Chelsie Bell

Why Bain? 

Prior to Bain, I spent five years at a market research agency and was looking for something fresh. The role at Bain had many similarities to what I was currently doing—spinning up small working groups, running virtual ideation sessions, crafting business cases, and managing those early-stage app builds. Since being here, I’ve worked on 10 projects in less than two years and have found it immensely rewarding.  

I’d say that working at Bain in product innovation and software has really pushed me as a professional. When I interviewed, they said I’d have to be comfortable living in ambiguity and thriving in chaos because in this role, we’re often catching ideas in their earliest stages. You have to enjoy guiding stakeholders and channeling their input into a product.  

I really enjoy how we get the resources to do things like launch market surveys, conduct user research, or experiment with generative AI. Overall, it’s fun. It's challenging. It’s a great place to work. 

What’s a project you’ve enjoyed?    

One of the most enjoyable projects I’ve worked on so far at Bain was called “digitizing talent.” It was a problem discovery initiative with our Technology Solutions Group (TSG) leadership and our Talent team leadership to discover all the pain points our talent and learning groups faced so we could apply technology. It was fun to be involved so far upstream—not working on a proof of concept, but on a total blank slate—where we could explore all the opportunity hypotheses of where to go next. 

What does the Bain culture mean to you?  

People truly live by the operating principles. My two favorite ones are “One Team” and “A Bainie never lets another Bainie fail.” I recently transferred from the Bain Chicago office, where most of my team is located, to the somewhat new Bain Denver office, because of my husband’s work. I was worried about being so far from my team. But the Denver office has been delightful, and I’ve never felt so welcome starting a new role. The Talent team ensured I was connected with others for lunches, and people in different departments reached out to have coffee dates. Everyone here really embodies those two principles.