Director - Strategy & Transformation Practice

About Cedar Group :

The Cedar Group is a global platform spanning strategy consulting, FinTech research and media, a FinTech accelerator, and venture capital, with a 70+ year combined track record in financial-services and technology research and consulting. Cedar, founded in 1985, is a global strategy consulting, research and analytics firm advising clients on strategy, process innovation, strategic human capital and business technology, with a strong focus on Financial Services, and a heritage that includes the creators of the Balanced Scorecard. 

The Group's UK-headquartered research unit, IBS Intelligence, is a leading pure-play FinTech research, news-analysis and advisory firm; for over 30 years it has been the definitive source of independent analysis of global financial-technology markets, and its annual Sales League Table is the industry barometer of banking-technology suppliers worldwide. The Cedar-IBSi platform also runs Cedar-IBSi FinTech Labs, a BankTech / B2B FinTech accelerator home to 70+ FinTechs since 2017, and an independent venture capital fund, announced in 2023, backing founders building AI-first enterprise technology for Financial Services.

Role Summary:

The Director will leverage Cedar's 40+ year heritage and deep body of work advising leadership teams across industries, bringing the credibility and conviction of a firm with a proven track record of shaping strategy and leading transformation at the highest levels.

This is a dual-mandate role combining business development and project delivery. You will originate and convert client engagements, shape mandates from initial conversations through to proposal and close, and lead the delivery of strategy and transformation projects end-to-end. You will be a senior face of Cedar in the market and a trusted partner to C-suite clients.

Key responsibilities/ deliverables:

-Client Development

•Originate and qualify new mandates across target accounts and sectors

•Build trusted-advisor relationships with CEOs, COOs, and leadership teams

•Lead proposal development, problem framing, and scope negotiation

•Represent Cedar at industry forums, networks, and thought leadership events

•Contribute to the firm's market positioning and practice development

-Project Delivery

•Lead strategy definition, competitive assessment, and growth planning engagements

•Design and guide operating model redesign and organisational transformation

•Manage complex, multi-workstream projects with senior client stakeholders

•Synthesise findings and present recommendations at board and C-suite level

•Develop Cedar's intellectual property, frameworks, and reusable assets

-Practice Focus areas:

Strategy

•Corporate & business unit strategy

•Competitive positioning & market analysis

•Growth strategy & new market entry

•Portfolio strategy & capital allocation

•Strategic planning processes & governance

Transformation

•Operating model design & redesign

•Large-scale organisational transformation

•Post-merger integration & carve-outs

•Digital & technology-enabled transformation

•Change management & executive alignment

Candidate profile:

-Experience & Background

•15+ years of experience, with at least 10 in a consulting or advisory capacity

•Prior experience at a strategy consulting firm strongly preferred

•Demonstrated track record of originating and closing client engagements

•Deep expertise in at least two of the practice focus areas listed above

•Experience managing multi-stakeholder projects at senior organisational levels

-Skills & Attributes

•Exceptional executive presence and communication skills

•Strong commercial instinct — able to spot and shape client opportunities

•Analytical rigour combined with practical implementation judgment

•Collaborative, low-ego, builder mindset suited to a boutique environment

•Comfort with ambiguity and ability to navigate complex stakeholder dynamics