Focus on the BIG picture.
Tuesday, Mar 17, 2026
Outside the box.
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
McKinsey, BCG, Bain and others hold graduate pay flat amid AI-driven restructure of consulting staffing
Several of the world’s most prestigious management consulting firms have frozen their starting salaries for new hires for the third consecutive year, reflecting a deep structural change in the industry as generative artificial intelligence begins to erode the traditional “pyramid” staffing model.
According to data compiled by Management Consulted — a career-coaching and consulting-pay tracking firm — first-year compensation packages for undergraduates entering firms such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Bain & Company in the United States ranged between US$135,000 and US$140,000 for 2024–2025.
MBA graduates could expect between US$270,000 and US$285,000 in total compensation.
The freeze affects not only the so-called “MBB” (top strategy firms) but also the “Big Four” accounting-and-consulting firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), whose graduate-level pay has stagnated since as early as 2022.
Industry insiders attribute the freeze to rising productivity enabled by AI, which reduces the need for large entry-level cohorts.
As one expert put it, AI allows firms to “wring more value from fewer junior employees,” thereby putting “downward pressure on salaries”.
Consulting firms are proactively restructuring their staffing models.
Many are shifting from the traditional pyramid — many juniors at the bottom, fewer managers, still fewer partners — toward leaner forms such as “obelisk” or even “hourglass” models.
In these new structures, firms rely more on smaller teams of highly experienced professionals, often supplemented by AI tools, rather than large numbers of junior analysts.
As a result, companies are recruiting fewer undergraduates and MBAs, and placing greater emphasis on more specialized, mid-career professionals.
Some firms expect that AI will increase overall demand for consulting services — especially those involving technology transformation and AI implementation themselves — but with a fundamentally different staffing logic.
Still, not all see the pyramid as doomed.
Some executives argue hiring will continue, albeit in modified form: juniors may be less generalist, more oriented toward AI-management or niche practices; others believe that human judgment and senior expertise will remain central, preserving layers albeit more selectively.
What is clear is that the freeze on starting pay is more than a temporary cost-saving measure — it marks a turning point for an industry once built on human labor scale.
As AI begins to carry more weight in research, modelling, and data-crunching tasks, the business of consulting is evolving: from manpower-intensive pyramid to expertise-driven, tech-augmented networks.
Whether this will lead to fewer but more capable consultants — or a hollowing out of entry-level opportunity — remains one of the biggest questions facing the industry in 2026.
According to data compiled by Management Consulted — a career-coaching and consulting-pay tracking firm — first-year compensation packages for undergraduates entering firms such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Bain & Company in the United States ranged between US$135,000 and US$140,000 for 2024–2025.
MBA graduates could expect between US$270,000 and US$285,000 in total compensation.
The freeze affects not only the so-called “MBB” (top strategy firms) but also the “Big Four” accounting-and-consulting firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), whose graduate-level pay has stagnated since as early as 2022.
Industry insiders attribute the freeze to rising productivity enabled by AI, which reduces the need for large entry-level cohorts.
As one expert put it, AI allows firms to “wring more value from fewer junior employees,” thereby putting “downward pressure on salaries”.
Consulting firms are proactively restructuring their staffing models.
Many are shifting from the traditional pyramid — many juniors at the bottom, fewer managers, still fewer partners — toward leaner forms such as “obelisk” or even “hourglass” models.
In these new structures, firms rely more on smaller teams of highly experienced professionals, often supplemented by AI tools, rather than large numbers of junior analysts.
As a result, companies are recruiting fewer undergraduates and MBAs, and placing greater emphasis on more specialized, mid-career professionals.
Some firms expect that AI will increase overall demand for consulting services — especially those involving technology transformation and AI implementation themselves — but with a fundamentally different staffing logic.
Still, not all see the pyramid as doomed.
Some executives argue hiring will continue, albeit in modified form: juniors may be less generalist, more oriented toward AI-management or niche practices; others believe that human judgment and senior expertise will remain central, preserving layers albeit more selectively.
What is clear is that the freeze on starting pay is more than a temporary cost-saving measure — it marks a turning point for an industry once built on human labor scale.
As AI begins to carry more weight in research, modelling, and data-crunching tasks, the business of consulting is evolving: from manpower-intensive pyramid to expertise-driven, tech-augmented networks.
Whether this will lead to fewer but more capable consultants — or a hollowing out of entry-level opportunity — remains one of the biggest questions facing the industry in 2026.
