Strategy Associate

High-level Overview

The client is looking for a Strategy Associate to join project teams across a range of consulting engagements over the next 6-12 months. The individual will work closely with engagement managers, senior strategy leads, and client stakeholders, supporting a growing pipeline of work across multiple sectors and business contexts.

This is a flexible consulting opportunity for candidates who can plug into project teams quickly, structure ambiguous problems, develop robust insights, and translate analysis into clear, decision-ready outputs. One immediate area of focus may include supporting the development of a B2B health offering, including shaping the strategic narrative, high-level business case, and market analysis.

Beyond project delivery, the team is intentionally building a different type of consulting platform – one that emphasises flexibility, long-term collaboration, professional growth, sustainable ways of working, and thoughtful integration of technology and AI-enabled ways of working into consulting delivery. Consultants working with the team may have opportunities to contribute across multiple engagements over time, access mentorship and development support, and gain exposure to evolving consulting approaches, tools, and delivery models within a highly entrepreneurial and collaborative environment. Depending on the nature and duration of engagement, consultants may also be eligible to participate in selected team initiatives and fringe benefits programmes, including wellness and professional development offerings.

The platform is designed for individuals who value high-quality consulting work while also looking for greater flexibility, stronger community, meaningful growth opportunities, and a more sustainable consulting experience than traditional models often provide.

Successful engagements are highly likely to translate into longer-term partnerships, as the client has an increasingly growing pipeline of work and opportunities and is actively looking for long-term consultants to partner with.

Role & Responsibilities

Role Title: Strategy Associate

Direct Report: Engagement manager

Candidates required: 1

Deliverables

• Frame the strategic narrative and key questions
• Structure the core problem statement, objectives, and success criteria for the B2B health offering
• Develop initial hypotheses and define the key questions required to shape the opportunity
• Conduct market analysis and derive actionable insights
• Assess market size, segmentation, and growth dynamics
• Analyse competitive landscape, comparable offerings, and emerging trends
• Identify implications for positioning and commercial viability
• Develop the high-level business case
• Define core revenue drivers, cost components, and economic logic
• Assess key value levers and sensitivities impacting the opportunity
• Translate market and strategic insights into commercial implications
• Synthesize insights into a clear strategic storyline
• Integrate market, commercial, and strategic inputs into a cohesive narrative
• Ensure alignment between analysis, implications, and proposed direction
• Refine messaging to support clarity and executive-level communication
• Develop decision-ready outputs and executive materials
• Translate analysis into clear, structured presentations and supporting exhibits
• Synthesize key insights, implications, and recommendations for decision-making
• Iterate rapidly with the senior executive to refine messaging and storyline
• Support executive working sessions and ongoing refinement
• Support structured working sessions by capturing key insights, decisions, and implications
• Continuously refine outputs based on feedback and evolving priorities
• Ensure consistency and quality across all materials delivered

Experience required

• 3–5 years of experience in strategy consulting, with experience at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, or Oliver Wyman preferred.
• Experience supporting strategy, transformation, or commercial engagements in fast-paced, client-facing environments.
• Demonstrated exposure to complex strategic problem-solving, executive-level stakeholder engagement, and development of decision-ready client outputs.
• Experience operating across multiple workstreams and evolving project priorities within lean consulting teams.
• Exposure to financial services, FMCG, healthcare, or adjacent sectors is advantageous.

Technical Requirements

• Strong ability to frame ambiguous strategic problems, define clear problem statements, and structure them into coherent workplans.
• Experience developing and refining hypotheses, identifying key value drivers, and prioritising analyses to inform decision-making.
• Ability to design and oversee targeted qualitative and quantitative analyses, ensuring analytical effort is focused on the most decision-relevant questions.
• Proven capability to synthesise complex analyses into clear insights and translate them into concise, decision-oriented recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• High level of comfort working independently in Excel and PowerPoint (or equivalent tools), producing client-ready outputs with limited oversight.

Soft skills

• Strong ownership mindset and accountability for outputs.
• Comfort working under time pressure and adapting to evolving priorities.
• Collaborative, professional engagement style with confidence front-of-client.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and client counselling capability.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with willingness to contribute beyond narrowly defined scopes.

Working arrangement

Location: South Africa

Travel requirements: Minimal

Terms of agreement

Required start date: Immediate

Contracting period: 6 - 12 months