Principal Consultant

Wood Mackenzie • Boston, MA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

This is a role for someone genuinely curious about energy markets and energized by difficult problems. Clients come to us with their hardest strategic and commercial questions; your job is to lead teams in answering them well — applying structured problem-solving, sound judgement, and the full depth of Wood Mackenzie's data, research and expertise to reach clear, defensible conclusions. You lead project teams. Junior colleagues look to you to set the standard, coach them through difficult problems, and hold the bar on quality. Clients look to you as a credible advisor who understands both their commercial decisions and the power and renewables markets that shape them.

Requirements

• Typically 7+ years of experience that demonstrates both strong consulting fundamentals and solid grounding in power and/or renewables markets, with a proven track record of leading projects and teams.
• Strong consulting fundamentals — essential: structured problem-solving, analytical rigor, and the ability to turn complex, ambiguous questions into clear, defensible answers.
• A solid grounding in power and/or renewables markets — essential: need to engage credibly with clients and lead analysis from the outset, with the appetite and ability to build it into genuine sector depth over time.
• Excellent written and verbal communication: able to construct high-impact storylines and present with authority to senior audiences.
• A natural coach, genuinely committed to developing junior colleagues and raising the standard around them.
• Intellectually curious, client-focused, and able to become credible quickly across a wide range of subjects.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline (engineering, economics, finance, mathematics, physics or similar); a Master's degree or MBA is preferred.
• Strong Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint skills.

Nice To Haves

• Candidates with genuine depth coming in will be at an advantage.
• Experience acting as a commercial advisor in power and renewables transactions is highly desirable.
• Financial modelling skills and familiarity with power generation asset and/or market modelling is highly desirable.
• Previous hands-on experience in building asset pro-forma models is highly desirable.
• Python and Agentic AI tool development skills are desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of complex commercial and strategy mandates across Americas power and renewables markets: shape the approach, set clear objectives, and steer teams to deliver on time, on budget, and to a high standard.
• Take full accountability for the quality of everything your project teams deliver — from the rigor of the analysis to the clarity of the final recommendations — and stand behind that work with clients in a coherent, credible and authoritative manner.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior client teams — frequently serving as the commercial advisor on transactions — and interface effectively at every level, from analysts and project teams through to the C-suite.
• Serve as the client's trusted point of contact through the life of each mandate: keep them informed, work through issues as they arise, and ensure the experience of working with us is as strong as the work itself.
• Where excellent delivery naturally opens the door to further work, recognize and surface it.
• Develop the next generation of consultants: coach and stretch junior colleagues, model the standard for problem-solving and craft, and take genuine ownership for their growth.
• Bring a current, commercially grounded view of power and renewables markets — fundamentals, price formation, core technologies (wind, solar, storage, gas/flexible resource) and the energy transition — and apply it with judgement across a wide range of client situations.
• Build and draw on a strong internal network across consulting, research, and sales and account management, bringing the full weight of Wood Mackenzie's data and expertise to every mandate.

Benefits

• Our Work Experience is the combination of everything that's unique about us: our culture, our core values, our company meetings, our commitment to sustainability, our recognition programs, but most importantly, it's our people.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal