Are you an aspiring management consultant? Find out what salary you could earn at Bain & Company after an MBA or master’s degree
Bain & Company was the world’s best consulting firm to work for in 2022 and a lot of that comes down to the impressive, six-figure salaries Bain offers its consultant hires.
Bain has also recently increased consulting salaries for 2023, along with the other Big Three consulting firms.
Bain recruits MBA and master’s level consultants from top US business schools including Harvard, Wharton, and Stanford as well as schools outside the US like INSEAD, HEC Paris, and London Business School.
Bain Consultant Salary & Bonuses
Bain consultant salary prospects are especially strong for incoming MBA hires who earn base salaries of $192,000. Master’s-level graduates get offered around $112,000 in base salary at Bain.
MBA hires at Bain receive performance bonuses of up to $63,000 and a signing bonus of $30,000. Master’s-level hires get performance bonuses of up to $22,500 and signing bonuses of $5,000.
These numbers are just starting salaries. Bain consultant salaries and bonuses tend to grow by 10-to-20% each year, according to ManagementConsulted. Each promotion to a higher level will also coincide with a salary leap.
Master’s-level hires tend to come in at the Bain business analyst salary level while MBA hires come in at the Bain associate salary level.
Two-to-three years out of an MBA program, Bain manager salary prospects are around $220-to-$240,000 in base salary and $100-to-$140,000 in bonuses.
A Bain associate principal salary sits at around $275-to-$350,000, while Bain partner salary prospects start at around $375,000 and go up to $500-to-$700,000 for a senior partner with potential bonuses of over $500,000.
You’ll find similar colossal consultant salaries across all the Big Three consulting firms: Bain, Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey.
Bain Careers
As well as Bain consultant salary benefits, careers at Bain come with many perks. Bain compares well to companies across industries—the firm is ranked among the best companies to work for by Glassdoor.
MBA hires at Bain get PTO vacation of 25 days per year. They get paid $8,000 for relocations of under 400 miles and $16,000 for over 400 miles. Bain also makes a 401(k) retirement contribution of up to $8,000 for US employees.
Master’s level hires at Bain get a housing allowance of up to $5,000, PTO vacation of 20 days per year, $5,000 for relocation.
Business school grads turned Bain consultants interviewed by BusinessBecause have praised Bain’s exciting work culture, but say work-life balance can be challenging:
Michele Valente, HKUST Business School MBA:
Find out if consulting is what you really want to do. It’s a very interesting job which gives strong basics to problem solving and data analysis, but this often comes with big cons, such as continuous travel and a not-ideal work-life balance.
How to get hired by Bain
What does it take to be a Bain management consultant?
Keith Bevans, head of global consultant recruitment at Bain & Company, tells BusinessBecause he looks for three key characteristics on any resume:
Are you smart? Being smart means GMAT score, GPA, undergraduate institution—usually being a graduate from a top MBA program has that covered.
Are you an impact player? Bain wants to know what impact you’ve made in your role, rather than what you’re responsible for.
Can you make it happen? Bain looks for practical, leadership experience. Say you’re in charge of organizing a major student conference: How did you deal with organizational challenges?
To apply for jobs at Bain, you’ll need to submit the following items, plus any requirements specific to the office you’re applying for: resume/CV; educational background information; work experience; relevant test scores.
Read more about Consulting Salaries For MBA & Master’s Graduates
The data in this article was sourced from Management Consulted’s 2023 Consulting Salary Report. The salary figures in this article are for those joining management consulting positions in 2023. This article is updated annually.
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