I’m a Senior 2 consultant at a Big 4 company working in their Healthcare tech division. We basically do technology consulting for healthcare clients. My goal is to get into the pharmaceutical industry eventually because I really love that space. I did an internship at a major pharma company in their Corporate Development department for a year, so I have some background there. What really gets me excited is how digital transformation is changing drug research and development.
Here’s my problem. My current team mainly works with government healthcare organizations, which honestly isn’t what I want to be doing long term. Management keeps talking about expanding into private healthcare and pharma work, but nothing has happened yet. I keep asking to work on pharmaceutical projects but we just don’t have the reputation to land those big pharma clients. The upside is that since pharma is new territory for us, I could potentially lead that effort. I have some industry connections and understand what tech challenges pharma companies face. My managers seem supportive of letting me drive this initiative.
At the same time, I’m talking to another Big 4 firm that already has a Healthcare practice. I met with their partner who used to run his own boutique firm before joining. He’s trying to grow their life sciences business unit. They do have some pharma clients already, but most of their work is basic CRM implementations. The practice is pretty new and not well organized yet. Plus their focus is more on sales and marketing stuff, while I’m interested in the research and development side.
My ultimate aim is to make partner as fast as possible.
What do you think I should do? Should I stay put and try to build our pharma practice from nothing, or switch to the other firm that already has pharma clients even though the work isn’t exactly what I want?
Honestly? I’d make the switch. I’ve watched too many consultants wait around for expansions that never happen. How long has your firm been talking about pharma now? The other place already has pharma clients - sure, not R&D yet, but you’re in the door. Once you’re working with pharma clients, pivoting to R&D work gets way easier. You can use those relationships and gradually shift things toward what you want. Plus, that partner’s actively building something, which means real chances to move up. Building from scratch sounds exciting until you try landing your first pharma client with zero track record. Sometimes the bird in hand beats the one in the bush.
Been consulting for 10+ years - stay put. Sure, the other firm looks better with existing pharma clients, but you’d be trading leadership potential for limited access. Building from scratch with management backing makes YOU the pharma expert everyone comes to. That’s your fastest track to partnership, not being another consultant in someone else’s established practice. Your firm not having pharma reputation? That’s not a weakness - it’s your chance to shape the entire service offering. Your internship experience and industry connections are gold for differentiating your approach. Practice builders consistently advance faster than practice joiners, especially when they’ve got specialized knowledge in underserved markets. Land one or two solid pharma clients where you are - that success will build momentum and cement your reputation as the internal pharma go-to person.
Tough spot, but timing matters here. How long have you been at your current firm? If it’s under 2 years, jumping now could hurt your resume. About that “supportive management” - did they actually give you budget and timeline for pharma expansion, or just empty promises? Without real backing from leadership, you’re basically doing free business development while still hitting your billables. The CRM work at other firms might be boring, but you’d learn pharma client needs firsthand. Sometimes a sideways move beats staying stuck.