Vice President, Investment Operations - Loan Servicing

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 Vice President to join its Investment Operations team in New York. This role is integral to overseeing global asset servicing functions and collaborating with stakeholders across business lines and corporate functions. The ideal candidate will lead the global asset servicing team, manage relationships with fund administrators and custodians, and drive systemic and procedural process improvements.

This position requires experience with corporate actions and loan servicing, with expertise in Wall Street Office. The candidate should be adept at managing complex workflows and building strong partnerships with asset servicing teams in Los Angeles and Mumbai, as well as cross functionally across Ares. Experience with bank debt and working with a global client base—including pensions, insurance companies, and institutional investors—is essential.

Ares, as an alternative asset manager, has an asset mix which is comprehensive and heavily concentrated in bank debt.  The ideal candidate would have experience working with diverse lines of business for a global client base including pensions, insurance, and institutional investors.  The role requires a dynamic, adaptive, experienced hands-on professional to ensure best practices in a fast-paced rapidly growing environment.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Lead the Global Asset Servicing team, streamlining manual processes and implementing scalable workflows.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for asset servicing inquiries and high risk breaks; proactively identify and address root causes.
• Oversee fund administrators, identify recurring issues, and collaborate and implement long term solutions.
• Evaluate and integrate innovative industry tools to enhance operational efficiency.
• Drive automation and accuracy through project leadership and process improvement initiatives.
• Analyze daily reconciliations between internal systems and third parties to resolve systemic issues.
• Coordinate asset servicing audit requests with internal and external auditors, consultants, and regulatory bodies (e.g., SEC).
• Prepare and present asset servicing KPIs to senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Maintain rigorous quality control standards and gather feedback to continuously improve workflows.
• Collaborate with finance, offshore partners, deal teams, investment accounting, middle office, treasury, and trustees to ensure seamless communication and issue resolution.

QUALIFICATIONS:
Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance or other business related discipline
• MBA, CFA and/or CPA preferred but not required

Experience Required: 

• Minimum of 10+ years of experience in high quality, global capital markets or investment management firms with expertise in Investment Operations and Asset Servicing related functions.
• Experience in Investment Operations in any of middle office or back-office functions.
• Prior experience with an alternative asset manager preferred broader asset management experience preferred.
• Strong knowledge of bank loans primarily with the willingness to cross train and learn various asset classes
• Must have experience with loan servicing process in Wall Street Office. Also, preferred experience with Black Mountain (Allvue), Everest, Geneva, and/or IVP data management platforms.
• Understanding of basis accounting theories.
• Loan Operations and corporate actions experience in private/middle market loans mandatory
• Experienced with a diverse set of investment vehicles such as Institutional Separate Accounts, SMA/Limited Partnerships, Open-End Mutual Funds, Closed-End Funds and UCITs, CLOs, and complex fund structures.
• Hedge fund, Credit or Private Equity experience is a plus.

General Requirements:

• Ability to extract meaningful information from extensive research and analysis to effectively present facts and findings in a digestible format, a keen eye for attention to detail
• A self-directed individual with a can-do attitude, willing to work in an energetic, collaborative, and fast-paced environment, proactive in nature, and a proven ability to resolve issues with minimal supervision
• Proven outstanding communication (written and verbal), presentation, documentation, collaboration, and interpersonal skills
• A hands-on approach and ability to synthesize business operations and talent needs
• Ability to successfully manage multiple priorities and competing demands
• High accuracy and detail orientation
• Good judgment in terms of escalating issues vs. solving problems independently
• A solutions-oriented, self-starter and ability to see the big picture
• Comfort in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
• Ability to be flexible in terms of hours to coordinate with team members across various time zones
• An analytical mind and a passion/interest in bringing new ideas to increase efficiency of existing processes
• Dependable, great attitude, highly motivated and a team player
• Strong Leadership Skills

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$170,000 - $200,000

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.