Role Descriptions

As an associate, you will focus on client projects and work toward leading these projects. You will have direct contact with senior clients and a high degree of independence. You might conduct analyses, interview clients and their customers, plan and facilitate workshops, translate conclusions into recommendations, or help design and implement large-scale organizational-change programs. You will get extensive training to help build your core consulting skills and receive ongoing feedback from teammates and mentors.

After 2 or 3 years, based on how you perform, you may become an engagement manager and lead client projects, manage teams, coach junior colleagues, and take responsibility for initiatives within the firm.

What we look for

We seek people with different backgrounds, experience, and passions who come from a variety of academic fields and professions, such as engineering, financial services, humanities, and life sciences. If you are studying for an MBA, or have a master’s degree or a PhD and work experience, you can apply to be an associate.

When you join McKinsey as a Business Analyst (BA), you are joining a firm that will challenge you and invest in your professional development. In this role you will work on the best teams to help the best organizations in the world—in private, public, and social sectors—solve their most difficult problems. You will also work with many experts, from data scientists and researchers to software and app designers.

You’ll work in teams of typically three to five consultants, playing an active role in all aspects of client engagement. This includes gathering and analyzing information, formulating and testing hypotheses, and developing and communicating recommendations. You’ll also have the opportunity to present results to client management and implement recommendations in collaboration with client team members.

Junior Associates receive exceptional training as well as frequent coaching and mentoring from colleagues on their teams. This support includes a partner from your local office or practice assigned to you to help guide your career as well as up to five weeks of formal training in your first few years. Additionally, you’ll receive guidance and support from your local office or practice in the selection of client projects, helping you to develop your skills and build your network.

McKinsey’s Client Capabilities Network has more than 1,500 knowledge professionals worldwide who help consultants do what they do best—solve clients’ most complex and pressing problems. With quick access to specialized expertise and business information, our knowledge professionals work in a stimulating environment, building and delivering distinctive knowledge for client teams. There may be open positions in our Budapest knowledge hubs, including McKinsey Digital Labs; McKinsey Implementation; Panorama, a McKinsey Solution that provides data-driven insights on global banking markets; and Periscope, which harnesses big data to help clients optimize pricing and margins.

Learn more about our Client Capabilities Network.