Expert Associate Partner - Banking & Applied AI

McKinsey & Co Inc

Chicago, IL

JOB DETAILS
SKILLS
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Banking Services, Bridge Building, Business Administration, Capital Markets, Civil Engineering, Coaching, Commercial Banking, Computer Science, Contract Research Organization (CRO), Cross-Functional, Debugging Skills, Diversity, Financial Services, Head of Finance, Industry/Trade Press, Leadership, Literacy, Mentoring, Publications, Quantitative Research, Retail Banking, Risk, Scalable System Development, Technical Leadership, Technical Strategy, Thought Leadership, Treasury, Wealth Management, Willing to Travel
LOCATION
Chicago, IL
POSTED
1 day ago

Driving lasting impact and building long-term capabilities with our clients is not easy work. You are the kind of person who thrives in a high performance/high reward culture - doing hard things, picking yourself up when you stumble, and having the resilience to try another way forward.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, well provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities you need to become a stronger leader faster than you ever thought possible. Your colleagues-at all levels-will invest deeply in your development, just as much as they invest in delivering exceptional results for clients. Every day, youll receive apprenticeship, coaching, and exposure that will accelerate your growth in ways you won't find anywhere else.

When you join us, you will have:

  • Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
  • A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You'll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions, all while upholding our unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
  • Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm's diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions for our clients. Plus, you'll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
  • World-class benefits: On top of a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we provide a comprehensive benefits package to enable holistic well-being for you and your family.

You will play a senior leadership role at the intersection of deep financial services domain expertise and cutting-edge artificial intelligence, helping lead our work with the world's largest banks.

You will be responsible for a "build-and-advise" leadership role: you will own advanced agentic-system delivery on the ground with clients, advise C-suite executives on strategic AI roadmaps, and actively shape the firm's global point of view on how AI transforms the banking landscape. Your work will sit at the highly strategic intersection of our global Banking Practice and QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey.

You will lead our work with the world's largest banks at the intersection of deep domain expertise and modern AI, owning delivery on the ground, advising the C-suite, and setting the firm's point of view on how AI changes the way banks run. You will lead complex client engagements by directing end-to-end transformations - from hypothesis-setting through production implementation - solving the most complex AI and banking challenges in the market, and advise at the C-suite level by partnering directly with bank executives (CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, CROs, Heads of AI/ML, and Heads of Risk) as a trusted advisor, translating complex technical architectures into strategic business value. You will also architect and code, maintaining a hands-on "player-coach" stance by actively designing agent loops, architecting multi-agent systems, writing core code when needed, and guiding engineering teams through debugging production traces.

Additionally, you will build scalable assets by pioneering and institutionalizing reusable assets, proprietary frameworks, and industry-leading points of view that can be deployed across the firm's global portfolio, scale high-performing teams by recruiting, mentoring, and growing an elite bench of consultants and engineers who bridge the gap between banking literacy and deep AI engineering, and represent QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey externally as a prominent voice for the firm - presenting at major client events, speaking at industry forums, and publishing thought leadership.

  • Strong academic credentials (MBA or equivalent experience preferred; engineering, computer science, or quantitative research background is highly valued)
  • 12+ years of progressive experience, blending senior advisory/consulting (top-tier strategy or boutique), in-house banking operations/P&L leadership (not strictly staff or strategy), and hands-on AI systems engineering
  • Proven track record of designing, building, and shipping production-grade AI-with specific expertise in agentic systems and LLM applications
  • Recognized as an authority in at least one banking domain (e.g., Retail/Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Payments, Capital Markets, Risk & Treasury, or Compliance) through publications, speaking engagements, or proven industry impact
  • Exceptional ability to command trust and guide cross-functional teams under pressure, with a demonstrated ability to sit comfortably as the most technical leader in an executive boardroom
  • Willingness to travel (typically 60-80%) and work dynamically to meet the needs of our global clients

About the Company

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McKinsey & Co Inc