Consulting Manager

Job Title: Consulting Manager

Location: San Francisco, CA

Workplace Type: Hybrid

Hiring Range: $173,250 - $195,000 base

Who We Are

Propeller is a people-focused management consulting firm that helps organizations accelerate transformation and move forward faster. We work with clients to solve complex problems, clear hurdles, and bring transformation to life—building the momentum needed to make change stick with solutions that are right-sized, scalable, and built to last.

Our teams bring a mix of strategic thinking and practical know-how across strategy, enterprise technology, and organizational effectiveness. We collaborate closely with clients, adapt quickly to their needs, and show up ready to do the work together.

Our clients are typically large and mid-sized organizations in the retail, technology, public sector, and energy and utility industries. These are the spaces where we drive the most impact, but our experience spans many others. We have offices in Portland, San Francisco, and Denver, and work with clients across the country.

Propeller may be the place for you if you're energized by solving hard problems, guiding leaders and teams through change, and making progress that sticks. You're curious, collaborative, and resilient—with the grit to keep moving forward, even when the path is ambiguous, and the answers aren’t clear.

What You’ll Do

As a Consulting Manager, you’ll lead complex client engagements, guide high-performing teams, and build trusted relationships that deliver meaningful results. You’ll oversee work from initiation through completion, balancing client needs, delivery quality, team development, and Propeller’s business goals. Drawing on your consulting expertise and knowledge of Propeller’s capabilities, you’ll help clients navigate difficult decisions while identifying opportunities to deepen our impact.

Client Delivery

• Lead contracted scopes of work, ensuring deliverables meet or exceed client expectations.
• Serve as a trusted advisor, helping clients navigate complex decisions and develop effective solutions.
• Develop frameworks, approaches, and methodologies that strengthen delivery and support future work.

Engagement Leadership

• Lead complex, multi-workstream engagements and take accountability for overall team performance, health, and delivery.
• Establish and manage staffing, roles, responsibilities, ways of working, and resource needs throughout the engagement.
• Coach consultants and provide timely feedback, partnering with Performance Managers and leadership on development, recognition, and performance concerns.

Client Management

• Build trusted client relationships through regular communication, expectation management, and ongoing feedback.
• Proactively manage engagement scope, risks, and changes, partnering with the Account Director on escalations and contract modifications.
• Manage project hours and expenses to balance client satisfaction, delivery quality, and Propeller profitability.
• Identify opportunities to expand client impact and support account management, proposals, and business development activities.

What You’ll Bring to the Team

A wide variety of backgrounds and experiences may be aligned to the work we do. If you believe you have the qualifications, even if your role titles did not necessarily use the same words, we encourage you to apply. A real person reads all our applications, and your background and experience will be assessed holistically.

Must Have:

• 12+ years of project management, strategy, operations, and/or change management, including at least 3 years of experience at a management consulting firm
• Experience serving as an Engagement Lead on consulting engagements; able to lead teams to deliver on complex projects involving multiple workstreams and specializations
• Ability to build and sustain trusted, executive-level client relationships
• Track record of successfully managing and developing others; ability to proactively address team or individual challenges through constructive feedback and coaching
• Strong presentation, communication, and facilitation skills
• Career history that demonstrates progressive responsibilities and accountability
• Bachelor’s degree
• Ability to travel based on client need (up to 15%)
• Ability to demonstrate a legal right to work in the U.S.

Nice to Have:

• People management experience
• Master’s degree or relevant certifications

More About This Opportunity

Compensation: We believe in fairly and equitably compensating our employees for their time, skills, and experience. The anticipated hiring range for this position is $173,250 to $195,000. Individual offers are determined based on factors including relevant experience, specific skill sets, marketability to clients, and internal pay equity. The full salary range for this position is $173,250 to $206,750, with employees having the opportunity to progress within the range over time. Base pay ranges are reviewed annually.

This role is also eligible for a bonus, targeted between 5-10% of base salary, based on individual and company performance. Our compensation plan also includes a competitive benefits package, which you can learn more about here.

Location: We believe being physically present with each other, and our clients, strengthens our relationships, promotes creativity and innovation, and ultimately produces a stronger, more durable result for our clients and ourselves. Propeller consultants typically work in a hybrid model, spending a portion of their week working from their client site, local Propeller office, and home. In some cases, consultants work full-time at their client sites. Exact schedules vary by client engagement. Applicants should currently live in the area where the job is posted or plan to relocate upon hire.

Travel: We strive to keep consultants rooted in their local community, minimizing out-of-market travel. This is balanced with an all-firm staffing model and a desire to accommodate growing client demand for in-person work. While some travel may be necessary, it is capped at 15% for this role. We prioritize a tailored approach to travel, taking into consideration individual preferences in project assignments.

Hiring Process: The hiring process typically involves four interviews over 4–6 weeks. However, the timeline for this role may vary depending on our clients' evolving needs. Please note that any offers extended for this position may be contingent upon an available project, and as such, start dates may vary. We value transparency throughout the hiring process and will keep you informed of any updates regarding your application or the role's timeline as they arise.