What is a Principal Consultant?

A principal consultant is a senior member of a consulting firm's staff who offers expertise, resources, and guidance to help clients succeed in their businesses. Their responsibilities may include identifying and contacting potential clients, building strong relationships with existing clients for repeat business, maintaining frequent client communication, making regular client visits, and ensuring client satisfaction.

Their additional responsibilities may include conducting meetings with clients and management to determine projects' scopes, budgets, and timelines, developing business proposals and regulating project terms and conditions with clients, identifying potential clients through networking, referrals and communities, and tracking project progress and identifying and correcting any delays.

Principal consultants need to have experience working in consulting at a senior level, the ability to build relationships with clients, and excellent interpersonal, communication, and teamwork skills. They should also have the ability to manage projects and teams.

Principal consultants need to have a bachelor's or master's degree in their field. They typically earn $57.72 an hour, which translates to $119,634 annually.

What Does a Principal Consultant Do

There are certain skills that many principal consultants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed problem-solving skills, time-management skills and interpersonal skills.

Learn more about what a Principal Consultant does

How To Become a Principal Consultant

If you're interested in becoming a principal consultant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 67.7% of principal consultants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 23.3% of principal consultants have master's degrees. Even though most principal consultants have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Principal Consultant
Top Principal Consultant Jobs Near You

Principal Consultant Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of project manager you might progress to a role such as contract project manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title contract project manager.

Principal Consultant

Top Careers Before Principal Consultant

Senior Consultant(241,206 Jobs)
14.5 %
Consultant(171,733 Jobs)
14.0 %
Project Manager(167,116 Jobs)
9.2 %

Top Careers After Principal Consultant

Consultant(171,733 Jobs)
12.9 %
Senior Project Manager(183,210 Jobs)
11.5 %
Project Manager(167,116 Jobs)
10.9 %

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Average Salary for a Principal Consultant

Principal Consultants in America make an average salary of $116,478 per year or $56 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $150,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $90,000 per year.
Average Principal Consultant Salary
$116,478 Yearly
$56.00 hourly
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What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Principal Consultant

The role of a principal consultant includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general principal consultant responsibilities:

  • The principal consultant, real estate planning is responsible for directing, planning, coordinating, budgeting
  • With a focus on your b2b marketing background, draw from your experience
  • Analyzing customers’ business requirements, including clinical, operational

There are several types of principal consultant, including:

Consultant

Role:

Consultants are essential to businesses that want to improve their performance. Typically, consultants advise these businesses in many areas such as operations, profitability, management, and even structure.

Consultants have their work cut out for them because their advice can stretch over so many different areas. You may need some expertise in management, strategy, human resources, finance, and IT (just to name a few fields).

In addition to having all of this knowledge, consultants typically work long hours, we're talking an average of 56 hours a week, but many work even beyond that, to around 70-80 hours. Spending that many hours at the office, you'll probably end up with some good friends, at least.

  • Average Salary: $78,912
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Management Consultant

Role:

A management consultant, also sometimes called a management analyst, helps a company or government entity layout and execute projects with the coveted outcome of becoming more productive or competitive. To achieve this goal, they may recommend various strategies to modify the organization's structure or operation methods in ways that result in increased profits, better practices, and improved efficiency.

Management consultants may specialize in a particular industry, such as healthcare, manufacturing, or education. Alternatively, their focus may be on a function, such as human resources, information technology, financial restructuring, or inventory control.

The reported annual salary for a management consultant in the U.S is approximately $83,610, or $40.2 per hour. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon academic qualification, having previous experience, and possession of the aforementioned skills.
  • Average Salary: $99,360
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Business Consultant

Role:

Business consultants analyze the processes and efficiency of a company. They identify potential problems and design business strategies for tackling them. They create business plans, increasing the potential of the company, and advise on the most cost-effective ways to achieve realistic business goals.

Business consultants work in a variety of sectors from healthcare to manufacturing, human resources, or financing. They do, however, tend to specialize in one area or another. Often they are self-employed, providing their services to a number of different clients, or they might be permanent employees at a firm. Either way, their job is essentially to listen and understand the company's particular needs.

Starting a consultancy business seems like an attractive solution to many who prefer to be their own bosses. Charging more for your services than you think you should as a freelance consultant gives you credibility and generates trust in your clients toward your services. That is one ground rule that will not be very painful to stick to, right?
  • Average Salary: $87,214
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Principal Consultant Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active principal consultant jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where principal consultants earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Principal Consultant Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California6,674$133,920
2Texas3,633$111,713
3Florida2,669$106,457
4Illinois2,548$110,671
5New York2,437$118,881
6Virginia2,335$116,384
7Pennsylvania2,240$117,186
8Massachusetts2,186$114,844
9Washington1,822$132,548
10New Jersey1,796$116,704
11North Carolina1,714$109,216
12Georgia1,516$105,017
13Arizona1,394$109,290
14Ohio1,371$108,572
15Michigan1,363$111,746
16Minnesota1,239$110,817
17Colorado1,150$105,327
18Indiana1,116$104,860
19Tennessee1,104$108,517
20Oregon1,043$134,286
21Maryland1,030$118,534
22Wisconsin936$108,005
23Connecticut851$118,360
24Missouri835$107,543
25Alabama768$115,397
26Utah756$106,527
27South Carolina754$108,092
28Kentucky675$101,420
29Arkansas529$102,013
30Oklahoma473$105,069
31Rhode Island449$120,361
32New Mexico430$116,377
33Kansas428$90,523
34New Hampshire415$119,749
35Nevada387$123,355
36Iowa374$107,255
37Nebraska343$99,250
38West Virginia340$117,416
39Mississippi303$119,677
40Louisiana303$114,168
41Idaho302$118,321
42Vermont261$105,946
43Maine243$109,633
44Montana240$97,004
45Delaware219$120,666
46South Dakota206$98,018
47Hawaii156$121,365
48North Dakota151$93,443
49Wyoming125$122,269
50Alaska121$132,746

Principal Consultant Education

Principal Consultant Majors

Business
22.2 %
Computer Science
14.9 %
Electrical Engineering
7.2 %

Principal Consultant Degrees

Bachelors

67.7 %

Masters

23.3 %

Associate

4.5 %

Top Colleges for Principal Consultants

1. Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$3,926

Enrollment

9,835

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Marketing
Psychology
Accounting
Finance

2. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Communication
Accounting

3. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Psychology
Mechanical Engineering
Communication
Computer Science

4. Ball State University

Muncie, IN • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,896

Enrollment

15,529

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Psychology
Accounting
Marketing
Communication
English

5. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Finance
Business
Economics
Political Science
Computer Science

6. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Economics
Psychology
Computer Information Systems
Mathematics

7. Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green, OH • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,105

Enrollment

13,729

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Management Information Systems
Psychology
Marketing
Computer Engineering

8. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Political Science
Economics
Finance
Mathematics

9. Howard University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$26,756

Enrollment

6,166

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Political Science
Psychology
Business
Economics
Marketing

10. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Economics
Communication
Psychology
Computer Science

Top Skills For a Principal Consultant

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.4% of principal consultants listed cloud on their resume, but soft skills such as problem-solving skills and time-management skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Principal Consultant Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Principal Consultant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Principal Consultant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Principal Consultant Resume
Principal Consultant Resume
Principal Consultant Resume
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Principal Consultant Demographics

Principal Consultant Gender Distribution

Male
Male
76%
Female
Female
24%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among principal consultants, 24.2% of them are women, while 75.8% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among principal consultants is White, which makes up 70.4% of all principal consultants.

  • The most common foreign language among principal consultants is Spanish at 32.4%.

Online Courses For Principal Consultant That You May Like

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3. Retail for Business Analysts and Management Consultants

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A practical guide with cases studies how to analyze and improve a retail business during management consulting projects...

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Best States For a Principal Consultant

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a principal consultant. The best states for people in this position are Oregon, California, Alaska, and Washington. Principal consultants make the most in Oregon with an average salary of $134,286. Whereas in California and Alaska, they would average $133,920 and $132,746, respectively. While principal consultants would only make an average of $132,548 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Oregon

Total Principal Consultant Jobs: 1,043
Highest 10% Earn:
$175,000
Location Quotient:
1.3

$134,286

Avg. Salary

View 1,043 Principal Consultant Jobs In OR

2. Washington

Total Principal Consultant Jobs: 1,822
Highest 10% Earn:
$172,000
Location Quotient:
1.28

$132,548

Avg. Salary

View 1,822 Principal Consultant Jobs In WA

3. Rhode Island

Total Principal Consultant Jobs: 449
Highest 10% Earn:
$154,000
Location Quotient:
1.9

$120,361

Avg. Salary

View 449 Principal Consultant Jobs In RI
Full List Of Best States For Principal Consultants

How Do Principal Consultant Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Principal Consultant Employers

We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ principal consultants and discovered their number of principal consultant opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Infosys Public Services was the best, especially with an average salary of $125,417. Oracle follows up with an average salary of $108,013, and then comes Genpact with an average of $102,351. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a principal consultant. The employers include Palo Alto Networks, BlackBerry, and Rackspace

Most Common Employers For Principal Consultant

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Dell$125,451$60.3159
2InfosysPublicService$125,417$60.303,803
3SAP$124,802$60.00241
4TIBCO Software$122,502$58.9064
5Prime Therapeutics$122,014$58.6651
6Accelalpha$119,319$57.3667
7Model N$118,507$56.97116
8Capco$117,804$56.64166
9Birlasoft$117,040$56.27156
10IBM$113,147$54.40122
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Principal Consultant Videos

Career Advice on becoming a Principal Consultant by Matt H (Full Version)
Career Advice on becoming a Principal Consultant by Matt H (Highlights)

Becoming a Principal Consultant FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become A Principal Consultant?

It takes about nine years to become a principal consultant. The first step is obtaining a bachelor's degree in an industry-related field, and this will take four years. Typical degrees for principal consulting are business management, finance, or computer technology.

What Is The Difference Between A Principal Consultant And A Senior Consultant?

The difference between a principal consultant and a senior consultant is in the scope of responsibility and oversight. A senior consultant manages analysts and junior consultants, while a principal consultant oversees large teams delivering an entire project.

Have more questions? See all answers to common business and financial questions.

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Updated February 6, 2023