Principal Consultant - Data & AI

Advise. Invest. Build. Meet ALAIKA — a new kind of Financial Services firm — globally scaling, headquartered in Munich. The work is hard. The bar is high. Partner in 3-4 years possible, for the ones who can keep up and actually build a business themselves on our platform.
Stop reading if any of these describe you:
Specialisation. You are a generalist with shallow expertise and a thin network → AI will eat your lunch. We bet on depth.
Ownership. You would rather oversee than own → We fall in love with problems. Own them. Solve them. Ship solutions.
Speed. Slow is your default → Speed compounds. Be smart and brave enough to select 80/20 in the right way.
Mindset. "Not possible" is part of your vocabulary → We hire people who always find a way.
Still there? Then ALAIKA might be for you.
At ALAIKA, our vision is to build the future of Financial Services with three brands under one roof — Advisory (Strategy Consulting), Capital (Private Equity), Building (Company Builder). Right now, we are in the midst of building our trojan horse ALAIKA Advisory.
The ambition: building the leading Financial-Services-specific entrepreneurial holding — Fortune 500 access, PE discipline, Silicon Valley technology-depth and thinking. Three networks that compound and multiply.
One industry. Financial Services. Nothing else.
One focus. The intersection of business and technology — across Strategic Transformations, AI & Data Intelligence, and Cybersecurity.
One goal. Being the go-to partner for the world's leading Fortune 500 financial services companies — and the ones we might help build into that.
Founded in October 2022 by Johanna von Geyr (build-up and led Financial Services Practice for a NASDAQ-listed strategy consultancy) and Harald Braunstein (serial entrepreneur with exits incl. IPO), we bring together deep functional domain expertise and networks in global Financial Services, with a proven track record in building, scaling, and investing in leading software product companies.
Curious what ALAIKA is all about? Explore our website and introduction deck.
Join the movement — apply now.

The role and what you will work on
Advise. Take on the most pressing strategic and technology challenges of the world’s leading financial services companies — across Strategy, Data & AI, and Cyber, with deep data analysis and AI-domain expertise as your anchor. In the room with decision-makers as the expert your clients trust on the questions that matter most.
Own. Take full ownership of significant accounts and the relationships and revenue inside them. The work, the team, the clients, the numbers. You do not own pieces; you own outcomes.
Lead. Run project teams and large key initiatives. Set the standard for consultants, senior consultants, and managers — challenge them, develop them, raise their game. Multiply the output of everyone around you — not just your own.
Sell. Open new doors inside existing accounts. Originate new mandates. At ALAIKA, business development is not a partner privilege — it is always an expectation.
Connect. Walk in with deep networks. Extend them. Lead C-level discussions in your area of responsibility. Be recognized as a market leader in your domain. Build trust deep enough that clients call you first.
Grow. Sharpen the rare profile the market is short on — analytical mastermind, data & AI expert, entrepreneurial dealmaker. Partner-track within reach.
Build. We are scaling, with real building left to do — IP, processes, go-to-market, strategy. You are a strategic partner in shaping what ALAIKA becomes. That is not a slogan — it is your Tuesday.
When you are a fit
“Show me an athlete who did well academically. An athlete because they know what it takes to win and they have had to experience loss.”
— Kenneth C. Griffin, Founder of Citadel

You will work alongside intrinsically driven people chasing an uncapped career — people who do "what it takes". You fear "being one more number stuck in middle management".
Your goal is to make it to the top: at ALAIKA itself, at a leading investment or financial services firm, or in a company you build yourself — ALAIKA can help with that too.
Book-smart. Strong academic foundation. Think in structures, not gut feel.
Street-smart. Read the room fast. Prioritise ruthlessly. Grasp commercial reality.
People-smart. Communicate with precision — clear, direct, persuasive. Build trust across functions and seniority.
Athlete performance mindset. High aspirations. Grit. Learn faster than the environment changes.
Entrepreneurial guts. Self-confident achiever. Act first, apologise later — speed is everything. You move.
What you bring
Background. Outstanding degree in an analytical field from a top-tier university, or a track record that speaks for itself.
Experience. Minimum 5 years in a high-pressure, results-driven environment — top strategy consultancy with a strong data and AI practice, or fast-growing AI-native technology company. Deep hands-on experience delivering data and AI projects is required. An established network across the data, AI, and financial services community is expected at this level.
Industry Focus. You have worked inside or deeply alongside financial services institutions. Sub-sector expertise in insurance preferred, but we would consider experience in banking, asset management, or payments as well.
Technical Depth. Fluency in modern data and AI stacks — machine learning, generative AI, cloud platforms, production deployment. You have advised and shipped real systems, not just slides.
Leadership. You have led teams that delivered. We hire managers who build businesses, not just project plans.
Analytical edge. Data-driven by default. Leverage data to drive decisions, not just decorate slides.
Languages. Fluent in English and German. Additional languages are a plus.
Why join ALAIKA
Partner track from day one. Three years from principal to partner possible.
Compensation. Above market with very entrepreneurial-d