Combining deep expertise in data science and business

Analytics Digital

How I ended up at McKinsey

Lukas Saari, Analytics Associate, McKinsey Digital, Stockholm

January 13, 2022Prior to McKinsey I have a background from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, where I studied Industrial Engineering and Management, with a major in computer science focused on machine learning. In parallel with my studies, I focused partly on engaging in a variety of student union activities, and partly on pursuing my passion for tech. Among other things, I founded an algorithmic trading company where I was responsible for the programming, worked at a software company, and finished with a master’s thesis at Spotify in machine learning.

While at university, I had until the very end of my studies always envisioned a career at a pure tech company. However, after having tested this path during my studies, I felt that I quickly grew restless in more traditional line roles as I felt my learning stagnated. When I then came into contact with McKinsey Digital and learnt more about what a career here could mean, it felt like a perfect fit. I could combine my passions for both tech and business, in an ever changing environment where I constantly get to try out working with new teams on entirely new topics.

My role as an Analytics Associate at McKinsey Digital

As an Analytics Associate with McKinsey Digital, I work in the intersection of data science and business. On projects, I often take on the combined role of a data scientist and a more traditional management consultant. This entails driving the full analysis end-to-end, from working with the client to gather data to preprocessing and analyzing it, interpreting results to find key insights, building a storyline, visualizing it, and presenting it all to client management teams. To me, it is extremely fun and satisfying to be able to both conduct deep analysis and modelling, and also think through how to best present this to senior leadership to make the insights really come alive and lead to action.

This signifies that I get the opportunity to work on our most analytically complex projects, serving clients both locally and internationally. Since all companies are facing the challenge of how they can work more efficiently with data, my work can cut across all industries and types of companies.

Some examples of the very varied work I have done are; 1) Developing labor market forecasts for a labor agency to improve labor market conditions during the pandemic. 2) Laying the foundation for and leading the first agile teams of an organization to begin the journey to a data-driven ways of working. 3) Establishing a new pricing model and developing technical tools to use in every day revenue management at a travel company. 4) Designing the new organizational structure of an IT organization with 5,000+ employees. 5) Creating a 20-year forecast on demand and resource needs in terms of hospital beds, operating rooms and workforce for a major healthcare system.

What makes McKinsey special to me

There are a number of things that make having a technical role at McKinsey feel very special to me. At the top of my list would be combining world class expertise in business and technology. This means I can bring my expertise to develop new solutions, while also being an integral part of the strategic planning and business decisions with senior clients. The combination ensures that the business value always is at the core of what we do, and that what we develop doesn’t simply stay at the stage of being a cool solution, it is also implemented and actually used by the client.

Next, would be working alongside and constantly being mentored by brilliant colleagues. After two years at McKinsey, I believe there is not a single place I could have worked and learned as much in such a short period of time as I have here. The key to this is that you work 100% together with a team of McKinsey colleagues. Rather than having single touchpoints with my managers every week or month, I have a dozen every day, getting valuable feedback and mentoring in every single one. This really serves to propel your learning curve by an extraordinary amount.

As a bonus, I enjoy the challenging yet extremely fun and encouraging work environment. In this, I have also found many close friends that I expect will last life-long, and have gone on multiple trips both to summer cottages and abroad with colleagues.

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More about Lukas

Lukas is an emerging leader in the McKinsey Digital community. He enjoys a good challenge whether he is playing his favorite computer game or a few matches of squash IRL. Travelling and collecting new experiences has always been a passion, which in recent times has been replaced by partaking in a book club and an increased amount of dinners with friends.