Vanessa Li

Share your journey to Bain.

I joined Bain through the acquisition of my previous workplace, an AI and machine learning consulting start-up based in Brisbane called Max Kelsen. Before joining Bain, I had a couple of years of experience as a graduate in tech consulting and as a junior software engineer.

Do you feel like you can do impactful work at Bain? What opportunities excite you?

What excites me most about working at Bain is the chance to be part of cross-functional teams and take on a variety of roles. This constant variety means I’m always learning, whether it’s by working across different industries, solving a wide range of problems, or collaborating with people who bring diverse skills and perspectives.

Share some of your favorite work (personal or professional) you’ve done while at Bain.

One of my favourite moments at Bain was on one of my first cases — a GenAI build for a large financial services client. Beyond software development, I had the opportunity to run workshops and speak directly with the executive committee about GenAI. It was incredibly rewarding to see the lightbulb moments as they began to realise how AI could transform their organisation. For me, it was also a significant learning experience. Being trusted to contribute meaningfully and engage in these strategic conversations, especially as a junior team member, was very empowering.

What fuels your excitement about how tech experts are contributing to Bain?

What motivates me is how tech experts at Bain are embedded in cases from day one. Rather than being brought in at the end to simply build a solution, we’re involved from the very start, working closely with our strategy consultants to define the problem and co-create the answer. This early involvement means our technical expertise directly influences the direction of the work, and we gain a holistic view of the challenge, from understanding the client's strategic goals to diving into the technical details that bring the solution to life.

How does Bain’s approach drive impact with clients?

Bain’s approach to driving client impact stands out through its blend of strategic insight and deep technical expertise. On engineering build cases, this dual capability enables us to be intentional in how we prioritise work, focusing only on features that are high-value and truly impactful for the client. We’re able to do this effectively by working closely with general consultants, which gives us a deep understanding of our clients, their needs, and their broader business context. This ensures that what we deliver as engineers is meaningful and grounded in real client value.

What differentiates Bain from working at other tech firms or start-ups?

Bain's main differentiator is its cross-functional teams and value in growing individuals who can span multiple domains. While my core role is software engineer, I've also had the chance to flex into product management and more strategic roles.

Working on different cases also allows us to work across such a wide range of industries and experiment with a variety of tools. There’s plenty of opportunity to try out emerging technologies and gain hands-on experience deploying them in real production environments. This is especially valuable now, with the rapid evolution of GenAI and the constant influx of new tools and frameworks.