Hey everyone, I am currently in the interview process for an Implementation Consultant (IC) role with a large asset management company (think Blackrock, Vanguard, Fidelity). I was wondering if anyone has any experience and or opinion with this type of role within this industry sector? I have previously worked for a SaaS company doing very similar work (same title) so I understand what the functions of this role may entail. However, I just wanted to get some thoughts on IC type work within the financial area. Role seems like there will be work with various departments such as sales and product development, so possible lateral moves in the future? I currently have a technical background, but not coding heavy. All answers will be appreciated! Thanks!
I can only speak to BLK's IC division but they're the equivalent of a McKinsey or EY consultant. BLK's largest IC team focuses on ALADDIN its proprietary end-to-end investment management system which they sell externally. The system itself is incredibly complex due to decades of legacy code and it's the support of bespoke workflows. Given that you can imagine that implementing the platform is pretty grueling as it's not really designed for the implementation process. They tend to travel quite a bit and work on projects that range anywhere from 9 months to 2.5 years. If you can survive your first couple of projects you'll definitely have the necessary skills to move to the business development, product management, or product marketing teams. If you have a financial acumen we've seen IC team members go into investments and become PMs because they understand the technology and the investments making them a lethal candidate.