Principal Consultant - 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 3-4 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 would rather oversee than own → 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, with deep data analysis and AI-domain expertise as your anchor. In the room with decision-makers as the expert your clients trust on the questions that matter most.

• Own. Take full ownership of significant accounts and the relationships and revenue inside them. The work, the team, the clients, the numbers. You do not own pieces; you own outcomes.

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

• Sell. Open new doors inside existing accounts. Originate new mandates. At ALAIKA, business development is not a partner privilege — it is always an expectation.

• Connect. Walk in with deep networks. Extend them. Lead C-level discussions in your area of responsibility. Be recognized as a market leader in your domain. Build trust deep enough that clients call you first.

• Grow. Sharpen the rare profile the market is short on — analytical mastermind, data & AI expert, entrepreneurial dealmaker. Partner-track within reach.

• Build. We are scaling, with real building left to do — IP, processes, go-to-market, strategy. You are a strategic partner in shaping what ALAIKA becomes. 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. Outstanding degree in an analytical field from a top-tier university, or a track record that speaks for itself.

• Experience. Minimum 5 years in a high-pressure, results-driven environment — top strategy consultancy with a strong data and AI practice, or fast-growing AI-native technology company. Deep hands-on experience delivering data and AI projects is required. An established network across the data, AI, and financial services community 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. 

• Technical Depth. Fluency in modern data and AI stacks — machine learning, generative AI, cloud platforms, production deployment. You have advised and shipped real systems, not just slides.

• Leadership. You have led teams that delivered. We hire managers who build businesses, 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. Three years from principal to partner possible.

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

“My biggest economic misunderstanding was that people got rich from high salary, but almost no one on Forbes got there through salary but only with equity.” 

— Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI 

• 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.

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