Guidehouse Can folks in the senior ranks tell us more about the difference between the Associate Director and Director levels? What are the utilization targets for each level? What are the sales targets for each level?
Can you tell us about the organization structure? Are employees aligned to segments/markets and also solutions? Are there individuals solely dedicated to solutions? At GT we moved to more solution focused alignment and away from segments a few years ago.
It will vary segment to segment and team to team, but AD is often treated more as a senior manager. More front-line responsibility but at a larger scale than managers (again, specific numbers differ for accounts). Sales expectations exist from manager and up but really are a director burden. Managed revenue for a manager is at least $1 million and for AD it’s at least $2 million (again, it depends on the team, profitability, etc.).
The GT probably isn’t charging much because they probably just don’t know. Unfortunately, there won’t be much clarity on expectations until we truly start integrating a few months from now.
We feel for you guys. We went through this a few years ago. We are excited to join forces and welcome you to the fam.
I can help with some answers. AD utilization is 65% and Director is 50%. But what matters is bringing in money. I knew a Director who had a 0% utilization target because he was solely tasked on BD. Employees are generally aligned to segments. Defense and NS are merging into one segment. There is an advanced solutions segment that people can be aligned to. It’s easy to move between segments if you find a project you like and both segments are cool with you working it.
D1 seems like you’re a bit salty. Love that you assume I’m an average worker because my experience at GH directly contradicts whatever your assumptions are.
Utilization is less important for Directors than it is for ADs. ADs are more like senior-level Managers, capable of running a number of projects simultaneously. Or they are very technical people with only small/no sales roles.
Directors are expected to sell and deliver. Director targets are probably $2-3M, depending on the practice/solution.
Solutions means different things to different teams. We have an Advanced Solutions practice which does fancy things with tech and cuts across all 6 segments. Then within each of our 6 segments there are solutions - some formal (like a dedicated group on an org chart etc) and some more informal (a sorta community of practice that works across accounts on similar solutions).
I would say that one of the things Guidehouse struggles with is applying technical expertise (‘solutions’) to a management consulting engagement. The legacy Navigant teams are far stronger on the former, while the legacy PwC teams stronger on the latter.
GT public sector Senior Manager comp (salary only) range is probably $175-250K. Avg bonus is 8-15%.
Thank you! This is very helpful!
At GT, Senior Manager is more sales focused than Director. Technically, they have the same sales and managed revenue, but in reality, the SMs are the ones bringing in the $$$.
I really hope that GH recognizes Senior Managers should be Directors and most GT Directors should be ADs based on how you described the responsibilities.
Coach
Not quite two tracks. But there is a difference between SM and Director at GT. Point being it's not going to be “clean” aligning the GT senior roles to GH roles. And I can guarantee it's going to cause attrition...
TLDR; yes, senior managers are more “senior.”
Technically at GT SM and D are at the same level, but on different paths. Directors tend to stay at that level for the remainder of their career or eventually get promoted to managing director (non-equity partner). They tend to be SMEs or specialize in solutions or technical subject matter versus running accounts or segments. Senior Managers typically get admitted to partnership and bring in big money and net new sales, run accounts, etc.
Directors can be admitted to partnership but it's not the norm.
Ah got it! Yeah so it sounds like senior manager is one level below partner? In that case you could probably push for director. I think you know moving existing GT directors down a title to AD is not realistic if we want to retain them.
GH 1: Thank you! Very helpful. Are there people aligned to solutions? How does solution development happen?
Also, what are the sales target for MC and above.
Segments (accounts) are vertical and solutions are horizontal. Advanced solutions is a horizontal across the firm. We have many including sustainment, open source, IT, change management, True PMO, strat comms, TTA, etc. There’s plenty of room for both niche specialities and general consultants.
Solutions is a horizontal across public sector and commercial clients. Solutions includes cybersecurity, technology, user experience, and advanced data analytics.
Yes. Most of our teams are made up of the client account team (ie State Dept). They are supported by the data analytics (solutions team) workers for specific projects. Both client and solutions teams are made of C/SC/MCs.
Why about change management/organizational transformation, strategic development, etc.? Are there employees or Partnere dedicated to those solutions that deliver across all segments? Or create solutions and tools for everyone to use?
Kinda. The solutions team in ESI just rolled out project management solution across all segments. I believe there is a change management solution as well that crosses the segments.
What’s the comp like at GT public practice for D.C. SM?