Consulting Manager - Financial Services / Data & AI

Advise. Invest. Build. Meet ALAIKA — a new kind of Financial Services firm — globally scaling, headquartered in Munich. The work is hard. The bar is high. Partner in 4-5 years possible, for the ones who can keep up and actually build a business themselves on our platform.

Stop reading if any of these describe you:

• Specialisation. You are a generalist with shallow expertise and a thin network → AI will eat your lunch. We bet on depth.

• Ownership. You spot the problem and walk it to your boss → We fall in love with problems. Own them. Solve them. Ship solutions.

• Speed. Slow is your default → Speed compounds. Be smart and brave enough to select 80/20 in the right way.

• Mindset. "Not possible" is part of your vocabulary → We hire people who always find a way.

Still there? Then ALAIKA might be for you.

At ALAIKA, our vision is to build the future of Financial Services withthree brands under one roof — Advisory (Strategy Consulting), Capital (Private Equity), Building (Company Builder). Right now, we are in the midst of building our trojan horse ALAIKA Advisory.

The ambition: building the leading Financial-Services-specific entrepreneurial holding — Fortune 500 access, PE discipline, Silicon Valley technology-depth and thinking. Three networks that compound and multiply.

• One industry. Financial Services. Nothing else.

• One focus. The intersection of business and technology — across Strategic Transformations, AI & Data Intelligence, and Cybersecurity.

• One goal. Being the go-to partner for the world's leading Fortune 500 financial services companies — and the ones we might help build into that.

Founded in October 2022 by Johanna von Geyr(build-up and led Financial Services Practice for a NASDAQ-listed strategy consultancy) and Harald Braunstein(serial entrepreneur with exits incl. IPO), we bring together deep functional domain expertise and networks in global Financial Services, with a proven track record in building, scaling, and investing in leading software product companies. 

Curious what ALAIKA is all about? Explore our websiteand introduction deck.

Join the movement — apply now.

The role and what you will work on

• Advise. Take on the most pressing strategic and technology challenges of the world’s leading financial services companies — across Strategy, Data & AI, and Cyber. In the room with decision-makers from day one.

• Own. Take full ownership of significant client groups and stakeholder relationships. The work, the team, the relationships, the numbers. You do not own pieces; you own outcomes.

• Lead. Run workstreams and project teams. Set the bar for consultants and senior consultants — challenge them, develop them, raise their game. Multiply the output of everyone around you — not just your own.

• Sell. Run and source proposals independently. Open new buying centers. Grow existing ones. Turn one engagement into three. At ALAIKA, business development is not a partner privilege — it is an expectation.

• Connect. Bring a network. Extend it. Lead peer and senior client discussions in your area of responsibility. Build trust deep enough that clients call youfirst.

• Grow. Become the rare profile the market is short on — analytical mastermind, financial services expert, entrepreneurial dealmaker. Partner-track within reach.

• Build. We are scaling, with real building left to do — IP, processes, go-to-market, strategy. You do not just deliver client work; you co-build the firm. That is not a slogan — it is your Tuesday.

When you are a fit

“Show me an athlete who did well academically. An athlete because they know what it takes to win and they have had to experience loss.”

— Kenneth C. Griffin, Founder of Citadel

You will work alongside intrinsically driven people chasing an uncapped career — people who do "what it takes". You fear "being one more number stuck in middle management".

Your goal is to make it to the top: at ALAIKA itself, at a leading investment or financial services firm, or in a company you build yourself — ALAIKA can help with that too.

• Book-smart. Strong academic foundation. Think in structures, not gut feel.

• Street-smart. Read the room fast. Prioritise ruthlessly. Grasp commercial reality.

• People-smart. Communicate with precision — clear, direct, persuasive. Build trust across functions and seniority.

• Athlete performance mindset. High aspirations. Grit. Learn faster than the environment changes.

• Entrepreneurial guts. Self-confident achiever. Act first, apologise later — speed is everything. You move.

Whatyou bring

• Background. Top 10–20% of your class at a top-tier university. Analytical field — CS, Math, Physics, Finance, or equivalent rigour.

• Experience.Minimum 4 years in a high-pressure, results-driven environment — top strategy consultancy, fast-growing tech, or demanding corporate financial services role. Hands-on Data & AI experience required. An established network in Financial Services is expected at this level. 

• Industry Focus. You have worked inside or deeply alongside financial services institutions. Sub-sector expertise in insurance preferred, but we would consider experience in banking, asset management, or payments as well. 

• Leadership. You have led teams that delivered. We hire managers who build careers, not just project plans.

• Analytical edge. Data-driven by default. Leverage data to drive decisions, not just decorate slides.

• Languages. Fluent in English and German. Additional languages are a plus.

Why join ALAIKA

• Partner track from day one. Four years from manager to partner possible.

• Compensation. Above market with very entrepreneurial-driven bonus structures.

• Stellar Network. Shoulder-to-shoulder with financial services executives running today’s giants and the founders + investors building tomorrow’s.

• Offices. Munich and Barcelona. More coming.

Plus: the essentials done right — EGYM Wellpass, bike leasing, a kitchen stocked with healthy food and team events worth showing up for: Oktoberfest, team dinners, and more.

Advise the leaders. Build what comes next.Invest in the future of Financial Services.

Apply with CV, transcripts, and references. Let’s see if you are the one.

---