From Senior Manager to Director, in 90 Days
Executive career coach for Big 4 Senior Managers. I made the SM to Director jump, now I help you make yours.
With over 25 years of experience in financial services, including 15 inside the Big 4. I know exactly how Director promotions really happen, and why capable Senior Managers get passed over. Promotion doesn't come from delivery alone. It comes from how the right people read you, long before any panel sits. That's what I fix.
90
Days in the MandateMethod programme
70%
Of Director roles are filled beforethey're ever advertised
3
Pillars: Positioning,Visibility, Access
15+
Years inside Big 4 firms,EY, KPMG and PwC
Are these
your challenges?
You've done everything right, and you're still watching people with less experience get the Director promotion.
You prove you're ready for the Director promotion, and you're told there's no business case for it.
You're told "not this cycle," and then the cycle comes round again with the same answer.
You're told there's no seat for you, because nobody above you is moving and the structure isn't creating one.
You ask the Partners why you're not progressing, and the answer is "keep doing what you're doing" which is exactly what hasn't worked.
You've been at Senior Manager long enough that when someone says "nearly there" again, you don't feel motivated anymore, you just feel tired.
The Mandate Method:
my 90-day coaching programme
I rebuild how the market reads you. Your narrative, your profile, and your story get rewritten so decision-makers see a Director. This is the foundation every promotion and external move is built on.
Being excellent isn't enough if the right people can't see it. I show you how to become visible to the partners, sponsors, and hiring leaders who decide Director appointments, inside your firm and across the market.
Around 70% of Director-level roles are never advertised. They're filled through referrals and conversations that happen months before any process opens. I teach you how to reach those roles before they reach the job boards.
What our clients are saying
Our users love how Mondai CRM simplifies their processes and streamlines operations
If you're someone who's been the reliable one, the dependable one, the one who just gets things done, and you're wondering why that isn't translating into the next step, Cristiano is genuinely the right person to talk to. He helped me stop being just a doer and start showing up as a leader. That shift unlocked things I hadn't been able to move for a while.
Fabrizia Pala
Senior Compliance Officer, VPI came to Cristiano at a point where I knew I needed to make a move but wasn't sure how to present myself for the next level. The interview prep work we did together was genuinely different from anything I'd tried before. If you're going into a senior interview and you want someone who understands exactly what those panels are looking for, Cristiano is the person to work with.
Ronit Vali
"I'd tried for Director twice internally and got knocked back both times. I was ready to just accept Senior Manager was my ceiling. Cristiano didn't just help me rewrite my CV, he helped me understand why I was losing the argument in interviews. Three months later I landed a Director offer externally, better package, better team. The mindset shift mattered more than any template."
Priya S.
"I'd been a Senior Manager for four years and kept getting told 'not yet.' I was good at the work, but I was invisible when promotion conversations happened without me in the room. Cristiano helped me see that delivery was never the problem, positioning was. Within 90 days I had a completely different story to tell leadership, and I got put forward for Director in the next cycle. Wish I'd done this two years earlier."
James R.
You have this thing where you ask a question, and I think I know the answer, and then I start talking and realise I actually don't. That happened more than once. It's uncomfortable in the moment but honestly it's the most useful thing that's happened to my career in a long time.
Cameron Williamson
Cristiano, you were the first person who actually told me the truth about why it wasn't happening. I'd spoken to a lot of people around me, managers, mentors, colleagues- and everyone had something to say, but none of it actually helped me move. I didn't know what to act on and what to ignore. You cut through all of that in the first session and said what nobody else had been willing to say. That was what I actually needed.
