Tier 2 Consulting Firms: The Complete List and How They Pay

Tier 2 consulting firms are the group of strategy shops that sit just below McKinsey, BCG, and Bain in brand recognition and pay, while doing largely similar work for similar clients. The commonly cited list includes Kearney, L.E.K., Oliver Wyman, Roland Berger, and the standalone strategy arms of the Big Four, namely Deloitte S&O, Strategy&, EY-Parthenon, and Accenture Strategy. Some lists also include Bain-adjacent boutiques like ZS Associates for pharma and healthcare work. Pay generally runs 15 to 20 percent below MBB at the same level, and the interview process leans on the same case-and-fit format, just with slightly more forgiving bars in a few spots. As a former McKinsey interviewer, I get asked constantly whether tier 2 is a fallback or a real first choice. It is the second, and I will explain why below.

What "tier 2" actually means

The tiering language gets thrown around loosely online, so it is worth being precise. Tier 1, or MBB, refers to McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, the three firms with the strongest brand pull, the highest pay, and the most selective process at nearly every office worldwide. Tier 2 is everyone doing genuine strategy consulting who is not one of those three. That includes standalone firms that were built as strategy houses from the start, like Kearney, L.E.K., Oliver Wyman, and Roland Berger, and it includes the strategy practices that sit inside the Big Four accounting firms, which compete for the same clients and often the same candidates.

The line between tier 2 and tier 3 is fuzzier, and I would rather you understand the logic than memorize a list. A firm earns tier 2 status if it does true strategy work (not just implementation or audit-adjacent advisory), staffs projects with a case-interview-based hiring process, and places consultants into similar post-MBA and post-undergrad exit roles as MBB alumni. Below that line sit smaller boutiques, industry-specific shops, and firms where the day-to-day work leans more operational than strategic.

The firms that make up tier 2

Here is the list I give candidates who ask me directly, along with what each firm is actually known for.

None of these firms are identical to each other. Kearney candidates should expect more operations and supply chain cases. L.E.K. leans hard into commercial due diligence, where a private equity client wants a yes-or-no answer on whether a target company is worth buying. Oliver Wyman's financial services practice is strong enough that some candidates target it specifically over MBB if banking or insurance is the end goal. Roland Berger is the only firm on this list headquartered outside the United States, and it is the strongest brand in continental Europe outside the MBB offices there. If you want the fuller picture of how these firms stack up against the Big Four's audit-heavy consulting arms specifically, I cover that split in Big 4 consulting: how Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG really compare.

Pay: how tier 2 compares to MBB

Compensation moves every year and differs by office and level, so treat the numbers below as a directional range rather than gospel, and confirm current figures on each firm's own recruiting page before you negotiate anything.

At the undergraduate and entry-analyst level, tier 2 firms generally pay a base in the roughly 80,000 to 95,000 dollar range in major US markets, per publicly reported figures for the 2026 cycle, compared to a somewhat higher base at MBB. At the post-MBA associate level, the tier 2 strategy arms cluster in a wide band, with total cash compensation for many of these roles landing somewhere in the mid-200,000s once signing and performance bonuses are included, still below MBB's post-MBA package but meaningfully ahead of general corporate strategy roles. Roland Berger's post-MBA-equivalent base in Europe has been reported in the 140,000 to 160,000 euro range.

The gap between tier 2 and MBB narrows the longer you stay. By the time someone reaches principal or partner, the pay difference across firms in this bracket compresses, because compensation at that level is driven mostly by the revenue you personally bring in, not by which logo is on your business card.

How the tier 2 interview differs from MBB

The mechanics are close to identical. You will build a structure, work through math, read an exhibit or two, and land on a recommendation, the same choreography I call the Interview Dance and teach candidates step by step. If you have never sat through one of these before, start with what is a case interview, a complete beginner's guide so the format itself is not a surprise on interview day.

Three things differ in practice. First, tier 2 firms staff cases that map more tightly to their specialty, so a Kearney case is more likely to be an operations or supply chain problem, and an L.E.K. case is more likely to be a private-equity-style commercial due diligence question. Prepare with that specialty in mind rather than a generic industry mix. Second, the fit interview at tier 2 firms often puts more weight on "why this firm specifically" rather than "why consulting," because these firms know they are frequently a second or third choice behind MBB and want to see you have done the homework on what makes them different. A vague answer here reads as a signal you would leave the moment MBB called back. Third, the overall bar for the case portion is, in my experience, slightly more forgiving than MBB's, particularly at the earlier rounds, though "slightly more forgiving" still means most candidates who walk in unprepared do not get through.

If your background is not business or economics, this matters even more at the resume screen than in the interview room itself, because tier 2 screeners are looking for the same signal MBB looks for: can you translate a non-traditional background into quantified impact. I wrote a full breakdown of how to do that in consulting interview prep for non-business majors.

Why tier 2 is a legitimate choice, not a consolation prize

I want to push back on a framing I see constantly in online forums, where tier 2 gets treated purely as what you settle for when MBB says no. That framing misses two things. First, some of these firms are the actual best option for a specific interest. If you want financial services work, Oliver Wyman's platform in that space is deep enough that choosing it over a generalist MBB office can be the stronger career move, not the weaker one. Second, exit opportunities from strong tier 2 performance are close to MBB exits in many industries, particularly private equity roles sourced through L.E.K.'s due diligence work and operations roles sourced through Kearney's supply chain practice.

None of this means the firms are interchangeable, and you should walk into any of these processes knowing exactly what each firm is strong at and why you are choosing it. A candidate who tells an Oliver Wyman interviewer "I want to work here because it is prestigious" has already lost ground to the candidate who can name the specific insurance or banking work they want to do. For a broader map of where every major firm sits in the pecking order, the top consulting firms in 2026, ranked by tier lays out the full picture, and if you are still deciding between the MBB track and everything below it, MBB vs Big Four consulting: which path is right for you walks through that decision directly.

The bottom line

Tier 2 consulting firms, meaning Kearney, L.E.K., Oliver Wyman, Roland Berger, and the Big Four strategy arms, run a case interview process nearly identical to MBB's, pay roughly 15 to 20 percent less at entry levels, and offer real specialization advantages in financial services, supply chain, healthcare, and due diligence work. Prepare for the specific firm's specialty, have a real answer for why that firm and not just consulting in general, and stop treating this tier as a fallback if the specialty is genuinely what you want. If you are earlier in the process and still building the fundamentals, what is management consulting, a former McKinsey interviewer explains is the right place to start.

Go deeper

Whether you are targeting MBB or a tier 2 firm, the case interview mechanics and resume standards are the same skills I built the CaseMap method to teach.

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