When a new technology arrives, consulting companies can quickly add staff and expertise to build institutional capacity centered around the technology in ways companies focused on delivering their own products and services cannot.  Large consulting companies like Booz Allen and McKinsey, as well as smaller analytics-centric firms like Elder Research, thus constitute a significant job market for data scientists (McKinsey alone employs over 800). Working for a consulting company, you might:

– Be part of a dedicated or semi-dedicated staffing solution for a client that needs to build a team quickly and get started with proven expertise

– Contribute code or software as part of a solution to be delivered to a client (for a fixed total price, or for other compensation arrangements) on a job, deliver a solution (usually web or software development)

– Train company staff