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Partner Economics
What partners and directors are actually paid
What partner, director and principal packages actually look like at MBB and the tier-1 strategy houses — from figures given to us directly by more than a thousand of the people earning them.
Over 1,000 conversationsUK · Germany · SwitzerlandUpdated August 2026Gross, pre-tax
There is almost no reliable public data on consulting partner salary. Aggregators do not reach this level, the firms do not publish, and forum numbers are a mix of hearsay and best years. So people move on bad information, and at this level that gap is measured in hundreds of thousands.
Every figure below came out of a conversation with someone earning it. Nothing is modelled or scraped. Two distinctions run through all of it, because both change the answer materially:
- Market. The UK, Germany and Switzerland are kept separate throughout — a Swiss package and a German one at the same grade are not comparable.
- Firm type. MBB and the tier-1 strategy houses are shown separately, never blended. The gap between them at the same title is wide enough that an average across both would be useless to anyone.
Firms are grouped by type rather than named, and every band is marked with how firm the figure behind it is.
Before you compare us with anything else: what we mean by associate partner
This is the grade we mean
- Associate partner
- Principal, where it is the partner-track grade
- Director, where it carries a sales number
- Partner, non-equity
This is not the grade we mean
- Principal or director used as a delivery grade
- Project leader, engagement manager
- Senior manager with no origination target
- Anyone whose bonus is not tied to sales
Why this matters more than it sounds. Public salary sites use the words principal and director for a pre-partner delivery grade, and quote it at roughly half what we do. Anyone spot-checking our associate partner figures against one of those tables will conclude we are wildly high. They are describing a different rung. The line we draw is origination: if the seat carries a personal sales number and a partner-track clock, it is in this band. If it does not, it is a grade below and it is not on this page. Where the seat is a specialist rung rather than a partner-track one, the economics differ again: is the expert track a dead end for partnership?
What each level pays
Median total package at each level, with the swing either side. The swing is the point: someone in their first year at a level and someone in their fourth hold the same title and are not paid the same.
United Kingdom
| Level | MBB | Tier-1 strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Associate partner | £310k£250k – £400kestimated | £275k£215k – £300kindicative |
| Partner | £715k£450k – £1.25mestimated | £525k£330k – £925kmeasured |
| Senior partner | £1.5m£1.1m – £2.3mindicative | £1.02m£720k – £1.65mestimated |
Germany
| Level | MBB | Tier-1 strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Associate partner | €312k€240k – €400kmeasured | €250k€198k – €325kmeasured |
| Partner | €650k€550k – €1.2mmeasured | €552k€325k – €780kmeasured |
| Senior partner | €1.36m€955k – €2.1mestimated | €1m€700k – €1.8mindicative |
Switzerland
| Level | MBB | Tier-1 strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Associate partner | CHF 385kCHF 310k – CHF 460kestimated | CHF 265kCHF 245k – CHF 430kindicative |
| Partner | CHF 875kCHF 675k – CHF 1.53mindicative | CHF 612kCHF 350k – CHF 1.15mindicative |
| Senior partner | CHF 1.81mCHF 1.27m – CHF 2.8mestimated | CHF 1.08mCHF 760k – CHF 2mestimated |
How to read the flags. Measured means the band sits on a solid base of figures at that exact level and firm type. Indicative means fewer, so treat it as direction rather than a number. Estimated means derived from the same grade in another market at the ratio the data shows. Cells too thin to be anonymous are not shown at all.
The step change is at equity. Crossing into the equity grade multiplies the package roughly two times, and senior partner does it again by a similar amount.
Who sits in each group
MBB
Bain · BCG · McKinsey
Including their digital and expert arms.
Tier-1 strategy
Firms of this kind include
Arthur D. Little · EY-Parthenon · Kearney · L.E.K. · Monitor Deloitte · OC&C · Oliver Wyman · Roland Berger · Strategy&
The tier-1 strategy houses outside MBB: the independent strategy firms, and the strategy arms that sit inside larger firms. Restructuring, turnaround and pricing specialists are not included. The list is illustrative of the group, not a statement of which firms are represented in the figures.
What you have to sell, and who gets the credit
The bands above tell you what the seat pays. They do not tell you what the seat asks. Most of a partner package is conditional, the condition is a sales number, and the sales number means different things at different firms — often by a factor of five. This section is the machinery behind the figures.
What you have to sell before the bonus starts
Firms run a threshold grid, not a smooth curve. Below a floor you score nothing at all, however busy the year felt. Each band above it unlocks a rating, and the rating drives the variable. This is one tier-1 partner track, on single-count origination. Figures in euros.
Expected of a partner
Nothing scoresbelow €2.3m
Lowest rating€2.3m
Mid rating€3.1m
Top rating€5.7m
0€2m€4m€6m€8m ceiling
Read the gap. The distance from the floor to the expected number is €2.7m — more than the floor itself. A partner can sell €2m, feel busy all year and score nothing. Above €8m the grid stops counting. At MBB the equivalent figure for a senior partner can be roughly €10m to €25m, which looks like a different sport until you read the next block, because it is counted a different way.
Who the credit belongs to
The same €1m engagement produces very different personal numbers depending on the firm’s counting rule. This is the single most misunderstood thing in a partner move, and it is why two sales targets are almost never comparable.
| Counting rule | Who is credited | Booked |
|---|---|---|
| Single countThe strict version | The originator takes all of it. For you to win, someone else has to lose. | 100% |
| Split creditNegotiated deal by deal | Originator and delivery lead share one pot. The split is a conversation, and often an argument. | 100% |
| Multi-countThe MBB model, and some sector practices | Originator and account or sector lead are each credited in full. The firm deliberately books more than the sale is worth, so nobody is punished for bringing a colleague in. | 200% |
Why the MBB numbers look enormous. At MBB revenue is multi-counted and an individual very rarely owns a piece of it outright — it is split across everyone who touched the account. So a senior partner credited with €10m to €25m is not selling five times what a tier-1 partner on a €5m single-count target sells. They are being credited under a rule that counts the same revenue more than once. Compare the rules before you compare the numbers.
Anatomy of a partner package
A tier-1 strategy partner offer, pulled apart. This is a partner in roughly their first to fourth year — not a senior partner, where the shape changes considerably. The figures are typical rather than any single firm’s, and what matters is which blocks you can actually rely on. Senior partner breakdowns are available on request — email ben@strat-bridge.com.
Germany
| Element | Range |
|---|---|
| Fixed salaryThe only number in your contract. Everything below this line is conditional on something.Contractual | €200–300kmidpoint €250k |
| Target bonusPaid against your target, but at the firm’s discretion at most houses. Ask what it has actually paid out three years running.Discretionary | €90–200kmidpoint €145k |
| Retention and sign-onA bridge across the move, not part of your run rate. Usually repayable if you leave inside two years.One-off · clawback | €25–145kmidpoint €85k |
| Overachievement scopeQuoted to you as upside. It pays only above target, and in a first year spent rebuilding a network it is rarely reached.Above target only | €0–120kmidpoint €60k |
| Car allowanceSmall, fixed, and usually non-pensionable.Contractual | €10–15kmidpoint €13k |
| Equity participationPartner is the equity grade, and at the independent houses equity is bought rather than granted. Not universal: the strategy arms owned by larger firms run a partner grade with no partnership stake behind it.Bought, and not at every house | varies by house— |
Lower end€325k
Midpoint€553k
Upper limit€780k
Also in the package, not shown above: pension · deferred or long-term incentive.
United Kingdom
| Element | Range |
|---|---|
| Fixed salaryThe only number in your contract, and the number every other element is calculated from.Contractual | £190–280kmidpoint £235k |
| Personal contributionPaid against your own origination target. Check the curve rather than the headline — at several houses it barely moves between hitting target and beating it.On your own sales | £70–230kmidpoint £150k |
| Office or practice contributionDepends on how the unit you sit in performs, not on how you perform — and which unit it keys to varies by house. Ask which one.On your unit’s year | £40–160kmidpoint £100k |
| Firm contributionDepends on the firm worldwide. In a soft year this is the block that goes first.On the firm’s year | £30–105kmidpoint £68k |
| Overachievement scopeQuoted as upside, gated on selling well beyond plan. A bonus on a bonus, not income.Above target only | £0–150kmidpoint £75k |
| Equity participationBought, not awarded — a capital contribution on admission, commonly loan-funded and repaid out of profit share. The return is an annual profit distribution, with a balancing payment after the accounts close.Purchased, not granted | buy-in— |
Lower end£330k
Midpoint£628k
Upper limit£925k
Also in the package, not shown above: pension · deferred or long-term incentive · retention and sign-on · car allowance, usually taken as cash.
Switzerland
| Element | Range |
|---|---|
| Fixed salarySwiss fixed sits roughly a third above the German equivalent, and the premium is concentrated here rather than in the variable.Contractual | CHF 240–400kmidpoint CHF 320k |
| Target bonusTarget-linked against a revenue expectation set at first-rung partner level.Discretionary | CHF 90–300kmidpoint CHF 195k |
| Long-term incentiveDeferred across several years. Real money, and the block you forfeit by leaving early.Multi-year · vests | CHF 20–210kmidpoint CHF 115k |
| Overachievement scopePaid only above plan, and distributed over years rather than banked in the year you earn it.Above target only | CHF 0–240kmidpoint CHF 120k |
| Equity participationComes with the grade rather than being negotiated. Expect a capital contribution on admission, often loan-funded, and an annual profit distribution with part of the profit retained in the firm.All partners hold equity | included— |
Lower endCHF 350k
MidpointCHF 750k
Upper limitCHF 1.15m
Also in the package, not shown above: pension — the pillar 2 employer contribution is material · retention and sign-on.
Indicative only. These are the shape and scale of a package at this level, not a quote — and the upper limit assumes every element lands at its top in the same year, which is rare. Midpoint is the middle of each element range added together, and it sits above the median partner in the band, because almost nobody is at the middle of every element at once.
Five things the numbers do not show you
The tables are the easy part. These decide whether a move works, and none of them appear in the headline figure on an offer.
One
Revenue attribution is not comparable between firms
Every firm sets a revenue expectation against a partner seat. Almost nobody counts revenue the same way, and the difference is not marginal.
One house removed double-counting from its partner incentive model last year, leaving its partners on a target that looked identical on paper and was several times harder in practice.
So when a firm says its partners carry five million and yours says you carry three, you may already be ahead. Before you compare targets, ask how revenue is credited when more than one partner works a mandate. It is the most useful question in a partner interview and very few candidates ask it. We take it apart in full in how revenue credit works, and why two identical offers are not identical.
One engagement, credited two ways
Multi-counted
400%
Single-counted
100%
Four partners on one case. At the first house each is credited with the whole of it; at the second it is counted once.
Two
The fixed and variable split inverts as you climb
Progression is not simply upward. It is a move onto a different risk curve, and the shift happens inside the same firm.
That is manageable when your book is established and brutal in a soft year during a rebuild. Anyone joining laterally at partner and modelling year-three earnings off a senior partner’s good year is modelling the wrong thing.
Share of package that is contractual
Partner
65%
Senior partner
30%
Dark is fixed, green is variable.
Three
Year one variable is a bridge, not a target
We have seen signed offer documentation stating in terms that a first-year bonus is a one-off, with no entitlement to any repeat. Year two reverts to a discretionary scheme with no stated target at all.
This is common and it is not hidden — it is simply not read. Ask what year two looks like with the guarantee removed, and get the answer in writing.
What the variable is worth, by year
Year oneGuaranteed
Year twoDiscretionary
Year threeDiscretionary
Only the first bar is written down. The rest is a scheme, and at many houses it carries no stated target.
Four
“Equity” means at least five different things
The word appears in almost every partner conversation and carries a different meaning each time. Only two of the five produce a cash event.
Real equity with a buy-in
You purchase a stake — from around £50,000 at a mid-sized partnership to £500,000 or more at the largest firms — and own something that can appreciate and be realised.
Carry
A share of investment gains, standard in PE-adjacent firms. Lumpy, unpredictable, and occasionally the largest component of all.
Profit share dressed as equity
A distribution based on firm profitability. Nothing to sell and no capital event.
Virtual or shadow shares
A contractual claim tracking a share price you do not own, often capped. Common where a corporate parent owns the firm.
Long-term incentive plans
Deferred cash on a vesting schedule. Real money, no ownership, and it usually disappears if you leave.
Outlined in dark green: produces a cash event. The rest do not.
When someone tells you a role comes with equity, the follow-up is: what would I own, what would it cost me, and what has it actually paid out in the last three years?
Five
The number you carry is not the number you sold
Firms use originated, sold, allocated, managed and served almost interchangeably, and they are not the same thing. One partner can carry a five-million number that is mostly delivery on work someone else brought in. Another can carry the same five million having originated nearly all of it.
At most houses the second partner is paid materially more for an identical headline figure, because the bonus curve keys on origination rather than on the number itself. A single large mandate you bring in alone can move a package more than a good year across the rest of the book — we have seen a partner running roughly €5.5m, effectively all self-originated, have a revenue-based compensation cap lifted.
It runs the other way too. Collaborative models — where several partners can each be credited with the full value of one shared engagement, or where bookings are allocated rather than won — produce impressive numbers that convert to much less at bonus time.
Ask what proportion of your number the firm expects you to originate, and what the bonus pays on origination against participation. Then get the same answer for the seat you are leaving.
Two partners, the same €5m number
Originator
Top
Participant
Mid
Dark is originated, green is participated or allocated. Identical revenue on paper; where the bonus keys on origination, the two are not paid the same.
The question worth asking
“What will I earn in year two, if my first year is average, under this firm’s revenue attribution rules?”
Eat what you win, or share it
Ask a partner what kind of firm they want next and the honest answer is usually about this line rather than about money. It also decides the question nobody asks until it is too late: how much of the relationship is yours to take with you.
Boutiques, restructuring and turnaroundYou sold it, so you own it. The book largely travels.
Tier-1 strategy, sector-ledPart yours, part the sector’s. Some of it travels, and which part is negotiable.
MBB and platform-led practicesThe platform sold it as much as you did. Far less of it travels.
Eat what you winThe platform sells
This is the portability question. The further right a firm sits, the more the client bought the institution rather than the individual — and the less of that relationship moves when you do. It is why a partner leaving a platform firm is worth something quite different from a partner leaving a boutique with the same revenue number behind them, and why a hiring firm will discount a book it thinks belongs to the badge. Most bad partner hires are people placed at the wrong end of this line.
Where these figures come from
Every figure on this page comes from a conversation between Strat-Bridge and a partner, director or principal working at one of these firms, between February 2025 and August 2026 — more than a thousand of them. This page covers two groups: MBB, and the tier-1 strategy houses. The key above shows the kind of firm that sits in each group. We publish nothing that identifies an individual, a firm’s internal bands, or a current or former client.
Three honest limitations. Self-reported compensation skews high, and people in a live search process round up more than most. “Total” is defined inconsistently between firms — sometimes cash, sometimes including pension, car and equity distributions — and we have taken people at their word. And our sample reflects who talks to us: senior people in strategy consulting, which is where we work. It is not a census of the profession.
Swiss packages are quoted to us in both francs and euros, and we treat them at par. Since the euro has been trading below the franc, that understates the Swiss figures rather than flattering them.
Every figure on this page is gross: total package before income tax, social contributions and pension deductions. That matters most in the one comparison this page invites you to make. Switzerland shows the largest headline numbers here and also carries the lightest effective tax burden of the three, so the real gap in what reaches a bank account is wider than these bands suggest. Germany carries the heaviest, so its gap narrows. None of that is modelled here. These are the numbers a firm commits to pay, not the numbers you keep.
A word on the quality flags. The flag describes the evidence behind the median, not the edges of the band. Floors and ceilings are set deliberately wider than what we have observed, because the extremes of any band are where the sample is thinnest and where one unusual package would distort the picture. A cell marked measured means five or more first-hand conversations sit behind the middle number. It does not mean we have seen a package at either end of the range. It is the closest thing to a consulting partner salary benchmark we know how to build honestly, and we would rather show you its edges than hide them.
Worth a conversation
If you are weighing a move, the useful version of this is your seat, your market and the specific offer in front of you — not a band. That conversation is confidential and commits you to nothing.
The figures on this page are anonymised, aggregated and drawn from self-reported compensation given in confidence. They describe recurring patterns across a large number of conversations, not any single firm, contract or individual, and nothing here identifies a current or former client. They are provided as market context only and are not an offer, a valuation or advice. Compensation structures, equity arrangements, notice periods and restrictive covenants turn on their exact wording and on the law of the relevant jurisdiction — take independent advice before acting on anything here.