Senior Associate, Financial Planning & Analysis

Ares Management Corporation•New York, NY

1d•$120,000 - $135,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Ares is looking for a Senior Associate to join the New York Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) team. The FP&A team works closely with business stakeholders in all lines of business (as well as various corporate functions.) The team primarily works out of the New York office in partnership with the teams in Los Angeles and London offices. Ares, as an alternative asset manager, has an asset mix which is comprehensive and heavily concentrated in bank debt and directly originated investments. The ideal candidate would have experience working with alternative credit or direct lending funds, extensive knowledge of fund waterfalls and an aptitude for technological data and forecasting solutions. The role requires a dynamic, adaptive, experienced hands-on professional to ensure best practices in a fast-paced rapidly growing environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Finance or other business-related discipline
Minimum of 6+ years of experience in investment management firms with expertise in Investment Operations and Asset Servicing related functions
Basic understanding of Income Statements, Balance Sheets and Cost Center functionality.
Expert analytical, data management and financial modeling skills (utilizing Excel and advanced technological solutions)
Familiarity with financial planning applications (Oracle, Hyperion, OneStream, Power BI, Anaplan, etc.).
Technically proficient with all MS Office applications, especially Excel and PowerPoint.
Experience building, maintaining, or working with relationship, hierarchical, SQL or Access databases strongly preferred
Hedge fund, Credit or Private Equity fund experience and detailed understanding of fund waterfall calculations and mechanics
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.
Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills.
Self-motivated and driven with ability to multitask and to work effectively in a dynamic environment.
Genuine interest and passion about understanding the fundamentals of corporate finance and the aptitude to embrace technological workflows enhancements.
Team-oriented and collaborative with strong sense of ownership
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 operation 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 in order 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

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred but not required

Responsibilities

Support the VP and broader FP&A team in partnering across our enterprise with fund accounting, corporate accounting, divisional CFOs, senior investment professionals, senior finance leadership, information technology resources and programmers.
Credit Segment reporting support across sub-segment Credit investment groups and business operations.
Preparation of periodic financial reporting for internal stakeholders.
Assets Under Management “AUM” and related metrics public reporting.
Database creation and management in support of our enterprise projects – finance and information technology.
Financial modeling – in support of enterprise-wide financial and strategic business decisions.
Identify and understand business challenges; propose and help create solutions.
Partner directly with the finance team to collaborate on metrics, goals, and business reviews.
Dive deeply into specific financial data to provide anecdotal insights.
Create presentations that provide insightful analysis, identify required action items, and effectively frame decisions to be made.
Work closely with accounting to identify and research variances to forecast, budget, and prior-year expenses, proactively identifying opportunities for improvement.
Develop and maintain effective relationships with business partners and cross-functional teams at all levels of the organization.
Manage the optimization of consolidation and reporting, budgeting/forecasting, and dashboard/analytics software/technology systems to ensure the use of value-added financial tools; including selection of any new software/systems as needed.
Lead, manage, motivate, and inspire Operational Finance & FP&A team to effectively embrace and drive objectives, visions, and goals.