How to hire a principal consultant

How to hire a principal consultant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step principal consultant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a principal consultant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new principal consultant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a principal consultant do?

Post a principal consultant job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your principal consultant job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a principal consultant for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A principal consultant's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, principal consultants from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents principal consultant salaries for various positions.

   Type of Principal Consultant	Description	Hourly rate
   Principal Consultant	A Principal Consultant works for a consulting firm that is specialized in financial, technical, management, marketing, or scientific industries. They may also lead a group of consultants on client-based projects.	$43-72
   Consultant/Project Manager	Consultants/project managers act as planners, leaders, and advisors in business enterprises. These professionals facilitate meetings and establish positive relationships with vendors, management, and clients... Show more	$35-65
   Consultant/Team Lead	Consultant team leads analyze background documentation, project documents, financial reports, etc., to prepare an initial report about the projects they are working on. They gather data through interviews, research, and surveys to design proposals meant to create an inclusive environment for everyone... Show more	$34-62

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Cloud
   • Business Development
   • C #
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Java
   • Project Management
   • Solution Design
   • ERP
   • Architecture
   • Analytics
   • Saas
   • Infrastructure
   • UI
   • Business Process

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage project risks and issues throughout the SDLC phases, report project/program statuses to steering committee along with financial information.
   • Provide PMO office support including improving governance processes to achieve expect results.
   • Manage numerous engagements that are either custom development or package software (ERP) implementations and integration.
   • Project leadership, strategy and health information management consulting services to healthcare and manage care organizations and health information technology companies.
   • Design database and business objects using XML schema.
   • Create XMLType view to generate xml output from a SQL query.

   More principal consultant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the principal consultant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A principal consultant salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a principal consultant in Kentucky may be lower than in Oregon, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level principal consultant. Additionally, a principal consultant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average principal consultant salary

   $116,478yearly

   $56.00 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level principal consultant salary

   $90,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 22, 2025

   Average principal consultant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$143,636	$69
   2	Washington	$133,637	$64
   3	New Hampshire	$120,041	$58
   4	District of Columbia	$119,352	$57
   5	New York	$119,002	$57
   6	Connecticut	$118,405	$57
   7	Virginia	$117,176	$56
   8	New Jersey	$116,789	$56
   9	Massachusetts	$114,924	$55
   10	Texas	$112,778	$54
   11	Illinois	$111,457	$54
   12	Minnesota	$110,852	$53
   13	North Carolina	$109,883	$53
   14	Arizona	$109,377	$53
   15	Ohio	$108,196	$52
   16	Wisconsin	$108,196	$52
   17	Florida	$107,203	$52
   18	Utah	$106,228	$51
   19	Colorado	$105,344	$51
   20	Georgia	$104,890	$50

   Average principal consultant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Pure Storage	$147,630	$70.98	38
   2	F5	$147,010	$70.68	11
   3	Palo Alto Networks	$142,618	$68.57	244
   4	Bunge	$141,853	$68.20
   5	Icertis	$139,378	$67.01
   6	Slalom	$136,367	$65.56	920
   7	CDW	$135,224	$65.01	17
   8	Atlassian	$135,110	$64.96	61
   9	FireEye	$133,941	$64.39
   10	ServiceNow	$132,758	$63.83	292
   11	Applied Predictive Technologies	$132,438	$63.67
   12	BMC Software	$132,320	$63.62	1
   13	Advent Software	$132,296	$63.60
   14	SADA	$132,284	$63.60	4
   15	FADEL	$131,229	$63.09
   16	Qualtrics	$130,192	$62.59	2
   17	Amazon	$130,152	$62.57	756
   18	BNY Mellon	$129,963	$62.48	6
   19	Informatica	$129,539	$62.28
   20	Thomson Reuters	$128,979	$62.01	23

4. Writing a principal consultant job description

   A job description for a principal consultant role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a principal consultant job description:

   Principal consultant job description example

   $110,000-$130,000 / year

   Are you a passionate Consultant who thrives on engaging with customers, implementing software solutions, and applying your knowledge and experience to improve a customer’s business? Vertafore is seeking a Consultant for our Professional Services organization to consult and implement Vertafore’s product Sagitta to enterprise and strategic customers. This includes project planning, educating customers, collaborating on key decisions to drive best practices, business solutions and product adoption, solving business challenges and gaps. The ideal candidate will be energetic, a quick study, results-driven, a self-starter, with a strong collaborative nature, a proven track record as a Consultant who exudes a creative and positive can-do attitude. Your work will be impactful and highly valued by our customers and Vertafore.

   Core Requirements and Responsibilities:

   Essential job functions included but are not limited to the following:

   · Be a subject matter expert with Sagitta, its methodology, and P&C business operations

   · Be part of project teams implementing Sagitta and delivering Professional Service

   · Manage multiple consulting engagements concurrently with large agencies

   · Conduct presentations and educational sessions

   · Deliver in-person consultative sessions with customers

   · Analyze business operations and methodology to develop best practices

   · Recommend solutions for customer pain points, gaps, needs, goals

   · Conduct user acceptance testing with customer

   · Perform operational assessment post-implementation to drive product adoption, improve business operations, refine best practices, identify new consultative opportunities

   Qualifications:

   · 3+ years of experience working as a Consultant in the P&C insurance industry

   · 3+ years of experience in a Professional Services organization in a customer-facing role

   · Experience with Sagitta highly preferred

   · Strong knowledge of P&C insurance business practices and independent insurance agency markets

   · Strong knowledge of insurance accounting practices

   · Broad knowledge of agency management systems and other business applications, content management solutions

   · Strong interpersonal skills with the proven ability to effectively engage and influence at all levels, and ability to effectively handle crucial conversations and manage conflict resolution

   · Ability to effectively prioritize workload and tasks to meet deadlines

   · Excellent presentation and communications skills, both written and verbal

   · Outstanding time management skills

   · Ability to be creative and innovative

   · Ability to effectively problem solve, react to situations decisively and effectively

   · Flexible, easily adaptable to change

   Additional Requirements and Details:

   · Occasional lifting and/or moving up to 10 pounds.

   · Frequent repetitive hand and arm movements required to operate a computer.

   · Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision (working on a computer, etc.).

   · Frequent sitting and/or standing.

   Our offices are currently open on a voluntary basis and we are moving forward with a flexible first business need work environment in mind.

   #LI-Hybrid

   Is this role not an exact fit for you? Keep an eye on our Careers Page for other positions!

   Vertafore is a drug free workplace and conducts preemployment drug and background screenings .

   The selected candidate must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

   The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the job responsibilities, duties, skill, or working conditions. In addition, this document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an "at will" relationship.

   Vertafore strongly supports equal employment opportunity for all applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.

   We do not accept resumes from agencies, headhunters, or other suppliers who have not signed a formal agreement with us.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find principal consultants for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any principal consultants they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level principal consultants with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your principal consultant job on Zippia to find and recruit principal consultant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting principal consultants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new principal consultant

   Once you've found the principal consultant candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new principal consultant first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a principal consultant?