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Be part of a team dedicated to solving real-world problems and bringing meaningful, measurable change in the world.

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Become part of our amazing team

Our team members hold degrees in various disciplines, come from diverse backgrounds, and have worked in varied industries, including the arts, education, hospitality, the military, sports, science, technology, and public policy. Through their diverse experiences and backgrounds, our team members foster innovation and creativity while promoting a wide range of perspectives.

I feel so fortunate to have begun my career with such brilliant, capable, and hard-working people. I appreciate the mentorship, support, and friendship. You all inspire me to continuously push myself to be a better consultant and a better person​.

Rios Analyst

Which role is my background best suited for? 

Learn what skills are required at each level to understand which role best fits your background and experience.  

View Open Positions

How many years of full-time professional experience must I have?

Bachelor’s/ Master’s/ PhD (no full-time professional experience required)  

What skills are expected of me at this level?

  • Problem Framing: Correctly frames problems within given workstream to drive discussion within team. 
  • Analysis: Works with project manager to determine critical analyses. Correctly executes analyses in timely manner. 
  • Synthesis: Correctly identifies the “so what” of any given analysis. 
  • Communication: Clearly communicates problem, analysis, and synthesis within Rios team and, with support, to clients. Conveys effective messages on slides, emails, and word documents. 
  • Relationship Building: Builds strong relationships within Rios team. Seen as reliable source of information when engaged by clients.  

What does this mean for my day-to-day?

  • Take and synthesize notes to capture key takeaways from a client meeting  
  • Clean and organize large dataset to ensure client data can be analyzed  
  • Analyze data in Excel to uncover patterns and trends in client data  
  • Create slides in PowerPoint to communicate findings of analyses  
  • Meet in person at the client site or at the Rios Partners office to discuss trends uncovered in data  
  • Copy edit Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to support standardization of processes for client  

How many years of full-time professional experience must I have?

Bachelor’s Degree + 4 years minimum  

-or- 

Master’s Degree or PhD + 2 years minimum 

What skills are expected of me at this level?

  • Problem Framing: “Owns” a workstream. Identifies objectives and structures plan to achieve them. 
  • Analysis: Proficient with quantitative tools (e.g. Excel). Executes given analyses with little to no help.  
  • Synthesis: Develops logical recommendations based on analyses that are relevant to the project. 
  • Communication: Communicates in a clear and concise manner in content and when defending recommendations. Creates compelling and easily readable slides and visualizations. 
  • Relationship Building: Develops trusted working relationships with junior clients on individual projects. 

What does this mean for my day-to-day?

  • Conduct interviews with variety of client stakeholders to glean insights on pain points and inefficiencies in internal process 
  • Rewrite a process to incorporate recommendations for increased standardization and improved efficiency of procedures to standardize and make processes more efficient  
  • Develop a PowerBI dashboard to show patterns in client data  
  • Present findings at the client’s office or virtually via videoconference  

 

How many years of full-time professional experience must I have?

Bachelor’s Degree + 6 years minimum  

-or- 

Master’s Degree or PhD + 5 years minimum 

What skills are expected of me at this level?

  • Problem Framing: Correctly defines strategic objectives and root causes.  Considers second and third order effects. 
  • Analysis: Identifies, collects, and analyzes data as necessary to support problem solving and other processes. 
  • Synthesis: Draws meaningful conclusions from rigorous analysis and develops high impact recommendations. 
  • Communication: Communicates in a clear and concise manner across multiple mediums.  Assertive and able to defend opinion and conclusions while simultaneously incorporating feedback. 
  • Relationship Building: Connects with internal and external stakeholders on both a personal and professional level – seen as a trusted advisor and thought partner. 

What does this mean for my day-to-day?

  • Gather updates from client stakeholders and update tracker to support Project Management efforts  
  • Review and copy edit a strategy playbook PDF to ensure compliance with accessibility standards  
  • Draft a series of email communications to encourage client action and support organizational change management  
  • Facilitate videoconference calls with client to ensure that recommended next steps are helpful for stakeholders 
  • Reflect on strengths and areas for development over last two weeks to prepare for one-on-one feedback meeting with supervisor  
  • Review presentation outline with Project Leader to align on narrative before building detailed PowerPoint presentation  

How many years of full-time professional experience must I have?

2 years minimum commercial strategy consulting 

-and- 

2 years minimum team management 

What skills are expected of me at this level?

  • Problem Framing: Develops the strategy the client “needs.” Frames issues in simple, convincing manner that spurs action. 
  • Analysis: Quickly identifies and executes most critical analyses. Structures analyses starting with objectives and output / “story” in mind. 
  • Synthesis: Convincingly weaves high impact recommendations into broader context of the project. 
  • Communication: Exhibits executive presence in all environments. Able to leverage all mediums to drive action. 
  • Relationship Building: Owns client relationships that extend beyond individual projects. 

What does this mean for my day-to-day?

  • Provide actionable feedback on deliverable for junior consulting staff team member 
  • Write weekly report summarizing team accomplishments to prepare for final contract reporting requirement  
  • Conduct one-on-one interviews with subject matter experts to gather industry best practices   
  • Present PowerPoint slides containing findings and recommendations to Rios director and principal and incorporate feedback  
  • Conduct a Human Centered Design “discovery” session in person at the client site  

Analyst

Analysts are team members with a bachelor’s or master’s degree who have limited to no full-time professional experience. Analysts are expected to support quantitative or qualitative analysis and synthesize and communicate results. 

Senior Analyst

Senior Analysts are team members with a bachelor’s or master’s degree with at least 2 years of professional work experience. Senior Analysts are expected to conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses, synthesize and communicate results, and manage meetings and relationships with clients. 

Consultant

Consultants are team members with a bachelor’s or master’s degree with at least 5 years of full-time work experience. Consultants manage a piece of a large project, pushing forward work independently or supporting junior team members in developing a work product. 

Senior Consultant

Senior Consultants are team members with a bachelor’s or master’s degree with at least 5 years of full-time work experience, 2 years of consulting experience, and 1 year of team management experience. Senior Consultants are expected to possess a strong consulting skill set while also being able to coach and develop 1-3 junior team members within one consulting workstream.  

Project Leader

Project Leaders provide leadership over one consulting engagement, including liaising with the senior client, creating a work plan, and working with junior consulting staff members to train on core consulting skills and developing project deliverables. Project Leaders manage 1-3 consulting workstreams within a project and are responsible for the success of 5-9 direct reports. 

Principal

Principals are consulting managers with 15+ years of consulting experience who manage multiple projects, especially within one particular area of practice (i.e. health care, digital solutions, etc.). In addition to providing project oversight, liaising with senior clients, and coaching and developing junior consulting staff members, Principals also own business development for their area of practice and must meet business development targets on a yearly basis.  

Recruiting Process

We recruit, hire, develop, and retain top talent with a diverse set of experiences and backgrounds, which enriches the work we deliver to our clients.

When you become a Rios team member, you work on multi-disciplinary teams and rotating project assignments alongside senior leadership, creating a culture of continuous learning. Each case provides an opportunity to work on a new skill set, enabling team members to develop holistically while identifying areas of interest for specialization. Our work environment balances autonomous work and team collaboration. 

Steps in our recruiting process

Rios Employee Benefits

Rios offers a robust benefits package to reward team members for their efforts, while also ensuring they can maintain good physical and mental health and meet their financial goals.   

From the CEO

If you are considering applying for a position at Rios Partners, it will be helpful to understand our overall approach to hiring and performance management so there are no surprises during the process. Some people really appreciate how we do things, others do not. 

Salary, bonus, 401(k)

For many of the positions that we continually recruit for on a rolling basis, we use a standardized pay scale, which can be found on the table below. Employees in a given position have the same salary, with adjustments made for tenure, e.g. Analysts start at a base salary of $60k and increase one “step” each year.

Upon promotion to Senior Analyst, the base salary will increase to $80k and likewise increases one “step” each year.

In addition to the base salary, employees will receive a percentage of their salary as a bonus if the company meets its financial goals for the year. The financial goals change from year to year, but the target bonus is 2% of salary for non-managers, 4% for managers, and 4.5% for senior managers. This bonus is independent of individual performance.

Employees are also eligible for an annual bonus based on their individual performance as evaluated against an objective competency framework for their position. The annual bonus ranges from 0% for Off Target Performance to 10% or more for a senior manager who is rated as Outstanding Performance. 

Finally, Rios Partners contributes an additional 3% salary to a 401(k) plan for every employee. Employees may choose to contribute additional funds if they desire. These contributions are 100% vested from day one.

An important element of this approach to compensation is that it is consistent with “equal pay for equal work”. If you have the same performance expectations as someone else, you can rest assured that your salary is the same, your performance evaluation process is the same, etc.

Every job posting will indicate the grade and management status (e.g. non-manager, manager, senior manager) for the job. Some job postings will provide a range of grades because the interview process is the same for certain job families, e.g. Program Manager I – III all have the same job post and interview process.

In addition to this pay table, we often hire for projects that require specific expertise that is defined by the client. In those instances, the pay (base and variable) will be unique to the client requirements, and listed on the specific job posting.

Beyond these standardized positions and project defined positions, we seek leaders who bring expertise and qualifications that expand our ability to deliver high quality results to our clients beyond our current capabilities. For these roles, compensation will be more directly tied to the value they provide our clients, with variable compensation potentially exceeding base salary.

Rios Partners firmly believes that investing in our employee’s wellbeing provides an enhanced opportunity for individuals to reach their greatest potential and achieve excellence. As such, we invest a lot in healthcare for not only our employees but their families as well. Additionally, we offer short term and long term disability and basic life insurance to our employees at no additional cost.

Answer a couple of questions to see a breakdown of the benefits offered to Rios Partner employees and their families.

In addition to salary and bonus, employees receive many other benefits. Notable benefits include: 

  • Healthcare: Rios Partners offers an ICHRA to all employees. ICHRAs are relatively new so if you are not familiar with them please see here and here. In summary, we will provide between $705 and $2,362 to each employee – depending on their age and number of beneficiaries – to cover a healthcare plan of their choosing. As an example, a 40-year-old employee with a spouse and one child will receive $1,562 per month. A 20-year-old employee will receive less, and a 60-year-old employee will receive more. If the plan you choose costs less than that amount, you can use the additional funds to pay for qualified healthcare expenses (as defined by the IRS) such as copays, prescriptions and medical supplies. If you already have healthcare coverage, such as from a spouse, Tricare, etc. and will not be participating in the ICHRA, you will receive an additional $100/month that you can choose to put into a HSA. 
  • Vision and Dental: Rios Partners will cover the premium for basic dental insurance for the employee with the options to upgrade and/or include spouse and dependents, the employee pays the difference. Vision is an optional benefit available to the employee and spouse and dependents for an additional cost.  
  • Paid Time Off: All employees are eligible for Paid Time Off according to the chart below. Rios Partners does not separate sick vs. vacation time off because we do not think you owe us an explanation for why you are taking time off. Up to 120 hours of unused PTO rolls over at the end of each year, and the PTO balance will max out at 200 hours. 

Non managers: 

Managers: 

  • Parental Leave: All employees who have worked at Rios Partners full-time for a minimum of 12 continuous months who are in good standing, regardless of gender, are eligible for 12 weeks of parental leave with full salary and benefits.  
  • Other benefits: Rios Partners has many other benefits that will be outlined in your offer letter including paid holidays; various leaves such as for jury duty, bereavement, military service, etc.; short term, long term, and life insurance; Employee Assistance Program, etc. 
Generally speaking, we are not willing to negotiate on the offer letters because doing so would be in conflict with one or more of the principles listed above. We understand that means on occasion we will lose out on candidates who would be a great fit Rios – it is a downside to our process that we are willing to accept. Other companies may negotiate the details of each individual offer, but the risks of that approach are not something we are interested in. If we make an offer and you do not accept, we completely understand.

I feel well taken care of with my health care plan. I don’t have to worry about accessing specialists and whether it's physical therapy or counseling services, I have been able to get the services I need covered.

Rios Consultant