BCG Careers

Career Path Options at BCG

BCG offers many opportunities to explore different career paths. The primary job categories at the firm include the following:

• Consulting
• Research and insights
• Business Building and Incubation
• Design Strategy
• Product Management
• Data Science and Analytics
• Engineering and Technology
• Business Operations
• Legal 
• Risk Management
• Finance
• People and HR
• Marketing
• Communications

Prominent Teams at BCG

Collaboration is a core value at BCG and teamwork is highly encouraged. The consulting and product management teams are at the very core of the firm’s structure and business model, helping clients to capture great opportunities and tackle challenges. These teams unsurprisingly make up a higher percentage of the employees at Boston Consulting Group.

1. Consulting Team

The consultant team collaborates with clients to solve problems facing their companies, both internal and external. In addition to developing plans on how to respond to these challenges, BCG consultants help clients find ways to avoid and stay ahead of these challenges going forward.

BCG consultants help clients to identify and seize opportunities for value-creation and new growth. The clients benefit from these opportunities by having a competitive advantage both now and in the future.

2. Product Management Team

BCG’s team of product managers helps clients across various industries through every step of a product’s lifecycle, from the ideation and development phase to its launch and market positioning.

Product managers work closely with the client teams on one hand and BCG’s engineering and design teams to deliver the clients’ product vision. The teams create high-level product roadmaps with timelines for achieving deliverables.

Career Track at BCG

BCG’s traditional career track has several levels. Whether you are starting at an entry-level position or joining the firm as an experienced professional, you can gradually climb up the rungs of the career ladder within the organization.

Like most consulting management firms, Boston Consulting Group has an “up-or-out” policy. You have a stipulated time to move to the next level, and you may be suggested to leave if you don’t have what it takes to advance to the next level after the stipulated time. The stipulated time for early-career roles (associate and consultant) is two years. For higher roles, the time varies, but the advancement is highly performance-oriented. 

While an MBA is a critical career advancement tool, you can still move up the ladder at BCG without one. Performance and dedication to the job will greatly influence your career progression.

1. Level 0: Intern

Boston Consulting Group has an active internship program that runs for 10-12 weeks. BCG runs on-campus recruitment for interns. As an intern, you will get first-hand experience working on real cases and with real clients. From collecting data to running analyses of the same, and any other work assigned, interns support senior consultants and their teams. A number of the firm’s yearly hires are from the internship program.

2. Level 1: Associate (Undergrad/Pre-MBA Hire)

Undergraduate hires join BCG at the associate level. In this role, you will be handling smaller workstreams and will be expected to support consultants and project leaders. Boston Consulting Group targets specific schools in its hiring campaigns, including Harvard and Stanford. That said, you can still get hired at the firm even if BCG doesn’t run an on-campus recruitment program at your school.

3. Level 2: Consultant (MBA Hire)

MBA graduates join BCG at this level. As a consultant, you will be responsible for major workstreams involving important client work. If you join as an associate, you can get a promotion to this level within two to three years at the firm and after getting an MBA.

4. Level 3: Project Leader 

With two years at the consultant level and having gathered enough work experience, you should be ready for the project leader role. In this role, you will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day projects.

5. Level 4: Principal 

The role of a principal in BCG includes participating in business development, leading case teams, client relations, and managing project scoping and development of work modules.

6. Level 5: Partner 

Among other key roles, Boston Consulting Group partners lead in business development and establish and maintain relationships with senior-level clients. 

7. Level 6: Managing Director and Partner 

Each managing director is responsible for the firm’s various practice areas. Key focus areas include: 

• Project acquisition and business development
• Managing client relationships
• Being the overall leader of project teams