FTI Consulting is an expert-driven business advisory firm organized into major business segments including Corporate Finance & Restructuring, Economic Consulting, Forensic & Litigation Consulting, Technology, Strategic Communications, plus Corporate Roles.
Each role below follows the same structured template:
- Title
- Client-facing: Yes, Sometimes, or No
- Geography: Global or region-specific
- Business unit: Global or unit-specific
- Typical degree required
- Typical work experience when starting this role
- 1–2 sentence plain-language description
- Typical duration in this role
- Typical next role(s) in the firm
23.1 Client-Facing Generalist Consulting Roles
Across many FTI practices, a commonly cited core ladder is Consultant → Senior Consultant → Director → Senior Director → Managing Director → Senior Managing Director.
Consultant
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global (common across practices; hiring patterns vary by country)
- Business unit: Practice-specific (e.g., Corporate Finance, Forensics, Technology, Strategic Communications)
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s degree
- Typical work experience at entry: 0–3 years (campus hire or early-career)
- Description: Entry-level delivery contributor supporting analyses, building client-ready outputs, and working directly with engagement teams on high-stakes matters.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–3 years
- Typical next role(s): Senior Consultant
Senior Consultant
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Practice-specific
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s or master’s (MBA helpful in some tracks)
- Typical work experience at entry: 3–8 years
- Description: Senior workstream owner who leads defined modules, mentors junior staff, and manages day-to-day client interactions for a portion of the engagement.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–4 years
- Typical next role(s): Director
Director
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global (practice and market dependent)
- Business unit: Practice-specific
- Typical degree required: Not standardized (credentials and experience matter most)
- Typical work experience at entry: 8–15+ years
- Description: Engagement leader responsible for supervising client engagements, providing technical expertise, and guiding Senior Consultants and Consultants on delivery.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–5 years (varies)
- Typical next role(s): Senior Director
Senior Director
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Practice-specific
- Typical degree required: Not standardized
- Typical work experience at entry: 12–20+ years
- Description: Senior delivery and growth leader who oversees larger portfolios, shapes complex proposals, and manages senior client stakeholders while mentoring Directors and Managers-of-workstreams.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite (performance-based senior band)
- Typical next role(s): Managing Director
Managing Director
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Practice leadership
- Typical degree required: Not standardized
- Typical work experience at entry: 15–25+ years
- Description: Senior relationship owner responsible for originating work, leading major engagements, and shaping practice priorities and talent across a segment or specialty.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite
- Typical next role(s): Senior Managing Director
Senior Managing Director
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Top practice leadership (often global or regional leadership roles)
- Typical degree required: Not standardized
- Typical work experience at entry: 18–30+ years
- Description: Top-tier practice leader who owns major client portfolios and often leads a global practice area (e.g., trial/arbitration support) while driving growth and standards firmwide.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite
- Typical next role(s): Global leadership, board/advisory careers
Graduate Consultant
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Region-specific (more common in some non-U.S. programs)
- Business unit: Practice-specific (often Economic & Financial Consulting or similar)
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s or master’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 0 years (graduate entry)
- Description: Graduate entry point into consulting teams, typically aligned to an analyst/consultant-equivalent band depending on local structure and practice needs.
- Typical duration in this role: 1–2 years
- Typical next role(s): Consultant, Senior Consultant (local ladder dependent)
23.2 Client-Facing Specialist Roles
FTI is specialist by design: most client-facing roles are anchored in a segment such as Corporate Finance & Restructuring, Economic Consulting, Forensic & Litigation Consulting, Technology, or Strategic Communications.
Director, Restructuring
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global (strongest presence in major restructuring markets)
- Business unit: Corporate Finance & Restructuring
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s; finance/accounting credentials often valued
- Typical work experience at entry: 8–15+ years in restructuring, banking, corporate finance, or advisory
- Description: Restructuring engagement leader overseeing analyses and delivery in high-stakes turnaround situations, often supervising teams across multiple workstreams.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–5 years
- Typical next role(s): Senior Director, Managing Director
Managing Director, Digital Investigations
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Forensic & Litigation Consulting and/or Technology (practice-dependent)
- Typical degree required: Not standardized (technical credibility matters)
- Typical work experience at entry: 12+ years advisory experience is common for MD bios
- Description: Senior specialist leader who leads digital investigations and e-discovery enabled work (data recovery, analysis, compliance audits, and related services) for clients.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite
- Typical next role(s): Senior Managing Director, practice leadership roles
Senior Managing Director, Litigation and Reputation
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global (practice footprint varies by region)
- Business unit: Strategic Communications
- Typical degree required: Not standardized
- Typical work experience at entry: 15–25+ years
- Description: Senior communications leader advising clients on high-stakes disputes and reputation-critical situations, often leading litigation communications mandates.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite
- Typical next role(s): Global practice leadership, board/advisory roles
Economic Consultant
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Economic Consulting
- Typical degree required: Master’s or PhD is common in economics tracks; bachelor’s plus strong experience also occurs
- Typical work experience at entry: 0–5+ years depending on degree and level
- Description: Economics specialist who provides expert advice and analysis on economics, finance, valuation, and accountancy, often in disputes and regulatory contexts.
- Typical duration in this role: Varies
- Typical next role(s): Senior Consultant, Director, Managing Director (practice-specific ladder)
23.3 Data / Analytics / AI / Product Roles
FTI’s Technology segment includes dedicated data engineering and analytics delivery, with workflows and platforms commonly used in e-discovery and investigations (e.g., Relativity, Reveal/Brainspace, Nuix).
Data Engineer
- Client-facing: Sometimes (often delivery-heavy and client-IT coordinated)
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Technology (data engineering)
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s in CS/engineering/IT or related
- Typical work experience at entry: 3–5+ years for many mid-level postings
- Description: Data foundation builder who designs pipelines, ETL, and defensible workflows to manage and process very large client datasets for disputes, investigations, and discovery matters.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–4 years
- Typical next role(s): Senior Data Engineer, Director (technical leadership track)
Data Scientist
- Client-facing: Yes (often embedded with matter teams)
- Geography: Global (hiring hubs vary)
- Business unit: Technology (analytics and AI)
- Typical degree required: Master’s (common) in CS/statistics/applied math; PhD for some roles
- Typical work experience at entry: 2–8+ years (level-dependent)
- Description: Analytics and ML practitioner who prototypes and implements AI/ML solutions on evolving client datasets and translates results into decision-relevant outputs for investigations and discovery work.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–4 years
- Typical next role(s): Lead Data Scientist, Director (analytics leadership)
Lead Data Scientist
- Client-facing: Yes
- Geography: Region-specific (varies by hiring location)
- Business unit: Corporate Finance & Restructuring (Data and Technology Transformation) or Technology (role-dependent)
- Typical degree required: Master’s or PhD (common) or equivalent experience
- Typical work experience at entry: 6–12+ years
- Description: Analytics workstream leader who owns end-to-end AI/ML development (feature engineering through validation), leads project workstreams, and ensures solutions align with business objectives.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite (senior band)
- Typical next role(s): Managing Director (digital leadership path), practice leadership roles
Director, Review Manager
- Client-facing: Yes (delivery leadership on matters)
- Geography: Region-specific (varies by market)
- Business unit: Technology (e-discovery operations)
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 8–15+ years in e-discovery delivery or legal tech operations
- Description: Delivery leader who runs review workflows and technology-enabled discovery operations, often using platforms such as Relativity, Brainspace/Reveal, and Nuix-based tooling.
- Typical duration in this role: Indefinite
- Typical next role(s): Senior Director, Managing Director
23.4 External Advisor Titles
FTI publicly uses Senior Advisor as a title for senior practitioners affiliated with specific practices (for example, appointments within Strategic Communications and Financial Services practices).
Senior Advisor
- Client-facing: Yes (selectively, typically senior-client moments)
- Geography: Global (appointments are practice- and location-specific)
- Business unit: Practice-aligned (e.g., Strategic Communications; Financial Services practice)
- Typical degree required: Not standardized
- Typical work experience at entry: 20–35+ years, often former senior executives, policymakers, or recognized specialists
- Description: Executive-level advisor who contributes specialized judgment and credibility, helping shape major engagements and senior relationship development.
- Typical duration in this role: Affiliation- or role-based
- Typical next role(s): Ongoing advisory portfolio, board roles
External Subject Matter Expert
- Client-facing: Sometimes
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Engagement-dependent
- Typical degree required: Varies (credentials often matter in disputes/regulatory domains)
- Typical work experience at entry: 10–25+ years niche expertise
- Description: Targeted expert brought in for discrete inputs, validation, or specialist deliverables that complement the core engagement team.
- Typical duration in this role: Time-bounded
- Typical next role(s): Repeat SME engagements
Independent Contractor
- Client-facing: Sometimes
- Geography: Global (classification rules vary by country)
- Business unit: Engagement-dependent
- Typical degree required: Varies
- Typical work experience at entry: Typically experienced professionals
- Description: Non-employee specialist engaged for capacity or defined skills, often for time-bounded delivery surges.
- Typical duration in this role: Weeks to months
- Typical next role(s): Additional contract engagements
23.5 Practice Management Roles
FTI’s practice management ecosystem includes staffing/resource management, risk and conflicts checks, recruiting, and other enablement roles that support engagement delivery and growth.
Conflicts Analyst
- Client-facing: No
- Geography: Region-specific (roles appear by office)
- Business unit: Legal & Risk / conflicts and engagement intake
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 0–5+ years
- Description: Engagement risk support role focused on reviewing potential conflict concerns and related new-business issues, escalating matters when needed.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–4 years
- Typical next role(s): Senior Conflicts Analyst, risk operations leadership
Recruiter, Talent Acquisition
- Client-facing: No
- Geography: Region-specific (roles appear by market)
- Business unit: Core Operations / recruiting
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 3–10+ years recruiting or talent acquisition operations
- Description: Hiring pipeline owner responsible for sourcing, screening, and coordinating hiring processes for experienced and early-career roles.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Senior Recruiter, Talent Acquisition Manager
Proposal or Pursuit Manager
- Client-facing: Sometimes (client/procurement touchpoints during pursuits)
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Business development / pursuit enablement
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 5–12+ years
- Description: Pursuit orchestrator who coordinates contributors, timelines, compliance, and submission quality for competitive bids.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Pursuit leadership, growth operations leadership
Engagement Controller
- Client-facing: No (client-adjacent via billing and economics coordination)
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Finance / engagement economics
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s in finance/accounting
- Typical work experience at entry: 3–10+ years
- Description: Project economics owner supporting forecasting, margin management, and financial controls for engagements.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Finance leadership, portfolio controlling leadership
23.6 Research and Analytics Roles
FTI uses dedicated research roles in multiple businesses, including Strategic Communications (Digital & Insights) and its strategy-focused groups (e.g., FTI Delta and Delta Partners) where research supports projects and proposals.
Research Analyst
- Client-facing: No (primarily internal consulting-team facing)
- Geography: Global (roles appear by hub/office)
- Business unit: Strategy & Transformation or strategy groups such as FTI Delta / Delta Partners (role-dependent)
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s or master’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 0–5+ years
- Description: Research contributor focused on supporting research requirements for projects and proposals, producing synthesized market and competitive intelligence.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–4 years
- Typical next role(s): Senior Research Analyst, Consultant (path dependent)
Senior Research Analyst
- Client-facing: No (may support briefings)
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Strategic Communications (Digital & Insights) or similar insight teams
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s or master’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 5–10+ years
- Description: Senior research lead who manages complex research requests, mentors analysts, and ensures insight quality for high-stakes communications and advisory work.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Insights Manager, research leadership roles
Insights Manager
- Client-facing: Sometimes (leadership-facing insights; occasional client briefings)
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Insights / knowledge / digital research teams
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s or master’s
- Typical work experience at entry: 6–12+ years
- Description: Insight workflow owner who sets research priorities, manages outputs, and translates analysis into decision-relevant narratives for senior stakeholders.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Research leadership, practice strategy roles
23.7 Other Staff and Back-Office Roles
FTI’s enabling functions are grouped under Corporate Roles and include the standard professional services back office (HR, finance, IT, legal/risk, and operations) that supports consulting delivery across all segments.
Executive Assistant
- Client-facing: Sometimes (logistics and stakeholder coordination)
- Geography: Global (office dependent)
- Business unit: Corporate Roles / business services
- Typical degree required: Varies (experience often substitutes)
- Typical work experience at entry: 3–10+ years
- Description: Leader enablement role supporting senior leaders with scheduling, travel, and operational coordination.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–10+ years
- Typical next role(s): Senior EA, office operations leadership
HR Business Partner
- Client-facing: No
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Corporate Roles / HR
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s; HR credentials helpful
- Typical work experience at entry: 6–12+ years
- Description: People advisor supporting leaders with performance cycles, employee relations, workforce planning, and talent programs.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–7 years
- Typical next role(s): HR leadership, HR director roles
Finance Analyst or FP&A Manager
- Client-facing: No
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Corporate Roles / Finance
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s in finance/accounting; CPA/MBA helpful
- Typical work experience at entry: 2–12+ years (level-dependent)
- Description: Business performance partner supporting budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and investment decisions for practices and corporate functions.
- Typical duration in this role: 3–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Finance leadership, finance business partner roles
IT Support Specialist
- Client-facing: No
- Geography: Global
- Business unit: Corporate Roles / IT
- Typical degree required: Technical diploma or bachelor’s in IT/CS helpful
- Typical work experience at entry: 2–8+ years
- Description: Internal technology enablement supporting end-user tools, access management, and collaboration platforms so teams can deliver reliably and securely.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–6 years
- Typical next role(s): IT Manager, infrastructure/security leadership roles
Legal and Risk Operations Specialist
- Client-facing: No
- Geography: Global (office/hub dependent)
- Business unit: Legal & Risk / corporate governance
- Typical degree required: Bachelor’s (law-related credentials helpful depending on role)
- Typical work experience at entry: 2–8+ years
- Description: Risk enablement role supporting engagement intake, compliance processes, and governance workflows that allow client work to proceed safely and consistently.
- Typical duration in this role: 2–6 years
- Typical next role(s): Risk leadership, legal operations leadership
