Bain Offices

Bain offices can be found all over the world, with 58 locations serving six different continents. The various Bain & Company locations all seek to perpetuate the company’s signature “Bainie” culture, which the company has espoused since its founding in Boston in 1973. And what does the Bainie culture entail? In addition to its professional values—which include results-based strategy and implementation, innovation, and a constant striving for excellence—the internal culture at the different Bain & Company offices is built on collaboration, mutual support, and ceaseless opportunities for individual development.

But the different Bain locations are all, to some degree or another, molded by their environments. The various cities and regions they’re located in, of course, play a big role in determining what companies and industries each of the Bain consulting offices serve, as well as the kinds of employees they tend to hire.

In this article, we’ll take you through some of the most high profile Bain consulting offices across the world. We’ll give you a bit of information on what makes each office unique, and the ways each fits into the larger Bainie tapestry. This way, if you’re interested in working with Bain & Company, you’ll have a better idea of which of the Bain offices is right for you.

Top Bain Offices

Bain Boston Office

Bain & Company was founded in Boston almost fifty years ago, and this Bain location remains the corporate headquarters today. It’s not only the oldest but also the largest of the various Bain offices. It serves clients all over the northeastern United States.

One of the most prominent features Boston has to offer is the unparalleled density of world-class universities and research institutions. Boston boasts the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Tufts University, Boston College, and Boston University. This creates the opportunity for powerful partnerships at this Bain location. All the Bain office locations serve many different industries. Yet, in their social impact work, Bain Boston focuses especially on issues related to economic development and education reform. This is, of course, in addition to all the mid-size and Fortune 500 Companies they partner with.

In terms of the office location itself, Bain Boston occupies four floors of a building on Dartmouth St. in the Back Bay neighborhood, probably Boston’s most highly sought after real estate location. The office interiors were recently redesigned to incorporate more high-end organic accents. These include wall panels made of reclaimed and re-sawn wood. Employee reviews rate this location 4.8 stars out of 5! They express a lot of fondness for this office, which has a reputation for friendliness among workers. The only downside, apart from Boston winters, is the cost of living, which is 48% higher than the national average.

Bain Chicago Office

The Chicago branch is one of the more established Bain locations, having been first opened in 1992. This gives Bain Chicago the tightly knit feel of a much smaller office. There is a high degree of collaboration and feedback on day-to-day operations. The employee personalities tend to be very down to Earth, according to this Bain office’s Glassdoor reviews. The office fosters this atmosphere with team-building events such as the annual offsite meeting at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

But don’t let the small-office feel of the place fool you. Chicago is truly a global city, and a major economic & cultural hub. It attracts tourists from all over the world who come both to do business and to experience all the attractions the city has to offer. These include the city’s impressive skyline on the coast of Lake Michigan, its world-class museums and restaurants, and it’s great cultural scene, from live music to improv to street art.

Consequently, this is one of the most diversified of the different Bain locations. Bain Chicago works with clients at every scale in many different industries, including retail, consumer products, healthcare, telecom, technologies, industrials, financial services, and private equity. Despite all the commercial energy of the city, it’s less expensive than some of the other Bain & Company locations, with a cost of living only 12% higher than the national average.

As an added bonus, one of our favorite Bain Partners – who we recently interviewed – is based in Chicago as well.

Bain & Company NYC Office

Of course, no major global consulting firm would be complete without a large office in Midtown Manhattan. In Bain’s case, their NYC office is located at the northern edge of Bryant Park. It encompasses the 42nd through 44th floors of a skyscraper offering views of both ends of the island. This office has a lot of well-loved features, such as the communal space on the 43rd floor, which includes a ping-pong table as well as diner and café-style seating. There is also the Rainbow Nap Room, so-called because it offers a view of the iconic Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center.

In terms of the office design, it’s very much aligned with recent trends in new, high-profile consulting spaces. This includes a flexible seating arrangement, with a mixture of spaces for dynamic collaboration as well as quiet creativity. There is some “assigned” seating, with employees grouped into computer bays that include a diversity of rankings and project teams. This encourages a broadly collaborative and cohesive culture among the office at large, instead of just individual teams.

Despite all the glitzy fixtures, employee reviews say the culture at this Bain NYC office is collaborative, supportive, and down-to-earth. This is something to be appreciated in New York City, the financial and cultural capital of the Western world. The culture, diversity, and dynamism of New York City are like nowhere else on Earth. But it’s also an expensive and sometimes difficult place to live. The cost of living is 129% higher than the national average. You’ll definitely want to be aware of this before accepting an offer from Bain NYC.

Bain DC Office

You would think the nation’s capital would be a logical place for a global consulting firm to open an office. Yet, Bain DC is actually one of the newer Bain and company locations. This Bain office only opened in 2012. Of course, that was the year that a former Bain CEO—Mitt Romney—was the Republican nominee in the US Presidential election. Even though Romney did not prevail in his quest for the White House, the Bain DC office remains.

Unlike some other major consulting firms, Bain has not moved their DC location to the suburbs. It remains in the heart of the city, just a few blocks down 16th St. from the White House. This places it squarely in the heart of the nation’s policymaking center. This proximity to political power attracts a lot of high profile clientele. In addition to their Fortune 100 clients, Bain DC works with more public sector organizations than the other Bain offices.

For some time, DC has had a reputation as something of a cultural backwater. But if this was ever true in the past, it no longer is. DC has an amazing diversity of cultural influences from its many immigrants. This cross-cultural pollination has given the city an increasing sense of energy and vitality. The restaurant scene has been booming in recent years. There are also many large-scale tourist attractions, including all the halls of government, as well as the many free museums. The only downside—in addition to the swamp-like summers—is in the cost. DC’s cost of living is 39% higher than the national average.

Bain Los Angeles

Though something about the city of Los Angeles feels perpetually new, this is one of the more senior Bain offices, having been opened over twenty years ago. The office culture reflects the city’s youthful vibe, with its dynamic and entrepreneurial consultant staff.

Like many Bain consulting offices, Bain LA is situated on prime real estate, in the middle of Century City, between the Pacific Ocean on one side and Hollywood on the other. Of course, Hollywood—the film and television capital of the world—is what makes Los Angeles so globally recognizable. And Bain LA does have unique partnerships in the media and entertainment industries. But more broadly they serve clients all over the West, with a particular concentration in Southern California.

Hollywood, with its iconic landmarks and its own glamorous histories, continues to be one of the main attractions associated with Los Angeles. Yet, the city has so much more to offer. In addition to its internationally renown food and restaurant scene, Los Angeles offers a plethora of diverse neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has unique west-coast architecture and the kind of natural beauty that seems commonplace in this part of the world. The city has stellar beaches and oceanfront property, as well as world-class art museums. It can be expensive to live here, however, with a cost of living 43% higher than the national average.

Bain Mumbai Office

Bain Mumbai has some interesting parallels with Bain Los Angeles, including certain mysterious dream-like qualities that have earned Mumbai the nickname City of Dreams.

Mumbai is the economic hub of the entire subcontinent, and has been for over 2,000 years. The culture of the city is dynamic and diverse, drawing ambitious and industrious migrants from all over India. It is home to the country’s highest population of millionaires and billionaires, and serves as India’s financial center. As is common with the various Bain offices, Bain Mumbai serves major clients in a variety of industries. Yet, there is a particular focus on private equity consulting at the Mumbai office. This has been one of the most rapidly expanding Bain & Company locations. The office has grown from four consultants at the time of this Bain office’s founding in 2006 to over 120 consultants today.

Beyond the financial end, Mumbai is known as the arts and entertainment capital of the country, and is home to the globally famous Bollywood cinema. It is also home to three different UNESCO World Heritage Sites: this includes its array of Art Deco & Victorian architecture, the Elephant Caves, and the Chhatrapati shivaji Maharaj Terminus. For all its global appeal, however, Westerners will find that Mumbai remains a remarkably affordable city. Mumbai has a cost of living 68% cheaper than the US average.

Bain Office Dallas

Bain Dallas is located downtown in Texas’s third largest city. As the suburbs have continued to sprawl into the surrounding area, Dallas has become more and more of an economic hub for the whole region of the southwestern United States. This is another of the well-established Bain offices, having first been opened in 1990.

This is a kind of standout office among the various Bain consulting offices for a multitude of reasons. For one, it serves as the home base of a highly diverse workforce. The Bain Dallas office includes a lot of the global company’s top executives. This diversity extends into its projects, which include both nonprofit startups as well as Fortune 500 companies. Bain Dallas is also known for its family-friendly atmosphere. This includes close employee relationships as well as frequent office-wide functions to which employees’ families are invited.

The surrounding city is a bit less overtly glamorous than some of the other Bain offices. But there are plenty of appealing things about living here. Dallas actually has the most restaurants per capita in the US. The economy has been reliably strong, and yet the incredible suburban sprawl means that there are lots of affordable homes. The overall cost of living is only 2% higher than the US national average. Your generous salary will go a long way here. But as with all the other Bain offices, the major downside will be the difficulty in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Bain Madrid Office

The superlative employee reviews of the other Bain & Company offices extend also to the Iberian Peninsula, where Bain Madrid was recently ranked the top place to work in all of Spain, according to the Great Place to Work Institute. Bain Madrid also shares the high-impact clientele of the other Bain offices, partnering with many of the largest corporations operating on the peninsula. Bain Madrid has also established a reputation of solid partnerships with many private equity funds.

Perhaps in spite of their success, the office culture is said to be very down to earth. The informal and friendly atmosphere is complemented by frequent socializing, as well as a business casual dress code. Bain Madrid makes a more concerted effort to maintain lives separate from Bain than most of the other Bain offices. There is said to be an overall “work hard play hard” ethos.

That kind of attitude goes a long way in Madrid, which is a legendarily fun city, from its great nightclub scene to its irresistible tapas bars. Madrid also contains many world-class art museums, including the Museo del Prado and the Museo Reina Sofía, home to Picasso’s Guernica. The city is also home to the Templo de Debod, one of the only Egyptian temples located outside Egypt. Built in 200 BC, the temple was given to Spain as a gift in the 1960s for helping to save precious artifacts from local flooding in Egypt.

Madrid is a bit expensive compared to some of the other Bain & Company locations. The cost of living is 45% higher than the US national average, putting it on par with Los Angeles and Boston.

Bain Amsterdam Office

Amsterdam’s location in central Europe, combined with the relative moral tolerance of Dutch capitalism, have made the city a hub of European and global commerce for hundreds of years. While the Netherlands were home to some of the world’s first global corporations, Bain Amsterdam has developed a reputation for working with diverse clientele beyond just for-profit companies. For instance, Bain Amsterdam has partnered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to help raise money and launch a global initiative to help deal with the ongoing refugee crisis. And at the other end of the spectrum, Bain Amsterdam works with local socially conscious entrepreneurs, including pharmaceutical startups and refugee advocacy organizations.

The physical office is, like other Bain offices, located atop prime city real estate. Bain Amsterdam encompasses the 24th, 25th, and 32nd floors of the iconic skyscraper the Rembrandt Tower, the tallest building in the city. The offices are open concept and allow for 360-degree views of the city. In order to cut down on the noise due to the open floor plan, teams are separated by variously themed hubs, like the workshop hub, the library hub, the meditation hub, and the partner/manager hub.

Amsterdam is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, with its canals and its many green-minded cyclists. Its progressive values also continue to this day. Amsterdam is an artistic & cultural hub as well as an economic one, and it’s known for having some of the best nightlife in Europe. It is, however, a bit expensive, with a cost of living 28% higher than the US average.

Concluding Thoughts

There are many other Bain & Company locations that are not listed here. But after reading through this list, you should have a much better idea of what separates—as well as what unites—the different Bain offices. Some elements of the company’s personality and brand have been exported, including a collaborative and stimulating work environment, a supportive team, and a friendly environment. But other aspects of each Bain & Company office are geographically contingent. For example, the specific industries each of the Bain locations specializes in is highly dependent on the city the office is in. Further, each surrounding area is different enough that it has its own unique effect on life as a Bainie.

Additional Reading:

• Bain Consultant Salary
• Bain and Company Careers
• Bain Resume
• Top 25 Consulting Firms