Consulting Manager

 

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Recruitment Brief

Crux Consulting | Engagement Manager (Permanent)

An additional permanent hire, alongside the five consulting roles already in market Prepared by TSRecruitment | www.tsrecruitment.co.za | Confidential

The short version

Crux is adding a permanent Engagement Manager to the brief, on top of the five roles

we are already working on at Junior Associate, Associate and Senior Associate

Consultant level. This one sits a level up. It is the first proper project-leadership hire in

this round, so it carries more weight, both in seniority and in what the person needs to

bring to the table.

 

About Crux Consulting

Crux is a young, fast-growing consulting firm founded in 2024 by Clayton Hall. The team is

around 18 people, most of them independent contractors, and the firm is now building out its

permanent base. It is led by two ex-McKinsey senior leaders, both of whom reached

Associate Partner level, alongside an ex-Deloitte COO. That is a serious leadership bench

for a firm this young, and it matters because Crux does not have a website yet, so the

credibility rests on the people. The culture is the real differentiator: they look after their

people, there is no burnout and no silly hours, and it is a tight, likeable team that enjoys the

work. The setup is fully remote, with people able to base themselves in Johannesburg or

Cape Town, and the firm pays top-tier (Tier 1) salaries.

What the Engagement Manager Role Is

Crux runs on the same level structure as McKinsey, and that is deliberate. The senior team

came up through that system, so an Engagement Manager at Crux means what it means at

McKinsey: the person who leads a consulting engagement day to day.

In practice, the Engagement Manager is the project leader. They sit between the senior

people who own the client relationship and bring in the work, and the consultants (Senior

Associate Consultants, Associates and Junior Associates) who do the bulk of the analysis.

The EM owns the project and its end product.

Day to day, that means framing the problem and structuring the workplan, setting the

direction and the hypotheses, steering the data gathering and analysis, keeping the work on

track and on time, managing the client at a working level, and turning the team's analysis

into something genuinely useful and client-ready rather than just analytically neat.

It is also a people job. The EM leads a small team, usually a few consultants, allocates the

work to people's strengths, and coaches and develops them as they go. At McKinsey that

mentoring is a core part of the role rather than an extra, and it will be the same at Crux.

Put simply, it is the pivotal step from doing the analysis yourself to owning the whole

engagement and leading the people delivering it. Anyone who has been an Engagement

 

 

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Manager, or is a strong Senior Associate ready to step up, will recognise the shape of it

straight away.

Where It Sits at Crux

This role sits above the five we are already recruiting. Junior Associate, Associate and

Senior Associate Consultant are the delivery levels. The Engagement Manager leads them.

So this is a more senior and more selective hire, and the person needs the judgment and

presence to lead a team and hold a client relationship, not just do excellent individual work.

Who We Are Looking For

Consulting experience is the non-negotiable, the same as the other roles, but the bar is

higher here. Ideally this is someone already operating at Engagement Manager level (or the

equivalent, such as engagement lead, project leader or manager) at a top firm, or a

genuinely strong Senior Associate or Senior Consultant who is ready and able to make the

step up.

Pedigree should come from MBB, the Big 4 or a strong boutique. Beyond the technical

ability, they need to be able to lead a team and own a client relationship, structure messy

problems, and keep delivery moving, while bringing people along with them rather than

burning them out, which fits how Crux works.

The right person still loves consulting and wants more ownership and leadership, but is

looking for a healthier, more human place to lead than where they are now.

Why It Is a Strong Move (The Pitch)

Everything that makes Crux attractive for the junior roles applies here too: a firm that

genuinely looks after its people, no burnout culture, sensible hours, a tight and likeable team,

and the chance to work closely with leaders who operated at the very top of the profession.

For an Engagement Manager specifically, there is more on top. This is real ownership. You

would be leading engagements end to end at a growing firm, with a direct line to the

founders rather than being one of hundreds of EMs in a machine. There is genuine room to

shape how the firm delivers, and to build and develop your own team. It is the leadership

step a lot of senior consultants are after, but without the politics and grind of a big firm.

It is fully remote, you can be based in Johannesburg or Cape Town, and the package is

pitched at Tier 1, above the other levels in this campaign.

Notes for the Team (Internal)

• This is a more selective hire than the five delivery roles. Prioritise people with a

genuine project-leadership track record, or Senior Associate Consultant level people

who are clearly ready to step up, rather than strong individual contributors who have

not led.

• No Deloitte, per Clayton. As with the other roles, treat this as a culture-fit call rather

than a view on the firm, since the COO he trusts most came out of Deloitte. A clearly

excellent ex-Deloitte person is a conversation to have with Clayton, not an automatic

no.

 

 

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• Keep Crux anonymous in any public advert, and reference the leadership pedigree in

aggregate rather than naming individuals or the firm. Do not name or link Shakeel,

who sits with Crux as an independent consultant and whose LinkedIn is not currently

updated.

• Confirm the Engagement Manager salary band with Clayton before going to market,

so we pitch the level correctly above Senior Associate Consultant.