9 Oct 2024
EY Business consulting

Business Consulting Graduate Programme

Applications for the 2025 EY Graduate Programme are now open!

Apply Now

What is Business Consulting at EY?

Our clients rely on our Business Consulting team’s expert knowledge to advise on a broad range of issues across a variety of industries. We offer guidance to companies looking to grow or change or improve performance. Business Consulting is a fast-moving, high-growth area that reflects the challenges and uncertainty of today’s world.

We look for people with commercial acumen who are inquisitive, analytical, and ambitious. If this sounds like you, apply for our Graduate Programme in Business Consulting today!

Choosing your career 

When submitting your application form, you may submit a preference for the types of clients you would like to work with during your graduate programme, if you wish. We have two areas of our business which focus on different clients and industries. 

Non-Financial Services Clients: Industrial, Commercial & Technology (ICT) Clients including Automotive & Transportation, Government & Public Sector, Health & Life Sciences, Mining & Metals, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction, Technology, Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment.

Financial Services (FS) Financial Services clients: Asset Management, Banking and Insurance, Investment Services, Financial Services Industry, Foreign Exchange.

No preference: If you are open to any client group or industry, then that is no problem! Please select "no preference" when submitting your graduate application. 

Selecting a preferred team: If you have an interest in a specific sub-team within Tax, please read on below to discover the areas you can join. If you spot a team that peaks your interest, please submit your preference via your graduate application. This is not mandatory, and you are more than welcome to submit your application without a team preference if you wish. 

Wishing you the very best of luck. 

Our Business Consulting Graduate Programmes:

  • Business Transformation

    • Transformation Delivery

      The Transformation Delivery team focuses on supporting our clients to realise value by turning strategy into desired and aligned outcomes. 

      Our vision is to become Ireland’s leading Transformation Delivery practice, partnering with our clients and bringing end-to-end capability, to drive transformational change, enabling them to go beyond the horizon.

      We are Digital and Future focussed.

      In Transformation Delivery we enable clients on their transformation and digital transformation journeys, covering the end to end transformation journey from understanding what the client needs in the future through to the delivery of this. We lead on Digital Transformation to strategically implement planned change, to enable organisations’ to stay relevant and competitive in a disruptive marketplace by leveraging and developing compelling technology.

      We are structured across a number of focus areas which are:

      Transformation & Portfolio Management

      • Transformation Management enables our clients to define, implement and manage complex portfolios from strategy to execution.
      • Portfolio Management assists our clients with aligning strategy to demand (i.e., projects, products/services, assets), prioritizing/coordinating demand, balancing supply with demand, and driving portfolio-level decisions to realize value.
      • Capital Program Delivery (large infrastructure programs) advises our clients on the effective set-up and delivery of large capital projects (large public infrastructure). It includes the program lifecycle on all aspects from business case, feasibility, and execution strategy, through to integrated program controls, governance and delivering outcomes.

      Agile & Product Management

      • Agile Delivery stands up an agile Program Management Office (PMO) that reports status across the agile components of a program and provides Scrum Masters to execute.
      • Product Management facilitates the product delivery lifecycle by interacting with product and service design, engineering, testing and production.

      Complex Transformation Delivery

      Complex Transformation Delivery equips clients with skilled people to drive the execution of major transformations, focusing on those programs of work that fundamentally change a Business. Complex transformations are typically huge undertakings for our clients and are inherently complex in nature; displaying characteristics such as:

      • Large in scale; large team size, large budgets, multi-year
      • Ambiguous Scope: Unclear, uncertain, changing but transformational
      • Multi-Stakeholder: Multi-Team, multi-streams of work, Multi-Vendor, Multi-Skilled resources

      We support our clients in executing major, complex transformations with flexible structures, robust governance and standardised processes. We advise our clients across all elements of a transformation from program initiation and setup through delivery and internal change to program close.

      What kind of clients do Transformation Delivery support?

      We support a wide range of clients across multiple sectors including Energy & Assets, Government & Public Sector, Health, Transport, Education, Life Sciences, Consumer Products, Advanced Manufacturing, Telecommunications and Financial Services.

      What skills can you develop in this role?

      We have a comprehensive Learning and Development program in place for all staff members and access to a vast library of on-line courses. We also have specific Learning Pathways for each level in the organisation including classroom-based learning as well as our bespoke EY Badges learning initiative which encourages you to attain a level of proficiency in skills of interest to you and valuable to our clients.

      In particular, within Transformation Delivery we will also upskill and train you on a targeted range of approaches and tools such as:

      • Design Thinking
      • PRINCE2
      • Scrum Master
      • Agile Delivery
      • Data Visualisation and more….

      What kind of work could you be doing?

      • Working in a team based environment for one of our clients
      • Supporting clients delivering their business needs and including project management and delivery support.
      • Listening to client problems and helping defining strategies and solutions
      • Engaging with your Transformation Delivery colleagues to contribute to the overall running of our team.
      • Developing proposals and business cases for EY or our clients

      How can we support you in your role?

      In addition to our comprehensive graduate on-boarding and induction process, there is on-going graduate training over the first 2 years. Every new hire is assigned a buddy who is there to support and guide you through your first months. Further, every member of the team is supported by a more senior team member who supports the individual in terms of performance management and career development as well as building competence, motivation and confidence.

      Where will you be based?

      We have roles based in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. We have a hybrid working model which is outcomes based and relies on a blended work location which means a mix of working from home, from our EY offices and at the Client offices, as required by the Client.

       

    • Transformation Architecture

      EY believes a better working world means addressing big, complex issues to deliver outcomes that grow, optimise and protect our clients' businesses.

      Transformation Architecture (TA) is one of four sub service lines under EY’s Business Transformation offering. In Transformation Architecture, we help our clients see their future and define their purpose, and then we design, lead and deliver the end-to-end transformations to realise this ambition.

      TA is a tight-knit team made up of a diverse range of people with different skills and experiences. We recruit people from diverse backgrounds as we have a wide range of clients and industries that we serve. We are open to different personalities, experiences and backgrounds provided they have a keen interest in business. This inclusive and collegiate culture allows us to get the most out of our people, for our clients.

      What kind of work could you be doing?

      Graduates in TA work in a collaborative team environment and support on delivery of challenging transformation projects, supporting clients through a number of transformation methodologies across our core sectors. This includes:

      • The design and development of our clients’ long-term strategic roadmaps
      • The design and development of target operating models including facilitation of workshops across multiple stakeholder groups
      • Supporting the development of business and commercial cases for significant pieces of new investment or policy changes
      • Conducting trend analyses to assess current market landscape and identifying growth levers to develop strategic choices

      What clients do Transformation Architecture support?    

      We support public and private sector clients through a number of transformation methodologies and our core sectors are:

      • Government & Public Sector
      • Energy & Sustainability
      • Health
      • Life Sciences
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      How can we support you in your role?

      • Continuous learning: You’ll develop the mindset and skills to navigate whatever comes next
      • Success as defined by you: We’ll provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way
      • Transformative leadership: We’ll give you the insights, coaching and confidence to be the leader the world needs
      • Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs
       
       
    • Innovation and Experience Design  (EY Seren)

      EY Seren help organisations achieve business transformation, by putting the human first. We believe that placing ‘humans at the centre’ of any transformation leads to better success for any organisation. This approach enables the innovation of strategies, services and products that meet these specific needs and creates long-term value.

      At EY Seren, some of our core competencies are:

      1. Experience Design: Leveraging deep customer research and insights, our experience designers focus on three particular needs for our clients: Service Design, Product Design and Product Management.
      2. Operations and Commercial Excellence: We use data and in-depth research to get to the heart of what customers need, and create the service propositions and business models that provide radically improved outcomes for the customer and the organisation.
      3. Marketing, Brand and Communications: By understanding the needs of our clients’ customers, we can create thoughtful and value-driven storytelling and communication that helps organisations reach their customers better, maximise brand value and reduce complexity.
      4. Research and Insight: Deploying a breadth of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, EY Seren can focus on the deep understanding of customer and market needs.
      5. Innovation: In a rapidly changing industry landscape where new trends are quickly winning market share, our clients often need to figure out how to create new opportunities.

      Being part of EY Seren will connect you to a diverse team of varied skillsets, where your development will be valued and encouraged in an exciting fast-paced environment.

      What kind of work could you be doing?

      By joining our Seren team, you will work within a high-performing team of problem solvers, innovators and designers with extensive consulting and industry experience.

      On a typical day, you will have the opportunity to:

      • Be involved in client engagements of all sizes, from small to large scale transformation projects.
      • Engage with senior EY and client stakeholders and agile delivery teams to drive project outcomes and make a real difference to our clients and society.
      • Conduct research and analysis, support and facilitate workshops to uncover key processes, pain points and improvement opportunities for our client and their customers.
      • Create compelling content to express ideas and innovation through a variety of different platforms.
      • Create personas, visualise customer experience journeys and create desirable future-state experiences that improve customer satisfaction.
    • Business Design

      Business Design works directly alongside clients to help them achieve improve customer and user outcomes through effective operational strategies, process improvement, enhancing performance management and cost optimisation activities.

      We transform our clients’ operating models, enabling them to create more value for the customers, members, and citizens they serve. We collaborate closely with our clients to create the changes in their business models, processes and digital capabilities that deliver radically improved outcomes for the customer and the organisation. We use design thinking, customer-centricity, and innovation to drive the optimal design decisions and outcomes.

      Why join Business Design?

      Business Design will empower you during on-boarding and throughout the graduate programme, by providing you with opportunities to gain accredited certifications, training, and internal development activities.

      Lean Six Sigma, Prince 2, PSM1 Scrum Master, Scaled Agile Framework training are provided to our consultants to support them in expanding their skillset and provide additional growth opportunities; allowing you to shape your own career path.

      Business Design Team Differentiators

      To enable our clients to be digital and deliver value-driven results to their customers, our consultants undergo learnings and professional qualifications to specialise in:

      • Business Analysis
      • Cost Optimisation
      • Capability Building
      • Process Automation
      • Process Improvement
      • Operating Model Design
      • Business Design (Process and User/experience led design)

      Where can a role in Business Design take you?

      • Have a clear career progression path with many opportunities.
      • Have opportunities to get involved with initiatives to develop and grow your skillset and the Business Design team.
      • Be involved in projects across the end-to-end project lifecycle, from business case development to project and execution and close-out.
      • Draw on EY’s unique capabilities in Digital, Transformation Design and Delivery, Business Process Analysis, and experience from our global consulting network.
      • Engage directly with client senior stakeholders to drive business outcomes, including the facilitation of client interviews, workshops, and project governance sessions.
      • Work with a global team of experts to develop unique, innovative, and game-changing solutions as well as benefiting from best-in class operations focused training and development.
      • Utilise your skills in the areas of structured problem solving, business analysis, analytics, design thinking or lean process improvement to help our clients drive profitability and performance through their business operations.

      What kind of work could you be doing?

      • Partnering to resolve senior leadership and culture challenges.
      • Designing and implementing as is and to be process architecture.
      • Driving Cost Optimisation projects to deliver value across organisations.
      • Re-imagining and re-designing key business processes and operating models with customer centricity at the centre.
      • Designing and implementing large scale transformation programmes to drive operational excellence and enhanced digital experience.
  • Enterprise Risk

    Enterprise Risk is an integral part of EY’s Business Consulting services. We are an established and yet growing service offering, focused on the development and optimisation of governance, risk management and internal controls.

    We provide practical risk management, internal audit, internal controls (including SOX) and process improvement solutions to deliver business benefits that go beyond compliance. Our team also work with our Transactions service line to support companies intending to list publicly in the UK, delivering Financial Position and Prospects services.

    We work with many of today's leading companies across both the UK & Ireland private sector and global multinationals, in industry sectors including energy and assets, technology, media and telecommunication, consumer products, life sciences and manufacturing, and within the government and public sector.

    Working in different sized, multi-disciplinary teams and playing a key role in ensuring high quality outputs and service – involving developing knowledge and implementing new solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients. 

    What to expect

    An inclusive workplace enables us to embrace diversity to deliver more innovative and sustainable solutions for our people, clients, shareholders and communities. You'll be encouraged to be yourself and supported to perform at your best. You can expect to be given opportunity to develop and utilise new skills, explore interesting fields and do fulfilling and challenging work that will impact at the organisational level.

    We encourage flexibility in how and where you work with the right technology, support and resources. You’ll be working with a diverse range of clients including industry leaders around the world with additional opportunities to participate in business development activities internally and with clients.

    We embrace a clear path for progression and opportunities to grow your career plus the chance to give back to society and dedicate time to self-development.

     

  • Supply Chain & Operations

    In Supply Chain & Operations, we work to address an organization’s overarching end-to-end supply chain and operations strategy to grow, optimize and protect their operations.

    Our team works with clients across both public and private sectors (Life Sciences, Food & Beverages, FMCG, Energy & Utilities, Banking, Financial Services, Manufacturing, National & Local Authorities), to assist them in optimising their supply chain model to:

    • Generate Efficiencies
    • Reduce costs
    • Increase Resilience
    • Sustainability
    • Digital Manufacturing

    What kind of work could you be doing?

    • Procurement review and process design
    • Digital Manufacturing Programmes
    • Process review and re-design
    • Project Management
    • Network re-design
    • Supply Chain Strategy Development
    • Demand Planning Analysis & Design
     
  • Finance Transformation

    Finance Transformation can help to solve complex challenges and issues that are prevalent as businesses seek to transform themselves in the digital age.

    Working with Chief Financial Officers and finance organisations around the world, we help assess and transform our clients' finance function to improve performance and effectiveness. We provide insights and recommendations on people, processes and systems and then work with our clients to deliver improvements.

    Our services include management accounting, financial accounting (financial statement close optimisation), and finance transformation (e.g. finance target operating model design). We work with clients from a large range of industries including pharma, consumer, energy, technology and the public sector.

  • Technology Risk

    Technology is at the heart of most modern organisations. While Technology opens opportunities, it also exposes organisations to risks.

    Our Technology Risk teams combine digital know-how with advanced technology to help clients understand and transform their businesses. Our experience helps clients grow, manage, protect and, when necessary, transform their businesses. Together, we shape entire industries by applying the right technological solutions to real world problems. Your diversity of thought will only strengthen our work within this incredibly varied business area.

    What kind of work could you be doing?

    • Across all Technology Risk work streams, you will be given the opportunity as you grow in your career to lead meetings, identify issues, and propose solutions. You will work with, and get to know, senior stakeholders at EY clients up to board level.
    • You can gain a broad understanding of the IT landscape of some of our biggest clients, including their approach to cybersecurity, data protection, resiliency, and software asset management.
    • Assessing complex projects to spot risks and make recommendations.
    • Analysing data, communicating with clients and presenting your work.
    • Understanding the risks associated with emerging technologies, including cloud adoption, the use of Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation.
    • Collaborating with diverse international EY teams that provide unique perspectives and solutions.
    • Supporting some of the largest local and global clients on topics that really matter.
    • Gain experience consulting major technology companies, financial institutions, and public sector bodies.

    Professional qualifications & training opportunities

    By joining Technology Risk, you will become an expert in a range of analytical tools including MS Excel, BI, analytics. collaboration and reporting tools. The role will also introduce you to a wide range of industry specific tools used in Cyber Security, Programme Risk Management, IT Asset Management, and IT Risk Management.

    As part of the role, you will have the option to complete:

    • The Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) professional qualification
    • Cloud Computing
    • Cyber Security
    • PRINCE2 (Programme Management training)
    • and other relevant industry qualifications as required by our business

    How is the Technology Risk Graudate programme structured?

    The programme is split into Year 1 and Year 2 activities, providing you with a structured path to build skills and become a Senior Consultant.

    Year 1

    After your EY induction, you’ll join your team and start working on client projects. Whilst you’re getting to know more about the client and their needs, you’ll start learning about the technology we use to test controls, analyse data, and advise clients through processes.

    Along the way you’ll shadow senior colleagues, and you could even go on secondments, supported by your own personal counsellor who’ll help guide your growth. This kind of exposure, together with working towards your qualifications, will open up many more opportunities within EY and beyond.

    Year 2

    You will continue to work with clients, growing your skillset and expertise. However, we will also support you in developing your leadership capabilities on projects and through training. Structured training events will continue throughout Year 2, ensuring you are best prepared to make a transition to Senior Consultant.

    At this point, you may also start studying a relevant professional qualification, which may include IT audit or accounting. It’s a lot of learning but you’ll have plenty of support from your team, mentors, and a career coach too. Before you know it, you’ll achieve your qualifications, be creating reports and presenting your findings to clients and by the end of the programme, be ready to lead your own teams and projects.

    If you want to drive innovation, explore your interests, and help us to build a better working world, this opportunity is for you. You'll join an inclusive environment where your voice, ideas and inspirations will be welcomed, whilst building your own exceptional EY experience.

  • People Consulting

    Our Financial Services Operations - People Advisory Services professionals assist our clients in successfully defining, implementing, and sustaining their people agenda. Financial Services in Ireland is experiencing change at a pace not seen before – driven by economy, society and innovation, our clients recognise the need to be adaptable and current – from attracting talent through to having the best employee value proposition needed to retain them.

    We are real people, standing at the intersection of business and talent, and we provide our Financial Services clients with a set of integrated services and offerings to support and inform their people needs.

    Our core service offerings include:

    • Operating Model and Organisational Design
    • Workforce Strategy
    • Future of Work
    • Change Experience
    • Training and Learning Services
    • Talent and Leadership
    • Culture
    • Communications
    • HR Transformation
    • Mergers & Acquisition

    Driven by our deep understanding of strategy and operations, and our focus on innovation & commercial business realities, this team is best positioned to respond to the scale and complexity of the challenges our financial services clients face, making us the trusted advisor of choice to our clients and creating more opportunities for our people.

     

Your consulting training & development

Our Consulting Graduate Programme offers you the opportunity to enhance your skill set through real-world experiences.

 

Find out more about what you can expect 

Professional Qualifications  & Study Leave


As part of our Consulting Graduate Programme you will have the opportunity to pursue further professional qualifications.

 

Find out more about the support you will receive