Senior Director, Commercial Applications (Chicago)

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WHERE YOU’LL FIT WITHIN THE TEAM

This role owns the vision, strategy, and roadmap of Bain’s global commercial platform —including core applications, tools, and processes. You will be accountable for ensuring this platform drives measurable commercial impact, including improved partner productivity, pipeline quality, revenue outcomes, and other specific metrics to be defined.

You will serve as the voice of the frontline, translating business needs into scalable commercial solutions and setting firmwide priorities across the platform. This will require both a deep understanding of the needs of the Partner team, as well as working directly with Partners to identify pain points, unmet needs, and test solutions.

In close partnership with Practices, TSG, and other functions, you will own product direction and prioritization, ensuring alignment with business goals while driving adoption and consistent usage across the firm. This will require basic fluency in Gen AI capabilities/tools (especially internal Bain iterations), and a desire to gain a deeper understanding of different capabilities, trade-offs, and limitations of Gen AI/technology solutions.

This role requires strong cross-functional leadership to align stakeholders, make trade-offs, and deliver an integrated commercial experience. You will also act as a visible champion for the commercial platform to help drive change management and work closely with a team of Senior Product Owners on the Commercial Operations team to execute against the roadmap.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in Bain’s commercial processes, strong product leadership, and the ability to operate strategically while engaging hands‑on in delivery when needed.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Strategic Product Leadership 35%

• Define and own the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Bain’s global commercial platform, aligned to firm priorities and frontline needs.
• Work with frontline users to understand use cases, pain points, and unmet needs.
• Set product priorities and investment cases, linking initiatives to measurable business outcomes (e.g., adoption, productivity, revenue impact); track performance and continuously optimize the platform.
• Stay ahead of emerging technologies (e.g., AI, commercial tooling) and translate them into practical, value-driving use cases for Bain.
• Act as a visible champion for the commercial platform to drive awareness, trust, and adoption.

Platform(s) Management and Delivery 35%

• Own end-to-end product lifecycle delivery—from ideation and prioritization through build, launch, adoption, and maintenance.
• Translate business strategy into clear product requirements, success metrics, and scalable solutions.
• Partner with TSG and architecture teams to ensure solutions are feasible, scalable, and aligned with enterprise standards (e.g., security).
• Drive user-centered design and rapid validation (e.g., prototypes, pilots) to ensure solutions meet frontline needs.

Team Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement 30%

• Lead and develop Senior Product Owner(s); define the future organization.
• Drive alignment across Commercial Operations, Practices, TSG, and other stakeholders to ensure clear priorities and coordinated delivery.
• Shape compelling narratives and influence the frontline, to accelerate adoption and behavior change.
• Build trusted relationships with global commercial leaders, serving as an advisor on commercial applications and capabilities.

ABOUT YOU

Must-have:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
• 5-7 years in a client‑facing capacity at Bain or recent prior Bain consulting experience at the AP level
• Direct participation in Bain commercial processes
• Demonstrated success driving tool and process adoption, leading product teams, and managing cross-functional stakeholders
• Experience driving adoption and change management more broadly, esp. across a more complex, global, matrixed organization
• Strong ability to understand partner commercial workflows, pain points, and adoption barriers, translating insights into practical solutions
• Sharp ability to understand partner commercial workflows, pain points, and adoption barriers, translating insight into practical, high‑impact solutions.
• Strong business judgment with the ability to link technology investments to commercial outcomes and articulate clear, adoption‑driven ROI.
• Exceptional communicator who can influence without authority, align senior stakeholders, and operate effectively in ambiguity with competing priorities.
• Ability to act as the voice of the partner, bridging business and technology to shape road‑maps, prioritize effectively, and balance trade‑offs for maximum impact.

Nice‑to‑have:

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree
• Product management experience, particularly in a B2B context
• Experience with platforms (e.g., Salesforce) and custom builds, using Agile/iterative methods and structured user feedback loops
• Product management certification (e.g., Pragmatic Institute, Scrum Product Owner, or equivalent)
• Working knowledge of AI and agentic workflows, including modern development approaches
• Familiarity with data governance, integration patterns, and security best practices

WORK MODEL / TRAVEL

This role follows a hybrid model, requiring in‑office presence at least 1 day per week.

U.S. COMPENSATION INFORMATION

Compensation for this role includes base salary, annual discretionary performance bonus, 401(k) plan with an annual employer contribution based on years of service and Bain’s best in class benefits package (details listed below).

Some local governments in the United States require a good‑faith, reasonable salary range to be included in job postings for open roles. The estimated annualized compensation for this role is as follows:

• In Illinois, the good‑faith, reasonable annualized full‑time salary range for this role is between $201,500 - $246,750
• In Boston, LA, Seattle, and DC, the good‑faith, reasonable annualized full‑time salary range for this role is between $210,500 - $258,000
• In New York, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley, the good‑faith, reasonable annualized full‑time salary range for this role is between $228,750 - $280,250
• In Texas, the good‑faith, reasonable annualized full‑time salary range for this role is between $192,250 - $235,500

• Annual discretionary performance bonus
• This role may also be eligible for other elements of discretionary compensation
• 4.5% 401(k) company contribution, which increases after 3 years of service and is 100% vested upon start date

Bain & Company’s comprehensive benefits and wellness program is designed to help employees achieve personal independence, protection and stability in the areas most important to you and your family.

• Bain pays 100% individual employee premiums for medical, dental and vision programs, offering one of the most comprehensive medical plans for employees without impacting your paycheck
• Generous paid time off, including parental leave, sick leave and paid holidays
• Fully vested 401(k) company contribution
• Paid Life and Long‑Term Disability insurance
• Annual fitness reimbursements

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.