be United: Be an inclusive team player, willing to support, develop, and go the extra mile to deliver impact with others. Proactively develops trusting relationships both within and outside our firm.
• Be Authentic: Demonstrate awareness, coachability, and a desire to grow with continuous improvement. Motivated by a personal purpose aligned with our firm's mission and values. Accountable for delivery of client-ready work.
The pay range for this role is:
225,000 - 250,000 USD per year (Remote (United States))
