Gemba, Senior Strategy Consultant

Learn how Pruthvi made a career change from engineering into sport, landed in the Strategy team at Cricket Australia, and then leveraged that into a role at one of Australia's top sports marketing agencies.

Info SportsGrad & Reuben Williams
June 05, 2025

Hello, welcome to SportsGrad! 👋

Here you’ll find interviews with (almost) every job in the sports industry.
We ask people living the dream:
“How did you get your job?” and “What does it actually involve?”
So that you can land a dream job in sports too.

Enjoy!

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“Working on the Cricket Australia broadcast deal and meeting with Ganguly and the BCCI in Mumbai was quite surreal.” - Pruthvi Shivaram

Meet Pruthvi Shivaram, the 22-year-old from Melbourne who is living the dream as a Strategy Consultant.

He solves the commercial, strategic and operational challenges facing some of the biggest names in sport. Whether it’s building a business case for a new team, mapping out long-term strategy, or consulting stakeholders across leagues and organisations, he’s one of the people shaping the future of sport, from behind the scenes.

He began his career in engineering before pivoting into media and marketing, and finally landing roles at Cricket Australia and now Gemba. His break came not from a job board, but from a bar, where he met the Head of Strategy at Cricket Australia.

In this blog, you’ll learn what a strategy role in sport actually looks like, the reality (and occasional red tape) behind the job, what skills helped him break in, and why your “love of sport” isn’t enough to stand out.

You’ll also hear his advice on pivoting careers, building real relationships, and why he believes the most important skill you can develop is knowing how to sell yourself. If you’re thinking of making a switch into sport, especially from a business, engineering or consulting background, you’ll love this blog.

🔥 Quick Fire Questions

What inspired you to work in sport?
It was an industry I've always been passionate about and want to learn about the business of sport. Sport has always been a big part of my life as well.
What was your first ever sports-related role?
Junior Cricket Umpire
After High School, what extra study did you do?
Undergraduate Degree (Engineering) & MBA
What's one interview question you were asked to answer for the job you're in?
What's an emerging trend you're seeing in the industry and why do you think its important?
A book or podcast recommendation that's helped your career?
The School of Greatness - Lewis Howes
If you could try another job in sport for a day, what would it be?
Integrity or Content Producer

What exactly does your job involve?

Strategy consultant - it’s a very varied role but solving a variety of commercial, strategic or operational business problems for clients that they either can’t solve themselves or don't have the time or resource to solve themselves. Usually involves working in a bit of uncertain territory and we need to use structured problem solving to find solutions. It requires a lot of stakeholder consultation, data analysis, workshop facilitation, financial modelling and LOTS of powerpoint.

What are some of the responsibilities of your role?

The role of strategy consultant is pretty broad and generalist and so is really dependent on the specific client project.

Typical things the role involves are:

Strategy planning – work with our clients to help develop medium-long term business or department strategies.

Business case development - Developing business cases for a new initiative for a rightsholder (i.e. A league may be looking to expand and launch a new sports team, and need a business case to suggest if its good or not.

Market research - Conducting market research to inform a new business initiative for a rightsholder (understanding market data to understand trends, insights & challenges our clients are facing).

Extensive consultation – conducting interviews, consultations, workshops to inform our recommendations on various projects.

Supporting business development – developing proposals to win new work.

General project management.

What does your career journey look like?

1. Engineering: • Graduate Engineering (Worley) • Project Engineer (Worley)

Career Break / transition 2. Media & Marketing: • Marketing analyst (IPG Media) • Senior marketing analyst (IPG Media)

3. Sports • Strategy Advisor (Cricket Aus) • Senior Commercial Advisor (Cricket Aus) • Senior Strategy Consultant (Gemba)

What challenges did you face to break into sport?

Rejections and not having enough initial contacts to learn from to understand what was required. There's a lot of competition because people are attracted to sports and it’s very relationship based. Also unlike banks (for example) they just don’t publicly hire as much so roles feel more 'rare'. Now that I’m in, it’s worth noting that it may not be as glamorous as you think at times - and no you don’t meet as many athletes people as people think. Also, depending on your role - pay may be higher in other industries, and depending on the organisation, it may be slow moving with lots of red tape to get stuff done - so it may feel slow in some areas.

How did you decide what career direction to take?

I wanted diversity and options - strategy is perfect for that. There were many times where I felt stuck yes many times, but staying proactive about finding out what options are available and speaking to people helped a lot, as well as learning new skills and figuring out what gaps I had to fill. Where I ended up didn’t necessarily require my Engineering degree or MBA, but they can help.

What impact did networking have on your career?

I wouldn't have my jobs without it - simple. Professional relationships are everything. You learn from people more experienced than you, what they've done well and what they haven't done well. Equally importantly is good relationships provide support when you need it too. One particular sliding doors moment that helped me break into sport was meeting the Head of Strategy at Cricket Australia in a bar… the rest is history.

What feedback did you get from successful applications?

My ability to do the role was stronger than how much I loved sport. That was important. I was also very persistent, I’m not sure if I was even the initial first pick but I was very curious and presented an adaptable skillset and mindset which the role needed.

What advice would you give to your younger-self to help them take action?

Practise networking, build connections early and figure out how to package up and sell your skills and yourself well AND learn about the industry trends!

What’s your #1 ‘pinch me’ moment working in sport?

Working on the Cricket Australia broadcast deal and meeting with Ganguly and the BCCI in Mumbai was quite surreal.

What do you think your life would look like if you hadn't pursued a career in sport?

I'm not sure, feels hard to say now as I was always planning on leaving engineering. I think I would still be doing a role that was very people focused though (which engineering for me was not).