Project Leader

ING’s Corporate Strategy department provides strategic advice and consulting services to all business units across all functional lines. This exposure to a wide range of topics and to top management makes this department an ideal breeding ground for future management.

ING’s Corporate Strategy department

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base and growing presence in the rest of the world. The mission is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. With more than 52,000 dedicated employees, the bank offers retail and commercial banking services to more than 34 million customers in over 40 countries. For more information, go to Careers at ING. The Corporate Strategy department supports the definition of the strategic vision of the Bank, ensures implementation and alignment of the Think Forward strategy, leads high-impact strategic projects and tracks performance. The department reports directly into Global CEO Ralph Hamers and consists of 15 consultants from a range of backgrounds (including external consultancies such as BCG, McKinsey and Bain).

Project Leader

Project Leaders manage a multidisciplinary team of maximum three internal consultants, a number of representatives of internal clients and stakeholders (such as Innovation, countries for best practices, Risk or Finance) and (sometimes) external consultants. They are responsible for the analyses, composition and delivery of a detailed solution to the issue at hand.

Typical projects

The department focusses on high-impact initiatives in the domains of Corporate & Business Unit Strategy (43% of all projects in 2015), Innovation (36%), Customer & Marketing Strategy (15%), and Operations & IT (6%). For example, a selection of projects from 2015 would be:

• Market Entry Strategy – supporting the Management Board in assessing the opportunity to enter a new country
• Country Review – supporting several country CEOs on building their mid- to long-term strategy to increase performance
• Client Segmentation – creating a client segmentation model based on client needs and behaviors, using predictive analytics
• Distribution Strategy – supporting TMB management in designing a branch strategy for the ING Retail Bank in Thailand
• SME Lending – supporting the launch of an innovative SME lending product, defining the value proposition and market strategy

Landing spot

Due to the strong team culture, the Corporate Strategy department consistently scores in the top 10% of departments for workplace satisfaction across the bank. Team members receive extensive support to ensure fast track career development. Therefore, the team has an excellent track record in both core strategic projects (NPS of ~90%) as well as in placing alumni in senior positions throughout the business.

Best of both worlds

In the Corporate Strategy department, job satisfaction usually comes from the high impact of projects and recommendations. ING encourages a healthy work / life balance so that members of the team have the energy and drive to go the extra mile for clients when needed. Given the highly international domain of the Group, the Project Leader is expected to travel from time to time, but typically within the EU and only for a couple of days, with plenty of room for individual preferences.

Personality

• Strong business sense
• Influencer, able to work with people at all levels
• Excellent analytical skills
• Innate curiosity to research new topics
• Creative and focused on innovation

Experience

• A minimum of four years of experience at a top-tier strategy consulting firm
• At least one year spent in a manager-level role
• In-depth knowledge of one or more financial services topics