Hi all,
Hope you’re doing well!
I would like to apply for Exceptional Promise as I have less than 5 years of professional experience in tech, most of which was at a top-tier management consulting firm in the digital/AI team (from business analyst to project manager). I’ve read that consultants are “generally not eligible,” but I’m curious if anyone has successfully demonstrated the criteria using tech consulting experience. Any advice would be much appreciated! Here’s a bit more about my background:
In consulting I worked on technical projects for Life Science clients, for example (simplified for brevity, can provide more details if helpful):
-Managed team of 7 engineers to implement CI/CD, infra-as-code, self-service at client
-Translated strategic, clinical, and technical requirements to support data scientists & engineers in building & interpreting ML model for a client
-Defined vision incl. user journeys, technical architecture, and roadmap for client’s developer portal
Additional experience:
-Current role: Director of Corporate Development at a neurotech company, focusing on operations and product & market strategy
-Master in Electrical Engineering, with a dissertation on neuromodulation for migraine. Also worked as a research assistant on an ML-based healthcare project during my studies (but >5 years ago, no publications)
I’m hoping to demonstrate ‘significant commercial/technical contribution as an employee’ through my consulting work and ‘innovation as an employee working on a new digital field or concept’ via my neurotech role, as I believe this is where I truly acquired those skills. I don’t think I can rely on my neurotech experience to demonstrate ‘significant commercial/technical contribution’, given the early stage of the products and my short tenure.
Unfortunately, I don’t have examples for ‘work beyond your occupation’ or ‘exceptional ability by academic contributions.’
Any insights or advice from those with similar backgrounds would be incredibly helpful 
Thanks a lot in advance for your input.