Aerospace and Defense Consulting Firms
Hey everyone - I was wondering if anyone knew of some A&D-focused consulting firms? I'm primarily looking in the DC area, but am open to other areas. I know of Avascent and Renaissance Strategic Advisors, but was wondering if there were any others. Primarily looking at strategy/transaction advisory, rather than government contracting practices.
I know there are similar threads for IB, but couldn't find one for consulting. Thanks in advance for all the help!
Anybody?
Booz Allen Hamilton does some work in that area. LeighFisher also does aerospace (but I think more airport infrastructure) but doesn't have a DC office (check other areas). As for defence, a lot of military companies have their in-house consulting teams that mainly do internal work and sometimes offer it to smaller players in the industry. To the best of my knowledge these are Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, BAE Systems, Raytheon and General Dynamics. All of the bigger firms (MBBs, T2s and Accenture) also have A&D areas which you can express a heavy preference for. If you could pivot to Europe for work JLS Consulting is a very well known boutique but only UK based.
Some A&D-focused (but lesser known) boutiques are CSP Associates (US but no DC), Pacific Aerospace Consulting (US but no DC) and Hawksland Associates (UK based).
I think it's very hard to find many A&D focused ones (or even commerical aviation) simply because of the vast amount of government contracts however, see if any of the aforementioned ones work.
LMT, NG are more IT/Solution focused in my experience. Can't say for the other defense comapnies. Aside from that, you're spot on because government contracting work done in the U.S. and European region is huge.
By extension I would assume the others offer similar services. The only one that I know may do more analytics work is BAE Systems because their consulting division is called Applied Intelligence.
Thanks! I will definitely check out the companies you mentioned. I knew a lot of the big contractors had internal consulting groups, but I figured most would be IT focused - will definitely check again though.
I'll also check out the bigger firms, but coming from an MBA, wasn't sure how likely it would be that I could recruit into the A&D group.
Thanks again!
just my two cents as a former veteran; if my jargons aren't correct, its because I served at a foreign military.
TL;DR: If you want to do strategy, join a 'normal' consulting firm
Aero and Defense are very niche industries in their specific industry practices, operations, and outsourcing, but in terms of general strategy (5-10 year future plan, group reorganization, etc) and transaction advisory (I'm assuming you're talking about Commercial Due Diligence, Valuation and the sorts) of major companies (LMT, Boeing, Raytheon, GD, etc) will be advised by the typical management consultancy and investment bank.
That's because the nature of work and the framework/approach to solve client problems in a business function is translatable throughout industries and is different from the nut-and-bolt outsourcing work
Niche firms have an advantage only in contracting, outsourcing, and low-level operations where understanding day-to-day military operations out in the field matter and/or they have expertise in a certain area of operations.
Thanks! You bring up an excellent point that for the major companies, they are going to go to your typical MBB/Tier 2 firm to do their strategy and transaction advisory work. And yeah, when I say transaction advisory, I meant CDD/Valuation/etc.
I appreciate the insight and I'll be sure to broaden my search. Thanks again!
Defense and federal consulting (Originally Posted: 06/12/2017)
Hello,
I'm a long-time lurker and recently finished my MPA at a top program (HKS/WWS) interested in national security. I'm working on a summer research project, and have received offers from Booz Allen Hamilton (Associate Level - military engagements), Deloitte Strategy & Operations (Senior Consultant level - federal), and a boutique firm (turning this one down) to start this fall.
Between Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton there is a pay difference (Deloitte pays ~10% more, plus offers a bonus which Booz Allen Hamilton does not at the Associate level), but Booz Allen is the biggest player in the federal space and Deloitte while second is second by a decent distance. I don't have any immediate or even mid-term interest in going to the commercial side, but does anyone have any thoughts on the space and which is better regarded? Are there any significant differences in the work for similar roles?
Ex-KPMG (Management Consulting practice), now Deloitte S&O here. I was in the EXACT same predicament as you not too long ago and I took the Deloitte S&O offer. For me, the money, better title (S&O has a cachet that "Associate" does not), bigger network, more prestigious firm, etc... was a no brainer. Additionally, while doing my due diligence I heard that there is a lot of uncertainty with BAH right now (a lot of people are jumping ships, so it might not the best time). That being said, I have friends who left Deloitte for BAH and are happy; so I'd say your project will play a very important role.
If you're in the DMV area, send me a private message :)
Thank you for your reply, this is really helpful. Are you on the federal side or commercial side of S&O?
Public sector, defense consulting (Originally Posted: 03/20/2017)
I am a current 2nd year MBA at a MBA business schools">M7 program, awaiting an offer for a major defense consulting firm (think: Booz Allen Hamilton/Deloitte/PA Consulting). I know for instance that MBB and Big4 Consulting firms pay ~135-145k for MBAs on the commercial side. Anyone know salaries for the same on the public sector side? I am guessing there is a discount / cut, but can't find information on precisely what to expect.
During my time in B-school (Top 20) the federal practice was $5K-$15K less than the commercial practice. Checkout https://www.transparentcareer.com/ and hopefully they have more information.
It's pretty close pay wise from what I hear. The big difference is that public sector projects tend to move very slowly by comparison so there's more of a boredom risk.
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