Associate, Operational Strategy

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

Ares is seeking a versatile Associate to work within our Corporate Strategy – Operational Strategy Group (“OSG”).  Our OSG leads cross-functional projects to drive operational efficiency and define and implement process/technology solutions across the entire Ares organization. Our team works closely with business stakeholders in our five lines of business (Credit, Private Equity, Real Estate, Secondary Markets and Strategic Initiatives) and across our business operations functions (Compliance, Finance and Accounting, Investment Operations, Investor Relations, Legal, Portfolio Management, Relationship Management, Tax, and Technology).

We seek a candidate who excels in strategic thinking, executive communication, and cross-functional collaboration. The ideal candidate can analyze business processes and technology, lead discussions with senior stakeholders, provide process improvement suggestions, and execute using their specific industry knowledge and problem-solving capabilities. 

This role requires a dynamic, adaptive, and experienced professional who can build and maintain strong business partner relationships. This position will require flexibility and rapid learning to become an expert in multiple functional areas and asset classes. The ideal candidate should have demonstrated an ability to manage cross-functional initiatives and large-scale change programs.  Successful collaboration across all business functions, strategies, and external vendors will be crucial. 

Given the broad nature of projects in our queue, knowledge of investor, fund, and deal lifecycles in alternative investment classes, will allow the candidate to make an immediate impact upon joining the firm.  Strong knowledge of alternative investment asset classes is highly preferred.

Reporting relationships:

• Principal, Corporate Strategy – Operational Strategy Group (LA)
• Or Vice President, Corporate Strategy – Operational Strategy Group (NY)

Primary functions & responsibilities:

• Serve as an advisor to business stakeholders, corporate functions and third-party service providers during project lifecycle and be the go-to point for details and status updates on the project or program
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to create business cases, project plans, steering committee presentations, business requirements, and other project or program documentation
• Deliver presentations to business partners at multiple levels, including process owners, senior managers, and executives, focusing on takeaways, answering questions clearly and at the appropriate level of detail
• Drive change adoption across the organization
• Drive project lifecycle with ability to “connect the dots” between upstream/downstream dependencies and planning needs, while multitasking across multiple deliverables
• Identify best practices for operational processes and system optimizations
• Assist with implementation and integration activities associated with new products
• Technically proficient communicator who can translate business language and requirements to technical teams and vice versa
• Ability and willingness to be hands-on in all aspects of project management, including:
  • Requirements gathering, documentation, use case development
  • Process workflow documentation and diagrams
  • Training/Acceptance plan development and execution
  • Communications with business stakeholders regarding project status

Qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in a business, finance, or related discipline

Experience Required:  

• 3-5 years of experience in strategic business consulting, business process re-engineering/design, or program management, with demonstrated success driving large-scale change initiatives.
• Experience in the analysis and design of new business processes, requirements definition, and implementation.
• An analytical mind and a passion/interest in bringing new ideas to increase the efficiency of existing processes
• Demonstrates a passion for continuous improvement and eagerness to identify and solve problems
• Domain knowledge of Alternative Investments (Private Credit/Private Equity/Real Estate/Secondaries) and an understanding of Fund, Investor, and Trade lifecycles
• Strong communication skills (written and oral to all levels of the firm) and team orientation; capability of interacting with key stakeholders to direct prioritization of Compensation-related activities
• Solutions orientated self-starter with the ability to see the big picture, balancing tactical solutions while being mindful of the strategic direction of the firm
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize deadlines; result oriented
• Strong technical skills with high proficiency in PowerPoint, Visio, and Excel
• Good judgement and understanding when to solve issues independently versus what needs to be escalated
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize deadlines; result oriented
• A demonstrated ability to research and leverage available resources to accomplish the task at hand
• Comfort in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
• Dependable, great attitude, highly motivated and a team player
• Ability to handle confidential information appropriately

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$130,000 - $145,000

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.