Senior Management Consultant (People Strategy)

Shape organisation-wide strategy — with people at its core.

At Korn Ferry, we believe organisations succeed or fail based on how effectively they align their strategy with their people. That’s why our work in local public services focuses on designing organisations where structure, leadership, capability and culture come together to enable delivery.

We partner with senior leaders to define and deliver organisation-wide strategy — ensuring that workforce, leadership and ways of working are not an afterthought, but the driving force behind sustainable change.

In a context of rising demand, financial pressure and workforce challenges, this means helping public service organisations rethink how they are structured, how decisions are made, and how their people are enabled to perform at their best.

We are now seeking a Senior Principal to join our Local Public Services (LPS) team — a senior leader who brings deep expertise in organisation and workforce transformation, and who is passionate about putting people at the centre of strategy.

This is a role for someone who understands that transformation is only successful when the organisation is designed around its people — with the right leadership, capability, behaviours and environment in place to deliver real outcomes.

The opportunity

As a Senior Principal, you will lead large‑scale transformation programmes across local authorities and wider public service organisations — shaping how strategy is translated into organisation-wide change.

You will work directly with senior leaders to define how their organisations need to evolve — and ensure that their people, leadership and structures are aligned to deliver.

Your work will typically include:

• Defining organisation-wide strategy with a strong focus on workforce and leadership alignment
• Leading organisation design, including structures, roles, accountabilities and ways of working
• Aligning workforce capability, skills and capacity to future strategic priorities
• Supporting leadership teams to drive change through behaviour, culture and performance
• Establishing governance and decision-making frameworks that enable accountability and pace
• Driving implementation and embedding change in complex, high‑profile environments

You will lead from early-stage problem definition through to delivery and benefits realisation — ensuring that strategy is not only well-defined, but owned and delivered through the organisation.

The role is UK‑wide, with a base in Manchester or London, and will involve travel and occasional overnight stays to build strong client relationships.

Your impact

This is a senior, high‑impact role where you will:

• Lead complex transformation programmes with a clear focus on people-led delivery
• Shape organisations so that workforce, leadership and structure are fully aligned to strategy
• Bring together organisation design, workforce insight and delivery to create lasting change
• Build trusted relationships with Directors, Chief Officers and programme sponsors
• Provide informed challenge on how organisations enable performance through their people
• Contribute to the growth of Korn Ferry’s Local Public Services offering and develop others

Why Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry is a global organisational consulting firm with deep expertise in leadership, workforce and organisation strategy. What sets us apart is our belief that strategy only delivers through people — and our ability to design organisations where that connection is explicit, practical and measurable.

In the Local Public Services team, you will work on some of the most complex challenges in the sector — helping clients reshape their organisations in a way that puts people, leadership and capability at the centre of delivery.

Is this you?

This role will suit someone who:

• Comes from a human capital, workforce or HR consulting background, with strong organisation design experience
• Understands how to translate strategy into workforce, leadership and organisational outcomes
• Enjoys shaping whole organisations, not just delivering discrete programmes
• Is comfortable influencing at senior levels in complex, stakeholder‑rich environments
• Is motivated by delivering meaningful, people-led change in public services

If you’re looking for a role where you can shape organisation-wide strategy through a people lens — and see that translate into real-world impact — we’d love to hear from you.