Principal Consultant

Job Title: Principal Consultant - Marks Sattin

Location: Dublin - Hybrid

Salary: Competitive, plus bonus and comprehensive benefits

Overview

As a Principal Consultant at Marks Sattin Dublin, you will operate at a senior level within the specialist financial services market, cultivating a strong personal brand and network to deliver high‑value recruitment and headhunting solutions. You will lead senior and executive‑level mandates, drive business development across target clients, and play a pivotal role in the growth and strategic direction of your desk and the wider team.

Key responsibilities:

Sales and Business development:

• Take full ownership of all Principal Consultant responsibilities and KPIs.
• Act as a key business developer with advanced sales capabilities.
• Continuously expand your client portfolio and generate new business opportunities.
• Be a leading fee earner within Marks Sattin, consistently delivering top‑quartile performance.
• Consistently meet and exceed sales and activity targets as agreed in quarterly business plans.
• Take a lead role in client visits, pitches and tender processes.
• Act as a key Account Manager for major and strategic clients.
• Champion internal cross‑selling, introducing other Marks Sattin consultants and teams to your portfolio.
• Operate on a retained and/or exclusive basis on a significant proportion of your assignments.

Client management:

• Maintain excellent, long‑term relationships with key clients in your market.
• Proactively network with existing and prospective clients to identify upcoming hiring needs.
• Play a key role in targeting high‑volume / high‑potential PSL and strategic accounts.
• Serve key clients by understanding their specific requirements and providing regular feedback on assignment progress and outcomes.
• Engage your market proactively through blogs, thought leadership and market updates.
• Attend regular client review meetings to discuss performance, progress and future hiring plans.
• Advise clients on recruitment strategy, salary benchmarking and market trends, including on a cross‑border / global basis where relevant.
• Manage the full client lifecycle: from initial targeting and business development through to pitching, tendering, account management and ongoing growth.

Candidate management:

• Generate a consistent pipeline of high‑quality, relevant candidates.
• Secure over 50% of your candidate base on an exclusive basis with Marks Sattin.
• Source a significant proportion of candidates through referrals, headhunting and other passive channels.
• Provide interview coaching and preparation to candidates for all key processes.
• Engage your candidate market proactively via blogs, updates and regular touchpoints.
• Build and maintain an active network that includes both active and passive candidates.
• Set clear expectations with candidates and provide a genuinely consultative, value‑add service.

Team and Leadership responsibilities:

• Operate autonomously, reporting into a Senior Manager, Associate Director or Director.
• Be recognised as a subject matter expert within your specialism and/or team.
• Act as a key member of the management group, contributing to operational and strategic decisions.
• Support internal recruitment by identifying, assessing and attracting potential new consultants.
• Support and assist in the training, coaching and development of Consultants (and where applicable, Senior Consultants), sharing best practice in business development, client management and headhunting.

Key requirements:

• Proven success as a Principal Consultant or equivalent level, ideally within a specialist or professional services recruitment environment.
• Strong track record of business development, account management and fee generation.
• Demonstrable experience running retained or exclusive assignments and delivering at senior / executive level.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with both clients and candidates.
• Commercially astute, target‑driven and comfortable operating in a high‑performance culture.
• Strong communication, presentation and influencing skills.
• Collaborative, proactive and committed to upholding Marks Sattin’s standards of service and professionalism.