Principal Consultant (Transformation & Delivery team)
About us:
31ten is an agile, independent consultancy and certified B Corp. Trusted by our clients and partners, we’ve been named as one of the UK’s Leading Management Consultancies by the Financial Times every year since 2020.
We work in partnership with the public sector to make places better for the people that live, work, and learn in them.
Integrity, inclusivity, social and environmental awareness are at the heart of what we do, and we collaborate with our clients to deliver sustainable change, meaningful impact, and better outcomes.
Work-life balance is important to us – we recognise that everyone has interests and commitments outside of their work and so we strongly advocate for working in the way that’s best for you. Whether that’s part-time, condensed hours, from home or the London office, flexible working arrangements are actively supported.
31ten works across Local & Central Government, Housing & Development, Education, Health & Social Care and Blue Light Services.
Our services in these sectors typically take the shape of:
Customer, Digital & Technology;
Strategy & Transformation;
People & Change;
Placemaking & Regeneration;
Finance & Assets;
Procurement & Partnerships; and
Business Cases.
About the role:
Principal Consultants at 31ten play a key leadership role in the business, leading delivery teams, managing accounts, and working closely with directors on business development.
Our Transformation & Delivery practice currently spans the following key areas of work:
Local Government Reorganisation (LGR): Supporting councils through the most complex phases of LGR, including option development, service and financial disaggregation, business case production, programme mobilisation, shadow authority preparation and early implementation planning.
Financial Sustainability: Supporting organisations facing acute financial pressure to stabilise their position, identify credible savings and income opportunities, and put in place sustainable operating and governance arrangements beyond short-term fixes.
Social Care, SEND and Housing: Leading transformation of critical statutory services, including adults and children’s social care, SEND and housing, through commissioning and market management, service redesign, demand management, and system working with NHS and other partners.
People-Led Change: Supporting organisations to deliver workforce and cultural change as part of wider transformation programmes, including post-LGR integration, financial recovery, service redesign and technology-enabled change, with a focus on leadership, capacity, ways of working and productivity.
Digital, Data & Technology: Supporting councils to deliver technology-enabled transformation, including data and insight, AI-enabled service improvement, ERP and core system change, cloud migration, and management of complex technology programmes.
Operating Models: Redesign of organisations to align with levers of change, including place-based approaches, redesigning how residents access services, and exploring new delivery models, including redesign following LGR or major service reform.
The points above reflect our broad-ranging mission, so we don’t expect relevant experience in them all. In fact, our preferred recruits tend to have a focused CV with strong evidence of experience in some but not all areas.
In this role, we’d expect you to…
Ensure strong project performance - leading team to deliver work on time and to budget, applying robust commercial management, anticipating issues / risks, and negotiating with clients regarding scope and fees
Make sound judgment on when to escalate and offer solutions
Take responsibility for high quality project work and deliverables, reviewing and ensuring quality of project team outputs, proactively keeping the Project Director informed
Strong network in the sector and can quickly develop and maintain excellent relationships with clients
Translate complex data analysis and diagnosis into clear insights and recommendations that take account of client context and strategic alignment
Have a clear, compelling, and effective communication style that can flex to the audience and context and can effectively and credibly influence at a senior level
Able to confidently lead on presenting to senior clients in a compelling and impactful way, and able to deal with challenge effectively
Have strong sector knowledge, market understanding, and can spot, articulate, and run with commercial opportunities in liaison with directors
Provide a considered company view on opportunities, leading the production of proposals and tender responses and taking responsibility for ensuring high-quality responses
Act as a formal buddy and informal mentor to others
About you:
A great ‘31tenner’ is a self-starter with drive and ambition. We are looking for people who can build excellent client relationships and work collaboratively within a team environment. But above all else, you must be passionate about social impact and working with the public sector.
We hire the person first, experience second, shaping the role around the individual. We recognise that every candidate's experiences and background will be different. We value a broad, diverse range of perspectives.
We’re keen to hear from values-driven candidates, with:
Strong previous experience in a consultancy, with a proven track record of leading and delivering complex programmes
Experience working either for or with local government, directly in a local authority or in a consulting role for local authority clients
A growth mindset, regularly seeking feedback and continuous self-improvement
Initiative and ownership, self-managing your time, flagging your availability and clearly communicating updates with project teams, working across multiple projects in tandem
The ability to engage successfully with clients, client teams and key stakeholders and to work in a relational manner/style
A demonstrable commitment to improving public sector and local government services
The ability to deal with ambiguity and to navigate complex or unclear issues
The ability to think analytically, systematically, and logically, breaking down complex information to enable us and our clients to better understand them
Be comfortable receiving and delivering clear, constructive feedback (or prepared to embrace the uncomfortable!)
An active contribution to the development of our company culture, role-modelling our values and engaging with internal initiatives and knowledge-sharing
Benefits:
25 days annual leave + bank holidays
Flexi bank holidays - the option to substitute religious holidays for a date that is meaningful to you
The option to purchase up to 5 additional annual leave days (per year)
Private healthcare package with BUPA and the ability to add family members
Matched pension up to 6% of gross salary
Enhanced maternity and shared parental leave
Annual performance-based bonus (discretionary)
Work-life balance – we recognise that everyone has interests and commitments outside of their work and so we strongly advocate for working in the way that’s best for you. Whether that’s part-time, condensed hours, from home or the office, flexible working arrangements are actively supported
A friendly and supportive working environment with regular opportunities for collaboration, team socials and modern offices with excellent facilities for staff in a central location
Annual team away day and Christmas party
Opportunities to get involved in our social value programme of volunteering and pro-bono support to causes that align with our mission
Continuous opportunities for career development and training, including support to pursue professional qualifications (that align to our work)
Unlimited access to our online learning platform, You Can Now
Salary sacrifice cycle-to-work, tech at home and electric vehicle scheme
Access to our Payroll Giving scheme, enabling tax‑efficient donations to charities of your choice
Our interview process:
1st stage - Initial phone call with our People Lead
2nd stage - Technical interview - Includes an Excel test and case study / presentation task (2hrs, virtual via Teams) with two members of the hiring team
3rd stage - Values & behaviours interview - Final meeting with two members of our Senior Leadership Team (1hr, in-person)
- Department
- Consulting
- Role
- Principal Consultant
- Locations
- London
- Remote status
- Hybrid
- Salary
- From £75k
About 31ten Consulting
31ten is an agile, independent consultancy and certified B Corp. Trusted by our clients and partners, we’ve been named as one of the UK’s Leading Management Consultancies by the Financial Times every year since 2020.
We work in partnership with the public sector to make places better for the people that live, work, and learn in them.