Analyst - Product Development - Center of Competence

McKinsey & Company, Inc. - McKinsey Knowledge Centre

Position Description

Analyst– PD (Product Development) Centre of Competence

DEPARTMENT: Product Development Centre of Competence (CoC)

LOCATION: McKinsey Knowledge Centre, Gurgaon

About us

McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a leading international management consulting firm with 90 office locations in 51 countries. It is one of the most respected and renowned organisations in the world and has been consistently ranked as the leading employer of choice at MBA schools across the world.

It advises top management of the world’s leading companies on issues of strategy, organization and operations. Our mission is twofold: to help our clients make positive lasting and substantial improvements in their performance and to build a great Firm that is able to attract, develop, excite and retain exceptional people.

The McKinsey Knowledge Center (McKC) in India is the largest and most diverse knowledge hub of McKinsey. We offer an outstanding opportunity to professionals to join the Knowledge Network and work with consultants to deliver exceptional impact.

The McKinsey Knowledge Center, which was established in Gurgaon 11 years ago as a purely secondary research capability supporting consulting teams, has evolved into an innovative knowledge services hub and is now located in both Gurgaon and Chennai. It currently boasts more than 25 functional and industry practices representing a microcosm of McKinsey—specialized analytics and research teams with access to a global network of experts to draw insights and support consulting teams across all McKinsey offices.

McKC has been at the forefront of knowledge innovations at McKinsey. From delivering solutions such as rapid access research to specialized analytics and industry and functional Centers of Competence, our history is replete with examples of how innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of our operating culture

The Product Development (PD) team at McKC is one of the Centre-of-Competence (CoC) for the Firm. Product Development is a fast growing practice globally with several distinct service lines. We help our clients achieve profitable organic growth by improving productivity and effectiveness of their product development system (15%-30% time-to-market improvement, 20%-40% development cost reduction, program stabilization) and by working directly to create higher-value products and services and more attractive product lines (10%-30% margin uplift, >10% revenue increase). Client engagements span most industry sectors with a concentration in Automotive, Assembly, Aerospace, Industrials, High-Tech, Telecom, Pharma and Medical Products. We conduct over 300 engagements each year in over 25 countries. Over the past year, the CoC supported by the DTV (Design to Value) labs in Chennai, New Delhi and Taipei has become the core global knowledge and delivery hub for the PD practice.

McKinsey Knowledge Center, India is looking for an Analyst with past experience in operations management, specifically Product Development. The Analyst would be expected to spend most of his/her time working as part of McKinsey client service teams across the globe on product development related topics and take lead in knowledge management. The Analyst would be located in Gurgaon, India, however, would be required to travel extensively to serve clients onsite.

Analyst would grow into a Senior Analyst role, leading teams of analysts on client projects. Career growth from there on could be either on a specialist track focusing on content leadership or a managerial track focusing on people leadership. High performing individuals are recognized for fast track upward movement in the Firm.

Role Description

The Analyst would spend significant part (~80 %) of his/her time working onsite as part of consulting teams helping solve complex client problems in product development domain. This work includes (and not limited to) rationalizing product design based on competitive teardown analysis and customer insights, helping client teams estimate product should cost based on clean sheet costing (and hence design a low cost product), working on new product development arena reducing new product development time, cost and quality attributes, carrying on survey to understand improvement aspects of the organization to support an efficient and effective product development and improving thereof to built a sustainable capability for the R&D organization for clients, etc.

The remaining time (~20%) will be spent on developing cutting edge knowledge related to the PD domain and in delivering specialized remote services to clients.

The analyst will be expected to perform the following roles:

- Work on various product development engagements, provide expert client service (product teardown analysis, clean sheet costing, new product development time optimization, saving ideas/lever identification, R&D strategy development and developing mechanism for tracking R&D performance) for various industries / categories

- Support development and maintenance of various practice knowledge initiatives (build Firm’s knowledge on product development related topics)

This is a global role (cross geography, cross industry) and would work well for those who truly envision themselves growing into ‘experts’ within the PD domain.

Knowledge & Skills Required

We are looking for candidates who have demonstrated both a strong business sense and deep understanding of foundations of PD. Candidates must also possess the following hallmarks of excellent problem solving skills, team skills, entrepreneurial ability, and strong communication skills:

- Excellent problem solving skills, including the ability to disaggregate issues, identify root causes and recommend solutions.

- Excellent analytical skills and ability to understand the relevant analysis required to prove a hypothesis and ability to gather information around it and make informed/logical assumptions where required

- Good written and verbal communication skills. Fluent in both written and spoken English; prior experience in a multi-national environment desirable.

- Energetic, cooperative and pleasant personality. Able to work with a diverse group of team members

- Flexibility, patience, and an understanding of fluid, demanding, and unstructured environments where priorities evolve constantly and methodologies are regularly challenged.

- Ability to work under pressure and deliver on tight deadlines

- Strong IT skills (knowledge on MS Excel, PowerPoint is a must ; also knowledge on MS Access and MS Project is an added advantage)

- Knowledge / experience on product design related tools is a must.

Education & Previous Experience Required

- BE/BTech from NIT/BITS. In addition to an Engineering degree, an MBA from a reputed B-School with specialization preferably in Operations will be an added advantage.

- Casting and forging ancillary industry experience of 1-4 years in the area of product development. Cost and value centric product development experience is a must. Candidates with purchasing background but having a strong leaning towards PD (willing to explore new career track) can also be considered

Compensation - Commensurate with work experience.