Principal Consultant - Gas & LNG (EMEA) at Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh

Principal Consultant - Gas & LNG (EMEA)

Location: GB-Edinburgh-Office

Wood Mackenzie is the global leader in analytics, insights and proprietary data across the entire energy and natural resources landscape.

For over 50 years our work has guided the decisions of the world’s most influential energy producers, utilities companies, financial institutions and governments.

Now, with the world’s energy system more complex and interconnected than ever before, sector-specific views are no longer enough. That’s why we’ve redefined what’s possible with Intelligence Connected.

By fusing our unparalleled proprietary data with the sharpest analytical minds, all supercharged by Synoptic AI, we deliver a clear, interconnected view of the entire value chain. Our trusted team of 2,700 experts across 30 countries breaks siloes and connects industries, markets and regions across the globe.

This empowers our customers to identify risk sooner, spot opportunities faster and recalibrate strategy with confidence – whether planning days, weeks, months or decades ahead.

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Role Description

This role is for high-performing professionals from top-tier advisory firms with existing knowledge of the gas and LNG business who wish to convert their strategy toolkit into recognised sector expertise without giving up the pace, rigour or client seniority they have been used to.

As a Principal in the EMEA Gas & LNG team, you will lead delivery of commercial and strategic consulting engagements, translating client questions into structured, evidence-based answers, and those structured answers into lasting client relationships. In particular, as a Principal you will:

• Own workstreams from day one, running analysis, shaping the narrative and presenting to senior client stakeholders.
• Rapidly build a high-value specialism. Gas and LNG sit at the centre of energy security and the energy transition, and deep expertise is rare and durable, unlike sector-agnostic strategy skills.
• Receive full access to Wood Mackenzie’s proprietary data and IP, and the people and processes behind it, providing you with an analytical edge from week one.
• Progress quickly, transparently and based upon merit. This role will give you a clear path for progression to Director, enabling control over your career if backed up by performance and impact.
• Manage and coach a team of highly skilled consultants, who will look to you as a role model to shape their professional success.
• Gain direct exposure to the company’s leadership (we are a flat and entrepreneurial team) and help your senior colleagues to transform client requirements into actionable roadmaps as well as to shape new offerings and intellectual property.
• Receive global exposure, working for clients and on projects across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with the high possibility (as part of the global Gas & LNG team) to be part of cross-border mandates with the Americas and APAC teams.
• Enjoy a genuine work-life balance, one of the true strengths of our culture, without giving up the positioning, profile and prestige of a top-tier firm or the opportunity to build rare, specialist expertise in one of the world's most strategically important sectors.

Main Responsibilities

As a Principal Consultant at Wood Mackenzie, you will lead the delivery of consulting assignments and support wider business development activities. Your main responsibilities will include:

• Lead complex consulting engagements end-to-end, including:
  • Structuring project plans, hypotheses and storyboards for client deliverables
  • Owning workstreams and producing client-ready outputs
  • Coordinating internal experts (research analysts, data analysts, subject-matter specialists)
  • Selecting the right analytical frameworks, tools and proprietary Wood Mackenzie data and analysis for each assignment
  • Ensuring findings are rigorous, well-evidenced and directly aligned to client priorities
  • Managing timelines, budgets and stakeholder communication to commercial standards
• Develop a genuine and current command of the gas and LNG sector across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and global markets, building the specialism that differentiates you in the market
• Coach and mentor a team of consultants, helping them to bring structured problem-solving discipline and clear communication to a specialist and data-rich environment
• Collaborate with adjacent sector teams (e.g. Upstream & Carbon Management, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Metals & Mining) to deliver integrated, cross-value-chain perspectives
• Help convert client conversations and open-ended questions into well-scoped proposals, contributing directly to business growth
• Uphold Wood Mackenzie's consulting methodology and quality standards across every engagement

Knowledge & Experience Required (What you will bring)

A strong command of the gas and LNG business is ultimately important in this position, but what we are primarily interested is not whether you have it already, it is how quickly you can master it. This role suits candidates who bring:

• A bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline (business, economics, finance, statistics, engineering or similar); a master's degree or MBA is a plus
• At least 8 years of total professional experience, including meaningful time at a top-tier strategy / management consulting firm or a comparable energy-focused advisory firm
• An energy sector background, including some exposure to gas and LNG (this could be prior consulting casework, an in-house strategy role at an energy company, or relevant technical/commercial experience), and genuine interest in further building deep gas and LNG expertise
• Strong structured problem-solving and quantitative analysis skills, honed through rigorous casework or equivalent commercial experience
• A track record of managing workstreams or projects, and of building trust quickly with senior stakeholders
• Sharp client-facing communication (you should be comfortable in distilling complex analysis into a clear point of view for a senior audience)
• Intellectual curiosity and the appetite to become a credible, go-to voice on gas and LNG topics quickly
• Existing relationships or connections with clients across the EMEA energy market are highly valued, alongside a proven or emerging track record of commercial acumen
• Additional language skills are a plus, though not required

Recent projects our Gas & LNG practice has engaged in include:

• Buy and sell-side commercial due diligence for investors and lenders assessing gas and LNG infrastructure investments, including LNG supply projects, LNG import terminals, FSRUs, LNG shipping, and international gas transmission pipelines
• LNG project financing support for multiple North American LNG facilities, including analysis of global LNG market outlooks, gas supply sourcing, LNG buyer profiling, competitive benchmarking of new supply projects and analysis of contract economics and terms
• Gas & LNG strategy development and global opportunity screening for a large Middle Eastern national oil company
• Development of marketing materials for a new African midstream domestic gas-focused infrastructure fund
• Gas supply screening and advisory for a major African LNG exporter evaluating diversification of its gas supply portfolio
• Development of a National Gas Master Plan for a West African country, including analysis of domestic market growth and export opportunities
• Gas market studies across EMEA supporting market entry, pricing dynamics and commercial positioning decisions

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer. This means we are committed to recruiting the best people regardless of their race, colour, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, disability or protected veteran status. You can find out more about your rights under the law at www.eeoc.gov