Principal, Operational Strategy

Ares Operations•New York, NY

About The Position

Ares is seeking a Principal to join its Corporate Strategy – Operational Strategy Group. The group supports the Executive Office and acts as an enterprise control tower for high-priority transformation initiatives, including M&A integration, operating-model evolution, corporate efficiency, and executive governance. It coordinates work across Ares’ lines of business and functional groups to keep programs aligned with enterprise priorities, manage dependencies and risks, support decision-making, and deliver measurable value. The Principal will be accountable for the strategy and execution of several key transformation programs, with a focus on Technology, Investment, and Sales/Marketing workflows. The role owns assigned programs end to end, from defining strategic objectives, target operating models, roadmaps, success measures, and governance through execution, risk escalation, and outcome delivery. It coordinates PMOs, COOs, embedded project teams, and functional transformation resources in a highly matrixed environment. The role also supports M&A integration workstreams, partnering with the Master Planning function, Technology, and Business Support Teams on operational diligence, Day 1 readiness, Day 100 execution, process harmonization, vendor and technology rationalization, governance, and post-close tracking. The position requires alternative-investment knowledge, technical fluency in system design and integrations, executive-level communication, and the ability to lead large-scale change through influence and disciplined delivery.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Accounting, Economics, Political Science, Finance, General Business, or Management, with outstanding academic achievement.
15+ years of experience in large-scale transformation, strategy execution, business operations, process redesign, integration, or management consulting.
Proven ability to translate strategic priorities into actionable programs, operating models, roadmaps, and execution plans.
Experience analyzing and redesigning business processes, systems, workflows, controls, and requirements from current state through implementation.
Demonstrated success leading cross-functional initiatives involving business, Technology, Legal, Compliance, Finance, Operations, Investor Relations, Sales/Marketing, and external vendors.
Strong knowledge of alternative investments, including Credit, Private Equity, Real Assets, and Secondaries, with familiarity across fund, investor, sales/marketing, and investment lifecycles.
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, sound judgment, and the ability to turn complex, ambiguous issues into clear recommendations and actions.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including developing executive-ready materials and influencing stakeholders at all levels.
Highly organized, detail-oriented, and results-driven, with the ability to manage competing priorities, deadlines, risks, and dependencies in a fast-paced environment.
Proactive, action-oriented self-starter with a continuous-improvement mindset and the ability to balance tactical execution with broader strategic direction.
Experience using program-management tools and artifacts for complex, enterprise-wide programs with 10+ interconnected projects, including integrated master plans, dependency maps, RAID logs, milestone trackers, and executive dashboards.
Familiarity with platforms such as Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Confluence, Asana, Monday.com, or equivalent.

Nice To Haves

People management experience.
Familiarity with client experience and investor transformation.
Familiarity with deal pipeline management.
Familiarity with allocation and investment workflow transformation.
Familiarity with treasury, banking, and liquidity operations transformation.

Responsibilities

Translate executive priorities into program charters, business cases, roadmaps, workstreams, milestones, and decision points; determine sequencing, dependencies, and conflicts among initiatives.
Assess current-state processes, technology, data flows, controls, roles, and cross-strategy dependencies, and define target-state capabilities, operating models, organizational designs, governance, and scalable processes.
Build integrated program plans, establish sequencing and dependencies, identify resources, set timelines, clarify accountability, and align business-unit transformation and project teams.
Lead complex, multi-workstream programs, managing scope, timelines, budgets, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions, and deliverables; resolve blockers, escalate effectively, maintain momentum, and ensure workstream accountability and execution quality.
Drive adoption of new processes, tools, and operating models by working with business teams to embed changes in day-to-day workflows and sustain outcomes.
Develop clear, audience-specific communications explaining transformation programs’ purpose, value, impact, and connection to firmwide priorities.
Prepare executive-ready materials, steering committee updates, decision memos, risk and issue logs, status reports, and recommendations; escalate blockers and support executive decisions.
Define success metrics, quantify benefits, monitor value realization, and connect transformation work to business outcomes such as efficiency, scalability, risk reduction, improved controls, data quality, operating leverage, and client or investor experience.
Identify inefficiencies, redesign workflows, standardize practices, institutionalize playbooks, and promote continuous improvement across the firm.
Support end-to-end M&A integration workstreams, translating integration priorities into operational plans across the M&A lifecycle.
Partner with Technology and Business Support Teams on systems, platforms, data flows, integration dependencies, operational diligence, Day 1 readiness, Day 100 execution, process harmonization, vendor and technology rationalization, governance, and post-close tracking.