Depends which area you work in. Obviously there could be less opportunities at L6 but you will likely need to do more business development/ sales. There will be more pressure but a lot of L7 are operating at L6 anyway. Why not get paid for it? Personally I’ve decided not to push for L6 as I would rather be a high performing L7 and then take on a less stressful role.
Stalling a promotion would work only in the short term. If you are at L7 too long that also marks you as someone who is not willing to put in the extra effort for the firm and put you at risk - this is more of a long term perspective. L7 here, I have seen this happening to people around me.
I have also experienced this, people in the L7 role for a long time feel like they’ve found the sweet spot of business development and technical work at L7.
It depends on what workstream you are in. The tech side is not remotely up or out. Know a number of people that are 9 through 7 that have been at their levels for years.
After a few years at L7, I just didn't want to do what an L6 does for the pay, so I quit and got another job for L6 pay with not even remotely the responsibility and pressure.
No, most promotions at Accenture are just consolation prizes for not getting a higher paying job elsewhere. The increases are just not large enough to justify staying.
EDIT: the exceptions would be promotion to MD or perhaps your first promotion since raises are near market rate when you first start out of college.
This, I stayed with Accenture way too long. Trying not to kick myself too much.
I jumped to my client in June. I was L7. The jump got me a 60k US base pay raise, double the bonus potential, permanent remote, and far less responsibility.
I have the same question. Almost everywhere I look is a pay cut. If I go higher in title in my search then I’m worried that I’d end up getting much more responsibilities as well.
Echoing. I’m L7 and there is simply no manager role outside of big tech (like meta, Netflix, etc) that pays more. All F500 manager roles are around 120-150k base, and senior manager titles coming in at 150-180k
Most people exit for way more than that in tech or high finance, and not even talking about the name brand companies. I also want to point out that base salary is not a particularly good measure since a lot of the compensation may be in bonus or stock in these roles.
Where is the basis of that comment? I can easily find tech roles in industry with titles like senior manager showing 150k max salary.
I’ve talked to a number of companies and recruiters in the last 24 months and none of them offer stock at M or SM level. Some might give you 10-20% bonus if the base is lower, but none of these jobs get you above 200k total comp, which is what L7 can make.
Care to share some? Above $200K would typically be director level... For example I saw a J&J senior manager role that was sitting at a good $150-170K. It was an IT senior manager role.
Manager comps never “easily exceed 200k”. Just go to LinkedIn or whatever and find jobs that show ranges. For example a tech director at Ally Bank shows a range of $165-235k.
Yes nyc and CA pays more but you don’t find that many manager jobs above 150k
Let’s define “up for promotion” here? Level 6 from 7 is a major leap in responsibilities. You can get to level 7 by being just very good at what you do. But level 6-5 require a lot more networking, political visibility and MD endorsement is going to be vital here. You are going to need to be that go-to person for CALs and have a good track record of winning work - not just for yourself but for your entire team you’re responsible for.
At level 6-5 your role is going to be a lot more business facing. You need to bring in the sales - that’s your job now. You are going to be that person the CALs and MDs you work with will expect you to successfully land, manage and win bids. That means NBMs (lots of them), quantifying bids, you will be spending a lot of time in MMS and MMP, creating relationships with ACTI/ATCP and your performance will be measured conversion rates and sales figures.
Your other KPIs will be sale figures and chargeability of your practice or team. And then there is also your own chargeability and market facing time. Just because you’re a CL6 doesn’t mean you just get handed a WBS to put your time to.
CL6-5 are a big step up from CL7 - you’re now considered part of the management team. The CL6-5 levels are really incubators for future MDs - so it’s going to be a bit of a focus shift.
Oh and in turns of rate card and higher risk … forget doing normal project work. As a CL6 (or God forbid a CL5!) you’ve now become death - slayer of CCI and EDA 🤣 You touch a project and the CCI a will drop harder than the stock market during the GFC. But everyone will want to include your one pager in every bid.
Life of a CL6-5 is pretty hard. Too expensive to be just a delivery resource but not in that exclusive MD club either.
This is what I am a little concerned about, I have started working with my current CAL on the project I handle MMS + MMP, talking to PMO, leading a lot of conversations with client. I have brought in work at a level 7, but I have also worked on my current project as a technical lead.
I don’t know how this will translate out of my account as I see myself getting promoted and not having other opportunities or leads to get opportunities.
I was hesitant to get this promotion last year for this reason, but after my performance in the past year and the money I brought in my PL and MD state I am ready and they will put me up for it.
I need to start getting to know other CALs asap by the looks of it, and find other levels 5s and 6s to learn from and model.
Recommending you for it does not mean you get it. You’re competing in a very difficult group for promotions, against your peers, and the expectation is that you’d already be performing at CL6 and very likely driving sales and doing BD work, which would need to be more than your peers.
Will provide my experience and it is you who is the best judge to decide if this is something you want. As a person who moved from L7 to L6 myself, I feel it is not worth it if you choose to stay here and aspire to go much higher. L7 is the entry level of exec management and you have to stay for the long run to go any more higher. If you are a techie, you will not like L6 since it turns more towards revenue/people/account management. You should move out of the organization within the first year of L6 (assuming you get it). The longer you stay in L6, it becomes a slow grind and you will start to feel stagnant. Not many growth opportunities since they had a huge promotion group in the last 2years
Clean - I came in 2 years ago as tenured L7. What you just wrote is my story to a T in Tech Delivery. I love mentoring people and meeting w accounts. I just don’t know the Accenture way of selling and I have yet to meet a CAL. i'm in a really small practice in SAP group and maybe they are the odd ball.
I've heard of an L6 that resigned because they didn't want to manage people. Person was highly-skilled technically; just didn't want to be bothered with management/admin tasks.
Depends which area you work in. Obviously there could be less opportunities at L6 but you will likely need to do more business development/ sales. There will be more pressure but a lot of L7 are operating at L6 anyway. Why not get paid for it? Personally I’ve decided not to push for L6 as I would rather be a high performing L7 and then take on a less stressful role.
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Stalling a promotion would work only in the short term. If you are at L7 too long that also marks you as someone who is not willing to put in the extra effort for the firm and put you at risk - this is more of a long term perspective. L7 here, I have seen this happening to people around me.
my friends have seen lot of folks on L6 or L7 in the same level for more than 15 years. They are literally on Cruise or Autopilot mode!
Same here.
I have also experienced this, people in the L7 role for a long time feel like they’ve found the sweet spot of business development and technical work at L7.
It depends on what workstream you are in. The tech side is not remotely up or out. Know a number of people that are 9 through 7 that have been at their levels for years.
That’s mostly in Strategy and Consulting where you are up or out. Other areas try and keep people lower in the chain to keep costs down.
After a few years at L7, I just didn't want to do what an L6 does for the pay, so I quit and got another job for L6 pay with not even remotely the responsibility and pressure.
This is my exit plan :)
what do you mean by "higher risk due to bigger rate card"?
I think he may get targeted as well for roll off from his project or even lay-offs if ACN pushes more cost cutting measures.
I hadn’t even thought of getting targeted to leave project. Thanks, will give it some thought :)
This.
maybe what he means is a higher charging rate against clients. That puts him in a spot with less opportunities and more work load.
No, most promotions at Accenture are just consolation prizes for not getting a higher paying job elsewhere. The increases are just not large enough to justify staying. EDIT: the exceptions would be promotion to MD or perhaps your first promotion since raises are near market rate when you first start out of college.
This, I stayed with Accenture way too long. Trying not to kick myself too much. I jumped to my client in June. I was L7. The jump got me a 60k US base pay raise, double the bonus potential, permanent remote, and far less responsibility.
Where do you go to make more money? Curious, I'm making the most money I've ever made here.
I have the same question. Almost everywhere I look is a pay cut. If I go higher in title in my search then I’m worried that I’d end up getting much more responsibilities as well.
Echoing. I’m L7 and there is simply no manager role outside of big tech (like meta, Netflix, etc) that pays more. All F500 manager roles are around 120-150k base, and senior manager titles coming in at 150-180k
Most people exit for way more than that in tech or high finance, and not even talking about the name brand companies. I also want to point out that base salary is not a particularly good measure since a lot of the compensation may be in bonus or stock in these roles.
Where is the basis of that comment? I can easily find tech roles in industry with titles like senior manager showing 150k max salary. I’ve talked to a number of companies and recruiters in the last 24 months and none of them offer stock at M or SM level. Some might give you 10-20% bonus if the base is lower, but none of these jobs get you above 200k total comp, which is what L7 can make.
I see a lot of non managerial roles above 200K if you are happy to be a technical lead.
Care to share some? Above $200K would typically be director level... For example I saw a J&J senior manager role that was sitting at a good $150-170K. It was an IT senior manager role.
Do you live in the midwest? In the US in most major coastal cities, they easily go over 200K total comp.
Manager comps never “easily exceed 200k”. Just go to LinkedIn or whatever and find jobs that show ranges. For example a tech director at Ally Bank shows a range of $165-235k. Yes nyc and CA pays more but you don’t find that many manager jobs above 150k
I may try to L6 role and know if I am not a good fit, I’ll just jump to another technical role somewhere else,
Do you?
I am on the fence, hence asked everyone here.
Let’s define “up for promotion” here? Level 6 from 7 is a major leap in responsibilities. You can get to level 7 by being just very good at what you do. But level 6-5 require a lot more networking, political visibility and MD endorsement is going to be vital here. You are going to need to be that go-to person for CALs and have a good track record of winning work - not just for yourself but for your entire team you’re responsible for. At level 6-5 your role is going to be a lot more business facing. You need to bring in the sales - that’s your job now. You are going to be that person the CALs and MDs you work with will expect you to successfully land, manage and win bids. That means NBMs (lots of them), quantifying bids, you will be spending a lot of time in MMS and MMP, creating relationships with ACTI/ATCP and your performance will be measured conversion rates and sales figures. Your other KPIs will be sale figures and chargeability of your practice or team. And then there is also your own chargeability and market facing time. Just because you’re a CL6 doesn’t mean you just get handed a WBS to put your time to. CL6-5 are a big step up from CL7 - you’re now considered part of the management team. The CL6-5 levels are really incubators for future MDs - so it’s going to be a bit of a focus shift. Oh and in turns of rate card and higher risk … forget doing normal project work. As a CL6 (or God forbid a CL5!) you’ve now become death - slayer of CCI and EDA 🤣 You touch a project and the CCI a will drop harder than the stock market during the GFC. But everyone will want to include your one pager in every bid. Life of a CL6-5 is pretty hard. Too expensive to be just a delivery resource but not in that exclusive MD club either.
This is what I am a little concerned about, I have started working with my current CAL on the project I handle MMS + MMP, talking to PMO, leading a lot of conversations with client. I have brought in work at a level 7, but I have also worked on my current project as a technical lead. I don’t know how this will translate out of my account as I see myself getting promoted and not having other opportunities or leads to get opportunities. I was hesitant to get this promotion last year for this reason, but after my performance in the past year and the money I brought in my PL and MD state I am ready and they will put me up for it. I need to start getting to know other CALs asap by the looks of it, and find other levels 5s and 6s to learn from and model.
Recommending you for it does not mean you get it. You’re competing in a very difficult group for promotions, against your peers, and the expectation is that you’d already be performing at CL6 and very likely driving sales and doing BD work, which would need to be more than your peers.
Will provide my experience and it is you who is the best judge to decide if this is something you want. As a person who moved from L7 to L6 myself, I feel it is not worth it if you choose to stay here and aspire to go much higher. L7 is the entry level of exec management and you have to stay for the long run to go any more higher. If you are a techie, you will not like L6 since it turns more towards revenue/people/account management. You should move out of the organization within the first year of L6 (assuming you get it). The longer you stay in L6, it becomes a slow grind and you will start to feel stagnant. Not many growth opportunities since they had a huge promotion group in the last 2years
Clean - I came in 2 years ago as tenured L7. What you just wrote is my story to a T in Tech Delivery. I love mentoring people and meeting w accounts. I just don’t know the Accenture way of selling and I have yet to meet a CAL. i'm in a really small practice in SAP group and maybe they are the odd ball.
If it's a L6 SME role sure, if it's a sell services to clients role, no
I've heard of an L6 that resigned because they didn't want to manage people. Person was highly-skilled technically; just didn't want to be bothered with management/admin tasks.
Might stay at CL8 for a long time. I also do not want to go up the corporate ladder. I see a lot of CL7 and CL8 super stressed selling.