What to pay a new hire - boutique consultants (2023)
Find out what to pay someone from a boutique consultancy you hire for your business or team when calculating how much to pay them.
When hiring former consultants into their businesses, companies often fall into the trap of letting the big three strategy houses – McKinsey, Bain and BCG (MBB) – skew their data.
In fact, these three companies typically pay elevated salaries for consultants at all seniority levels, by approximately one third of annual salary. Here, we review the average salaries that consultants leaving boutique management consultancies typically seek.
Analyst
At Analyst level, consultants from boutique firms typically earn £47,000 per annum. This is approximately 36% less than analysts at MBB companies earn. It is worth noting that, at Analyst level, salary will make up approximately 87% of total compensation, with bonus accounting for 10% and pension for 3%.
Associate
The gap narrows slightly at Associate level, where consultants from boutique consultancies earn an average of £73,000, 27% less than their counterparts in MBB firms.
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Manager
Managers at boutique consultancies earn, on average, £98,000. This is approximately two thirds of the salary that their equivalents in MBB firms earn. Base salary accounts for 84% of manager compensation, with bonus rising to 12% of the total.
Director / VP
Director / VP level consultants in boutique firms earn, on average, £172,000, again close to two thirds of the salary that their MBB counterparts earn. At Director / VP level, base salary forms just 79% of total compensation, with bonus comprising 16% and a further 2% being equity.
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