Consultant - Corporate Strategy

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF) is a Fortune 500 company with approximate revenue of $9 billion in 2004.  Capital One’s subsidiaries collectively had 48.6 million accounts and $79.9 billion in managed loans outstanding as of December 31, 2004.  The Company is one of the largest providers of Master Card and Visa credit cards in the world and has been named to the Forbes Platinum 400 list of the Best Big Companies in America.



Spun off from Signet Bank as an independent company in 1995, Capital One has quickly risen to the top of the credit card industry.  Founded by ex-consultants, the company culture focuses on strong analytics and rigorous fact-based problem solving.  Capital One has leveraged sophisticated analysis and targeted marketing to drive its success and drive its product and service innovation.



Capital One’s strategy emphasizes diversification beyond credit cards.  Today, auto finance, international card, ILs and small business loans are key drivers of growth.  Recent announcements of various acquisitions demonstrate Capital One’s commitment to diversification: the acquisition of Hibernia Bank makes Capital One one of the top 20 deposit institutions, the acquisition of Onyx makes Capital One the nation’s second largest independent auto lender, and eSmartloan and HFS Group in the UK give Capital One a strong foothold in the fast growing home equity business.  With its multiple businesses and strong brand and reputation for innovative, consumer friendly products and services, Capital One has established itself as a high growth, high impact player in the financial services industy.



Department Background:

Capital One’s industry leading growth is mirrored in the continued expansion of its Strategy Group.  Working directly with Capital One’s CEO and other senior leaders across the company, the Strategy Group engages on a discreet number of ultra-high impact issues that drive the performance of the company forward.  All projects focus on formulating and driving enduring and profitable growth strategies.



The Strategy Group is modeled after strategy consulting firms.  The Group operates as a profit center in order to place additional emphasis on high-impact work, and to foster deep relationships with internal lines of business.  Considered a "firm within a firm" with its own P&L, the Strategy Group has significant autonomy with regard to client selection and project prioritization.



Led by Stephen Mugford, who reports directly to Rich Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One, the team is comprised of extremely talented professionals, mostly from top tier consulting firms.  The Group currently has approximately 25 professionals.



The manager level position will work collaboratively with other Strategy team members  as well as the business team in assessing business situations, diagnosing business problems and leading the team in identifying information and research plans in support of the specific Strategy engagement.



Responsibilities:

Driving the development and implementation of proprietary datasets that will support COF’s overall Card and non-card strategies, as well as specific LOB decision-making at the product, marketing and policy levels

Will partner with Strategy leads and respective LOBs in leading the development and execution of learning agendas, analytical plans and specific marketing research programs

Develop recommendations from the research in order to aid senior management decision-making

Selecting and managing appropriate vendors in conducting marketing research activities
REQUIREMENTS
Qualifications:

Ability to implement research and analytical designs to solve high level problems

Strong quantitative and analytical skills

Strong conceptual thinking capabilities

Strong communication, interpersonal and leadership abilities

Ability to identify and solve problems independently in a constantly changing environment

Ability to handle multiple, concurrent projects utilizing project management discipline

Experience managing external vendors



Preferred:

Consulting experience

Master’s in quantitative major

Financial Services experience



Job Reference #507839