Junior Associate - Advisory

The opportunity 

Collingwood is evolving. As we build our professional services delivery model, we're creating a new kind of analyst role — one designed from the ground up for the AI-first era.

This isn't a job where you spend your days on manual data pulls and formatting slides. You'll deploy and manage AI tools to do the heavy lifting, freeing you to focus on what matters: synthesising insight, shaping client thinking, and helping founder-led businesses grow faster.

You'll work directly with our Associate Advisers and Advisory Directors on active client engagements — getting real exposure to strategic advisory work from day one.

What you'll do

• Research and analysis: Use AI tools to gather, organise and synthesise data across industries and competitive landscapes. Turn raw information into clear, actionable insight that shapes our strategic recommendations.
• Deliverable support: Support the development of client-facing materials — slides, reports, models — using AI to generate strong first drafts and ensuring every output meets Collingwood's quality bar.
• Engagement coordination: Keep complex, multi-stream client engagements running smoothly. Manage diaries, track tasks, and maintain project data across tools including HubSpot and Method Grid.
• AI mastery: Stay ahead of generative AI and automation trends. Identify new ways to increase the speed and quality of delivery — and bring those ideas to the team.

About you

You have 2–4 years of experience in a professional setting — consulting, media, or a high-growth startup would be ideal. More than experience, we're looking for someone who is genuinely excited by what AI can do, and who has already started using it to solve real problems.

You should have hands-on experience with LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT) and automation tools (Zapier, Make, N8N). You're analytically minded, comfortable in Excel or Google Sheets, and able to communicate clearly in writing and in person. You understand how to take complex information and make it simple.

You'll thrive here if you're a natural team player, quick to learn, and take real pride in the quality of your work.

What we offer

The chance to shape how a specialist advisory firm works in the AI era — not observe it from the outside. Genuine responsibility from day one, direct access to senior advisers, and a team that takes your development seriously.

About you

Essential 

• 2–4 years of experience in a professional setting, ideally in a client-facing advisory or consulting capacity. Experience in media or a high-growth startup environment is also valued, particularly where it involved direct client or stakeholder-facing work.
• A "digital native" with a demonstrable passion for generative AI, prompt engineering, and workflow automation. 
• AI proficiency: Hands-on experience using LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT) to produce real client-ready outputs, not just for research or brainstorming, along with practical experience building or configuring automated workflows (Zapier, Make, n8n). 
• Analytically minded, able to perform quantitative analysis using Excel/Google Sheets and interpret data to find the “so what” - able to take an AI-generated first draft and turn it into something genuinely client-ready.
• Tech literacy: Highly proficient with productivity software (Microsoft Office, Trello, Miro) and presentation tools (PowerPoint, Canva). 
• Clear communication: Excellent written and oral communication, able to synthesise complex information into simple, clear updates. 

Attributes 

• Collaborative spirit: A "team player" mindset, ready to support senior colleagues and manage multiple tasks concurrently in a fast-paced environment. 
• Integrity: Able to operate with professionalism and handle sensitive client data with total discretion.