I am in contract negotiations with Partners in Performance for a Senior Associate role. I have 5 years similar experience in a strategy firm and am wondering what levers I have to negotiate salary?
Does anyone have any recommendations on how to balance pushing for more across base salary, signing bonus and potentially an accelerated pathway to Manager?
Hello there,
Congratulations on the offer with Partners in Performance.
With 5 years of relevant strategy consulting experience, you may have a case to push for more. Before negotiating, benchmark salaries for similar roles in your region to understand where PIP stands. Typical levers to consider include base salary, signing bonus, performance bonus, and promotion timeline. The best lever will depend on the specifics of this contract, so had to tell which one would be more beneficial. If base is capped, signing bonus or an accelerated path to Manager (e.g., after 12 months) are usually more flexible, although the latest depends on your performance. If they’re open to it, you can ask for a performance review checkpoint to align expectations.
When negotiating, express enthusiasm for the role and appreciation for the offer. Frame your ask around the value you bring, not just what you want. For example:
“I’m very excited about joining PIP. Given my experience, I’d love to explore an adjustment to the offer that better reflects the level I can contribute from day one.”
Good luck!
Best,
Mari
A few things to understand. Career progression in consulting is fast and you deal with up-or-out. This means that any base salary you negotiate today will only have impact for 1-2 years. In many industry jobs, it may work as a base that gets increased every year, and a higher entry salary will pay off for many years. Not in consulting.
As such, consider all the alternatives. Salary, Benefits, sign in bonus, relocation package.
You always have to frame your negotiation as something you need. And you have to be able to portray this in a valid way ("I need more salary because I want more money" won't cut it).
So please tie a specific need to the specific benefit you ask for ("I need to relocate so I need a higher sign in, or relocation package... because you want to be focused on your job and not on your finances").
Exception here is if your salary package is not at par with the market. In that case, it is quite simple - you need them to pay what you consider to be your market value.
Finally, a higher rank or potentially accelerated promotions are those that have the higher payoff, so if you can ask for this, it can be a great benefit. But don't force it - just make sure they are willing to consider an early promotion if you perform at the right level, even if you still have low tenure.
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