About Telesto Strategy
Telesto Strategy was founded with a bold vision to regenerate the planet’s health, resources, and wellbeing. We aim to achieve this goal through our dual missions: (i) reframing how businesses, organizations, and countries achieve meaningful and sustainable growth, and (ii) redirecting corporate strategy to solve for the biggest challenges of our time while delivering a positive ROI.

To help leaders broaden their strategic approaches and plan for growth through a comprehensive, network-based approach, Telesto Strategy partners with clients to offer distinctive and reinforcing growth-focused services across several services offerings:

• ESG Reporting and PMO
• Materiality Assessments
• Net-Zero Strategy and Management
• Sustainable Growth Strategy Development and PMO
• ESG Leadership Training

We bring a range of perspectives and leverage a collaborative approach both internally and with our clients to generate actionable recommendations for growth that advance our firm’s vision.

This role presents a unique opportunity to join and shape a growing, globally oriented firm and advance corporate and government strategy through innovating operating model design, organizational growth calculus, and Telesto’s solution offerings. 

Position Description

The Manager leads teams of Analysts, Consultants, and firm experts to deliver management consulting projects for clients. They leverage their distinctive conceptual thinking to articulate frameworks, developing ingoing hypothesis, craft overall storylines, lead the design of analytical approaches, pressure-test insights, and identify the resources and expertise required to solve abstract and open-ended problem statements. They are end-to-end owners of project deliverables, anchor presentations to clients, and perform regular quality checks on team outputs.

In addition to leading the problem-solving of a project, the Manager is also the primary day-to-day point of contact for the client and manages the overall project process. They proactively anticipate and address both client needs and process bottlenecks to ensure successful delivery of projects.

The Manager acts as thought partner and mentor for their team. They articulate their thought process and rationale when leading projects and provide regular, structured, and concrete feedback for team members to support their ongoing professional development. The Manager will also support ongoing recruitment and training efforts of the firm.

While every project is unique, we expect the Manager to support the development of client-ready deliverables for strategy and/or implementation projects related to environmental, social impact, and governance (ESG) and/or Sustainability topics. Individual client deliverables within such projects may include developing quantitative models to explore strategic scenarios, conducting and synthesizing subject matter expert interviews, collecting secondary data, generating case studies, and driving or optimizing operational processes.

Job Responsibilities
On a day-to-day basis, the Manager’s responsibilities include:

Client delivery

• Generate initial hypotheses for client projects, including the development of end-to-end storylines that synthesize complex topics into compelling recommendations for action
• Structure client projects into independent workstreams, delegate to their team, ensure workstreams are properly resourced, and optimize cross-workstream alignment
• Support team in structuring individual analyses, pressure-testing team outputs
• Frequently align with firm leadership on project direction and key deliverables; elevate risks as appropriate
• Function as “quarterback” for projects, ensuring that all processes are harmonized, stakeholders are aligned, and that projects are delivered on time and within budget
• Own key client relationships, ensuring that deliverables are aligned with client expectations
• Contribute to firm’s continuous project management process improvement to ensure successful project delivery

Building Our Firm

• Support the recruitment, onboarding, training, and mentorship of firm staff
• Support project proposal development and thought leadership under the direction of firm leadership; over time, take full leadership of select proposals
• Spearhead internal firm initiatives to support growth and realize the firm’s vision to regenerate the planet’s health, resources, and wellbeing

Because Telesto is a growing and evolving firm, the focus of the Manager’s responsibilities and track within the firm may be subject to adjustment to ensure that the Manager is best positioned for success in their role. Any such change will be communicated to the Manager at such time.

Position Requirements

The ideal candidate will meet the following criteria:

Analytical thinking, conceptual thinking, and knowledge skills

• 3-5 years of work experience in relevant professional services, analysis-driven, or similar contexts (e.g., consulting, finance, internal strategy), including 2-3 years of management consulting experience or similar with at least 6 months in a project manager role
• Experience delivering corporate strategy and/or operations projects, including a combination of management and “hands on” delivery experience
• Graduate-level degree in relevant field (e.g., business administration, environmental sciences, social sciences) preferred but not required
• Distinctive quantitative, analytical, problem-solving, and conceptual thinking skills as demonstrated through experience with financial or strategic modeling, analyses of complex data sets, generating comprehensive yet elegant conceptual frameworks, and creating impact
• Significant exposure to hypothesis-driven analyses and first-principles problem-solving
• Experience with ESG topics is preferred but not required

Interpersonal and client engagement skills

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with stakeholders of varying seniority and backgrounds
• Demonstrated ability to understand stakeholder positions, expectations, and/or priorities, and shape communications to stakeholder contexts
• Resilient and self-motivated, especially in a virtual-first environment
• Entrepreneurial, curious, adaptable, and excited to expand the firm’s impact in line with our vision to regenerate the planet’s health, resources, and wellbeing
• Altruistic or volunteer professional or personal experience is a plus

Compensation
Telesto Strategy cares about its people, and its compensation package and benefits are designed accordingly. The standard base pay range for this role is $140,000-170,000 annually. This base pay range is specific to Illinois and may not be applicable to other locations. In addition to a competitive base salary, this position is also eligible for year-end bonus compensation based on individual and firm performance. Actual amounts will vary depending on individual and firm performance.

Additionally, Telesto Strategy also offers other benefits, including:

• Premier medical healthcare package (Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO with nationwide coverage) with fully covered dental, vision, life insurance, and long-term disability insurance
• Responsible PTO policy
• Lifestyle considerations – We are committed to promoting and achieving an environment where work/life balance is a driving force behind the success of our people.  We give great respect and consideration to time with family and other interests outside of work
• Flexible work schedule
• 401k program with immediate matching and vestment
• Annual wellness stipend
• Stipends for home office / technology and passes to coworking spaces

Upskilling
We recognize that building a world-class firm requires continuous upskilling and technical development. To that end, Telesto Strategy provides a variety of remote and in-person upskilling opportunities for all roles in the firm. Such opportunities include training on deconstructing complex problem statements, data visualization and communication, Excel for strategy and business, slide design, and topical areas of interest including ESG reporting standards and trends. For more senior roles, upskilling opportunities also include executive coaching, attending conferences, 1:1 engagement with board members, and tailored training that support the path to firm leadership and developing new service lines.

Location and travel
This role is based in Chicago with a mix of in-person and remote work. We are opening a physical office space in the West Loop of Chicago in 2024, which will enable us to further advance our firm goals, such as fostering meaningful interpersonal relationships with one another, creating more effective and frequent mentorship opportunities, and working collaboratively to generate best-in-class s client work. We expect Chicago-based employees to be in-office several days per week once the firm’s physical space is opened (at which time a more precise in-office policy will be established).

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
In reviewing national trends and statistics, we understand that many underrepresented candidates do not apply for positions unless they feel they meet all the stated requirements. If you have interest in the position but are concerned you do not meet all the criteria, we still encourage you to apply. At Telesto, we hire based on hard and soft skills and believe in providing technical training to all team members. At our core, we value having a well-rounded team consisting of a multitude of backgrounds, experiences, and ideas.