Tiburon is hiring! Specifically, the firm plans to add either a chief consulting officer and/or a team of two-to-three incremental principals (the most senior role at the firm) in 2010. The firm also intends to add several additional research managers and/or associates as well as business & marketing managers and/or associates. And the firm is open to hearing from candidates for its entrepreneurial associate principal role. Current opportunities are highlighted below.

Tiburon Strategic Advisors

Tiburon Strategic Advisors was formed in 1998 to offer market research, strategy consulting, & other related services primarily to senior executives in the financial services industry. All Tiburon principals, managers, & associates are primarily engaged in the business of conducting research, drawing conclusions, creating & fulfilling demand, & providing advice to the firm’s clients (and sometimes to the firm itself). Tiburon’s business structure is akin to being a boutique version of McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, or Boston Consulting Group, and it is probably most like Bain & Company, in that it is intentionally retaining its entrepreneurial culture (think of Tiburon as a profitable firm with a twelve year successful track-record but still with a start-up firm’s culture, energy, & rewards systems).

Tiburon is positioned as an upscale business-to-business enterprise serving well-seasoned executives. Three of Tiburon’s core clientele groups are the CEOs and other senior executives of large US financial institutions faced with difficult strategic decisions, leading executives of foreign financial institutions trying to understand and/or enter the US markets, and a long list of venture capital & private equity firms, and investment banks, making investments in, and executing transactions in, areas where Tiburon has developed proprietary insights. The firm has served over 300 corporate clients and completed over 1,200 projects since its founding, and today, its knowledge base includes topics such as consumer wealth, mutual fund distribution, separately managed account programs, alternative investments, wealth management, insurance products, banking services, the fee-based financial advisor market, the CPA firm market, the family office market, and various international markets.

Tiburon’s products & services are relatively expensive, with its least expensive product (its off-the-shelf research reports) costing $5,000 and most market research & strategy consulting assignments being billed at above $100,000. Practically, Tiburon principals, research managers, & research associates read a lot of newspaper clippings, surf a lot of web sites, execute proprietary research, and then in very well-defined ways, translate this information into PowerPoint presentation pages, analyze the findings, draw conclusions, & structure those conclusions into documents, allowing the firm to use these documents to offer general & specific business advice to its clients. Tiburon’s principals, business & marketing managers, and business & marketing associates then design & manage efforts to share the firm’s research, and assess & manage the resulting inbound client & prospect inquires.

Tiburon offers principals, managers, & associates a broad learning and participatory experience across the financial services industry, with frequent exposure to executive-level thinking. As a general rule, strategy consulting firms offer substantial levels of responsibility to their principals, managers, & associates along with potentially high rewards structures. Furthermore, because of its initial single-principal business model, Tiburon has been built around the objective of giving even more than traditional levels of responsibility & autonomy to its managers & associates. For all roles at Tiburon, principals, managers, & associates execute special assignments & tasks under only general supervision, and they are expected to customarily & regularly exercise discretion & independent judgment to many matters of substantial importance & consequences to both Tiburon & its clients. On a daily basis, Tiburon managers & associates will compare & evaluate various courses of conduct and make decisions with consequences, often free from direct supervision. In short, Tiburon seeks to help managers & associates learn its established processes and to build their careers at Tiburon, following a path to becoming firm principals.

Tiburon’s culture requires accuracy, accountability, efficiency, productivity, & professionalism. Time is the scarce commodity in the strategy consulting business and with its initial single principal model, Tiburon diligently guards it; in other words, successful candidates need to be efficient, work with limited supervision, and be productive to succeed at Tiburon. Tiburon’s office can reflect a library on many days, with all employees devoted to their own assignments.

Tiburon rewards success, specifically offering merit-based compensation & advancement opportunities, most notably shown by managers' & associates’ ability to conduct insightful research, draw accurate & insightful conclusions, create & fulfill client demand, and help less experienced employees succeed. Tiburon has worked diligently to make its work environment enjoyable in order to enable high performing managers & associates to succeed; the Tiburon setting & office design are quite pleasing (no cubicles!), casual dress, music, & office dogs are allowed on some days, and the firm tries to allow employees to earn half-day Fridays (based on hitting revenue goals).

Current Openings

Specifically, Tiburon has openings in four areas:

• Chief Consulting Officer or Team of Principals: Tiburon would like to add either a chief consulting officer and/or a team of two-to-three principals in 2010. The mid-term objective is for these executives to take over leadership of all Tiburon market research & strategy consulting assignments. Details on the opportunity are included below. The firm is open to receiving such proposals.
• Research Managers & Associates: Tiburon is seeking to opportunistically add one or two research managers or associates.  A detailed job description is included below. Tiburon has found that adding managers can be a difficult transition and may hence start all as associates.
• Business & Marketing Managers & Associates: Tiburon is seeking to opportunistically add one or two business & marketing managers or associates.  A detailed job description is included below. Tiburon has found that adding managers can be a difficult transition and may hence start all as associates.
• Associate Principals: Tiburon is attempting to define an associate principals program for mid-career professionals who want the autonomy of working on business & marketing (not client) projects as independent contractors while benefiting from Tiburon's established market position (relationships, written research materials, & marketing processes).

Consulting Department: Chief Consulting Officer and/or Team of Principals

Tiburon's key opportunity now is to add additional principals to leverage its client relationships, written research materials, & marketing processes.  It is expected that new principals will independently lead market research & strategy consulting assignments with existing Tiburon clients or possibly new clients that they would source. The crux of the opportunity though is to leverage the firm's client relationships, research, marketing processes, & infrastructure that have been built over the past twelve years. Tiburon's managing principal wants to transition project and employee leadership in the near-term, repositioning himself to focus more on marketing and research, and also wants to transition client and firm leadership in the medium term.

Becoming a principal at Tiburon is an excellent opportunity for mid-career strategy consultants who have gained experience with top-tier strategy consulting firms, and who may now wish to pursue more entrepreneurial opportunities. As Tiburon's managing principal focuses more of his efforts on running the firm, marketing, assessing client needs, and driving the firm's research agenda, Tiburon expects these other principals to lead the majority of client engagements, and the firm is prepared to kick-start all new principals by introducing them to the firm's extensive client base (e.g., approximately 150 Tiburon clients attend each of its semi-annual CEO Summits).

The Tiburon principal role is for experienced management consultants who have learned and successfully applied strategy consulting processes. The best candidates likely have gone into the financial services industry and/or served financial services companies extensively. As compared to the model of the leading management consulting firms, the best candidates for Tiburon may bring more industry expertise, may be a little more research focused, and may be more hands-on. But that said, the role is similar to that at the larger strategy firms.

Candidates for the roles of principal need to have gained experienced at one of the top-tier strategy consulting firms such as McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Boston Consulting Group (e.g., Tiburon's managing principal is an alumnus of McKinsey & Company). A careful balance of consulting skills, industry experience, & research aptitude is required. Principal candidates must be able to develop and maintain excellent client relationships and independently lead multiple projects. New principals must also be devoted to continuing Tiburon's research-based model. Ideal candidates may have overlapping expertise and/or expertise in areas related to the firm's core brokerage & investment management clientele; obvious synergistic areas include banking, insurance, institutional asset management, capital markets, corporate & capital governance, leadership & change management, technology, operations, and M&A strategy.

In a boutique environment, the two key challenges for new principals appear to be:

• Role & Compensation: New principals will necessarily need to create and be rewarded on incremental revenues for any economic equation to be manageable
• Onboarding Process: Due to the firm's existing single-principal structure, a systematic onboarding process will be required (possibly slower than some would like)

There appear to be two ways to effect the transition that Tiburon is seeking to make:

• The first alternative for Tiburon is to add an experienced chief consulting officer (also a principal) to build out a team of principals
• The second alternative may be to find an existing team of two-to-three principals who have a history of working together and who could lead Tiburon's market research & strategy consulting business, building out the principals team

Compensation Package

Compensation for principals will be structured similarly to that at other management consulting firms, consisting of draws based on previous Tiburon results and annual profit sharing allocations. Principals will be compensated substantially on project execution; the firm's current model allocates a percentage of project revenues to sales, research, marketing & administration, and equity, while still allocating the largest share to execution. Early principals may be eligible for higher percentage payouts as they will be expected to continue to help build the infrastructure and source additional principals. After an initial period, draws can be established based on realized revenues; draws of $300,000-$600,000 seem realistic based on $600,000+  compensation expectations for principals, with additional compensation paid annually. A substantial level of commitment will be expected of all new principals; compensation will follow, not lead.

Tiburon hopes to add an initial two-to-three principals in Tiburon so that they are best able to leverage the existing firm engine and be available to directly lead managers & associates in market research & strategy consulting projects. Beyond that, Tiburon will be willing to explore the addition of new offices. The firm is not interested in contractor relationships or assistance from recruiters.

Research Managers & Associates

Tiburon research manager & associate positions provide a unique opportunity for BA/BS or MA/MBA graduates with a research aptitude to enter into the consulting industry and learn research and consulting processes. Prior consulting experience is not necessary, but rather new research associates will be expected to quickly learn & apply Tiburon’s well-established research & consulting processes. Content knowledge is also not a pre-requisite and may even make one believe that they are more qualified than is true; Tiburon’s clients are generally the CEOs of their businesses, so they are quite well-versed in basic (and often advanced) industry content. Content is learned at Tiburon by reading the firm’s existing research reports, reading newspaper clippings & web sites, and incorporating new learnings, allowing new research associates to contribute to the publication of new and updated versions of Tiburon research reports. Experience has taught the firm that backgrounds in research, debate, history, and/or journalism may be most helpful.

Tiburon research managers design & manage the majority of the firm’s research efforts, conduct analyses, draw conclusions, and structure those conclusions into proprietary Tiburon research content and client documents. Tiburon research associates play two essential roles in supporting principals & research managers:

• Quickly and accurately processing principal Power Point additions & enhancements (and conducting related research projects) by closely following Tiburon format and moving rapidly (with the requirement of one document being turned around daily)
• Leading the core aspects of research report production, including refining reports' table of contents, reconciling appendices, selecting key findings, selecting executive summary paragraphs, & selecting Power Point slides to include (with the requirement of one new or revised research report being published weekly)

Near-term success will be based on both timeliness and accuracy of work. Success will be measured by the quality of the work products produced, as evaluated by clients, principals, & managers.

Mid-term opportunities for successful research associates are enormous at Tiburon. By developing a track record of timeliness and accuracy, research associates will be reviewed for advancement to the role of research manager.

Tiburon research associates meet periodically with research managers & other associates to discuss research content, and will be expected to rapidly understand & adhere to Tiburon processes. Self-management, multi-tasking, independent judgment, and daily deliverables will be critical for success.

The crux of Tiburon’s employee value proposition is to offer research associates vastly more responsibility than at other strategy consulting firms, with the mid-term potential for exposure to broader levels of thinking and higher levels of executives. Because of the clear direction and significant responsibilities, many of Tiburon’s most successful research associates will choose to work the maximum allowable hours to capitalize on the rapid potential advancement.

Qualifications

More than any particular degree or experience, success in strategy consulting seems to come to those who are research-oriented, organized, conclusion-oriented, & motivated. Tiburon has developed the following qualifications list for this role to represent its desire to find team members with those aptitudes:

• BA/BS or MA/MBA: This is clear. As an aside, candidates with MBAs are encouraged to apply; if one executes at an MBA level, they should be able to earn quick advancement to the manager role and then frequent & substantial salary raises
• Work Experience: Two-to-five years of experience would be ideal. Tiburon is seeking perspective more than anything else from prior work experience. Prior consulting or financial services experience is not critical as the firm has deep content knowledge & well-established processes
• Motivation, Research-Aptitude, Organization, Attention-to-Detail, Energy, & Resiliency: More than anything, success in this role will be had by candidates that are motivated, tackle research head-on, stay organized, & work hard
• Common Sense & Street Smarts: This is a job for folks who can figure it out; the best school pedigree or highest grades often don’t reveal this
• Perspective: The strategy consulting business provides enormous potential for candidates in the medium-term; in other words, candidates need to remember that this is a long-distance run, not a sprint; the team wins collectively over time
• Basic Power Point Skills: The key here is speed, not advanced skills. Advanced skills are unimportant as they will not be utilized; instead, the ability to follow existing formats and move quickly is key
• Availability: Candidates must be available to interview immediately, be currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, have an existing legal right to work in the US, be willing to prepare for the role, and be available to begin work immediately
• All research associate roles need to be in Tiburon, CA, at this time. The firm is not interested in telecommuters, contractor relationships, or assistance from recruiters

Compensation Package

All new employees at Tiburon will start as associates until they have shown comprehensive knowledge of Tiburon’s processes, at which point they can be considered for the role of manager, which comes with more direct contact with the firm’s principals and higher potential compensation. Tiburon hopes to reward successful associates over time through a clearly-defined advancement plan.

The compensation package for the Tiburon associate role is:

• $19.25 per hour, with payments made via direct deposit on approximately the 25th day of each month
• A required 40 hours and a maximum allowable 48 hours work per week (with the eight overtime hours compensated at $28.88 per hour)
• Benefits including comprehensive medical insurance and ten days paid time off (including vacation, personal days, sick days, etc.), both starting after 90 days of successful employment. Tiburon also honors all New York Stock Exchange holidays and all employees are granted their birthday and hire date anniversary as special holidays, allowing a total of about 30 paid days off per year

All Tiburon associate roles are eligible for up to eight hours per week of overtime pay. All Tiburon associates will be expected to maintain detailed accounting of their hours and should take break periods as stipulated by California employment law. Should a associate refuse to take a break at any time, such refusal shall be agreed in writing. All Tiburon associates are subject to a three month probation period without benefits. Tiburon associate roles are challenging; employees should seek out regular feedback from their assigned supervisors and/or mentors. Continued employment will be based on individual and company performance. Tiburon will not offer severance to associates who do not succeed.

Business & Marketing Managers & Associates

Tiburon business & marketing manager & associate positions provide a unique opportunity for BA/BS or MA/MBA graduates with a business & marketing aptitude to enter into the consulting industry and learn business & marketing processes. Prior consulting experience is not necessary, but rather new business & marketing associates will be expected to quickly learn & apply Tiburon’s well-established business & marketing processes. Content knowledge is also not a pre-requisite and may even make one believe that they are more qualified than is true; Tiburon’s clients are generally the CEOs of their businesses, so they are quite well-versed in basic (and often advanced) industry content. Content is learned at Tiburon by reading the firm’s existing research reports, reading newspaper clippings & web sites, and incorporating new learnings, allowing new business & marketing associates to contribute to the design & execution of business & marketing projects. Experience has taught the firm that backgrounds in research, debate, history, and/or journalism may be most helpful.

Tiburon business & marketing managers design & manage the majority of the firm’s business & marketing efforts, outlining such projects, executing such, & measuring such. Tiburon business & marketing associates play two essential roles in supporting principals and business & marketing managers:

• Quickly and accurately processing principal Power Point additions & enhancements (and conducting related research projects) by closely following Tiburon format and moving rapidly (with the requirement of one document being turned around daily)
• Executing pre-defined business & marketing projects (with most projects taking just hours, days, or weeks)

Near-term success will be based on both timeliness and accuracy of work. Success will be measured by the quality of the work products produced, as evaluated by clients, principals, & managers.

Mid-term opportunities for successful business & marketing associates are enormous at Tiburon. By developing a track record of timeliness and accuracy, business & marketing associates will be reviewed for advancement to the role of business & marketing manager.

Tiburon business & marketing associates meet periodically with business & marketing managers & other associates to discuss projects, and will be expected to rapidly understand & adhere to Tiburon processes. Self-management, multi-tasking, independent judgment, and daily deliverables will be critical for success.

The crux of Tiburon’s employee value proposition is to offer business & marketing associates vastly more responsibility than at other strategy consulting firms, with the mid-term potential for exposure to broader levels of thinking and higher levels of executives. Because of the clear direction and significant responsibilities, many of Tiburon’s most successful business & marketing associates will choose to work the maximum allowable hours to capitalize on the rapid potential advancement.

Qualifications

More than any particular degree or experience, success in strategy consulting seems to come to those who are research-oriented, organized, conclusion-oriented, & motivated. Tiburon has developed the following qualifications list for this role to represent its desire to find team members with those aptitudes:

• BA/BS or MA/MBA: This is clear. As an aside, candidates with MBAs are encouraged to apply; if one executes at an MBA level, they should be able to earn quick advancement to the manager role and then frequent & substantial salary raises
• Work Experience: Two-to-five years of experience would be ideal. Tiburon is seeking perspective more than anything else from prior work experience. Prior consulting or financial services experience is not critical as the firm has deep content knowledge & well-established processes
• Motivation, Research-Aptitude, Organization, Attention-to-Detail, Energy, & Resiliency: More than anything, success in this role will be had by candidates that are motivated, tackle research head-on, stay organized, & work hard
• Common Sense & Street Smarts: This is a job for folks who can figure it out; the best school pedigree or highest grades often don’t reveal this
• Perspective: The strategy consulting business provides enormous potential for candidates in the medium-term; in other words, candidates need to remember that this is a long-distance run, not a sprint; the team wins collectively over time
• Basic Power Point Skills: The key here is speed, not advanced skills. Advanced skills are unimportant as they will not be utilized; instead, the ability to follow existing formats and move quickly is key
• Availability: Candidates must be available to interview immediately, be currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, have an existing legal right to work in the US, be willing to prepare for the role, and be available to begin work immediately
• All research associate roles need to be in Tiburon, CA, at this time. The firm is not interested in telecommuters, contractor relationships, or assistance from recruiters

Compensation Package

All new employees at Tiburon will start as associates until they have shown comprehensive knowledge of Tiburon’s processes, at which point they can be considered for the role of manager, which comes with more direct contact with the firm’s principals and higher potential compensation. Tiburon hopes to reward successful associates over time through a clearly-defined advancement plan.

The compensation package for the Tiburon associate role is:

• $19.25 per hour, with payments made via direct deposit on approximately the 25th day of each month
• A required 40 hours and a maximum allowable 48 hours work per week (with the eight overtime hours compensated at $28.88 per hour)
• Benefits including comprehensive medical insurance and ten days paid time off (including vacation, personal days, sick days, etc.), both starting after 90 days of successful employment. Tiburon also honors all New York Stock Exchange holidays and all employees are granted their birthday and hire date anniversary as special holidays, allowing a total of about 30 paid days off per year

All Tiburon associate roles are eligible for up to eight hours per week of overtime pay. All Tiburon associates will be expected to maintain detailed accounting of their hours and should take break periods as stipulated by California employment law. Should a associate refuse to take a break at any time, such refusal shall be agreed in writing. All Tiburon associates are subject to a three month probation period without benefits. Tiburon associate roles are challenging; employees should seek out regular feedback from their assigned supervisors and/or mentors. Continued employment will be based on individual and company performance. Tiburon will not offer severance to associates who do not succeed.

Associate Principals

Tiburon is attempting to define an associate principals program for mid-career professionals who want the autonomy of working on business & marketing (not client) projects as independent contractors while benefiting from Tiburon's established market position (relationships, written research materials, & marketing processes).

Becoming an associate principal at Tiburon is an excellent opportunity for mid-career professionals with the aptitude to work alone, the desire to follow through a project, & the necessary general management skills (as projects often will involve research, technology, and marketing). Rewards will be solely tied to project completion and revenue generation. Tiburon has the opportunity to allow a series of associate principals to lead dozens key Tiburon initiatives.

Compensation Package

Compensation for associate principals will be solely based upon project completion and resulting revenues.

All Tiburon associate principal roles would be structured as independent contractors and are obviously exempt from overtime pay. The firm is not interested in assistance from recruiters.

Tiburon Careers Process

Prior to applying for this job, please:

• Thoroughly review Tiburon’s web site at www.TiburonAdvisors.Com to gain a comprehensive understanding of the firm’s products (which include its research reports, research report assess program, database access program, and conference speeches), its services (which include its market seminars, market research projects, strategy consulting projects, & retainers, executive counseling, & board roles), and its research processes and document structures
  
• Also please visit the web sites of leading strategy consulting firms such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company to better understand the consulting industry, and understand Tiburon’s position within the broader market
  
• There are even two books in the library called The McKinsey Way and The McKinsey Mind. Reading such would prepare one well for an interview at Tiburon

If you are interested in applying for any Tiburon position, please email a cover letter explaining how you would fulfill this job’s specific requirements, and include a resume. Please send these to Careers@TiburonAdvisors.Com. Tiburon will contact qualified candidates promptly. Thanks & good luck!

Other senior industry executives may be interested in Tiburon's CEOs-in-Residence or Tiburon Fellows programs. The CEOs program is for retired CEOs from throughout the industry who want to stay actively involved in some capacity. The Tiburon Fellows program is for executives that have set up industry-focused consulting businesses in complementary capacities to Tiburon's services. You may also find the information in the Tiburon People and the About Tiburon sections helpful.