Senior HR Business Partner (Legal & Compliance)

Ares Management Corporation•New York, NY

1d•$225,000 - $275,000

About The Position

Ares is seeking an accomplished Senior Human Resources Business Partner to support its Legal, Risk and Compliance businesses. The role serves as a senior HR advisor to leadership and helps shape and execute talent and organizational strategies that support the businesses’ growth and evolution. The successful candidate will build, develop, and retain high-performing teams; advise senior leaders; and translate business priorities into commercially relevant talent strategies. The position requires deep expertise in talent management, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, workforce planning, succession planning, performance management, and employee relations. It combines strategic advisory work with hands-on execution, general HR guidance, employee relations and performance support, onboarding and exits, and facilitation of core processes such as headcount planning, organizational design, compensation, promotions, and performance management. The role also partners with Talent Acquisition on recruitment strategy and contributes to diversity and learning and development initiatives. The Senior HR Business Partner reports to the Managing Director, Head of Talent Management, Business Operations. The role works closely with senior leaders and teams across HR, including Talent Acquisition, Reward, Talent Development, HR Operations, and DEI, to deliver integrated and scalable solutions. It calls for strong commercial judgment, sound discretion, analytical capability, and effective relationship-building across functions, geographies, and levels of the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
12–15+ years of progressive HR experience, including substantial experience as a senior HR Business Partner to executives and leadership teams in alternative asset management, asset management, financial services, investment banking, or another sophisticated, high-performance professional services environment.
Demonstrated success as a strategic HR advisor to senior executives in complex, global, high-growth, and client-focused organizations.
Deep experience translating business strategy and growth objectives into organizational and talent strategies.
Experience building, coaching, and developing high-performing teams, with a strong player-coach mindset.
Demonstrated expertise in organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, talent management, leadership development, change management, and organizational transformation.
Significant experience advising senior leaders on complex performance, compensation, promotion, succession, development, and retention decisions.
Strong analytical capabilities and ability to use workforce data, market intelligence, and business insights to inform talent strategies and executive decision-making.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
Strong commercial acumen and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to understand Legal, Risk and Compliance business models, strategic priorities, growth drivers, and talent implications.
Credibility as a trusted senior-executive advisor, combining business judgment with HR expertise.
Bias for action, exceptional work ethic, and ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
Sound judgment and ability to work autonomously, discreetly, and with personal accountability.
High standards of integrity, professionalism, and ethical decision-making.
Ability to navigate ambiguity and organizational complexity with confidence, resilience, adaptability, and pragmatism.
Exceptional relationship management and influencing skills, including building partnerships across businesses, functions, geographies, and organizational levels.
Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution and direct involvement in complex or high-priority matters.
Strong organizational discipline and ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining quality and attention to detail.
Clear, credible, and effective verbal and written communication tailored to diverse stakeholder groups.
Professionalism and sound judgment in high-pressure, sensitive, or confidential situations; careful handling of confidential business and employee information.
Reliability, intellectual rigor, personal accountability, and a collaborative, team-oriented mindset.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Experience supporting client-facing, distribution, wealth management, fundraising, product, or other commercial organizations.
Experience with Workday or comparable HRIS platforms.

Responsibilities

Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to Legal, Risk and Compliance leaders and managers, developing an understanding of business strategy, growth objectives, organizational priorities, and talent needs.
Develop and execute talent and organizational strategies that support business growth and ensure the organization has appropriate talent, structure, and capabilities.
Advise leaders on organizational design and effectiveness, including operating models, spans and layers, role clarity, team structures, leadership accountabilities, and organizational capabilities.
Lead strategic workforce and headcount planning, anticipating future talent and capability requirements and aligning talent investment with business priorities.
Drive succession planning and talent reviews, identify critical roles and talent, and develop succession and development strategies.
Identify organizational, talent, and workforce trends and turn them into actionable insights and recommendations.
Lead annual talent processes, including performance management, promotions, compensation planning, succession planning, talent reviews, and workforce planning.
Advise senior leaders on assessing, developing, and retaining key talent, including retention risks, capability gaps, and development opportunities.
Provide pragmatic guidance on complex people and organizational matters while balancing business objectives, employee considerations, risk, and company policies and practices.
Identify organizational and talent implications as the functions evolve and scale.
Use workforce analytics, market intelligence, and qualitative insights to provide proactive, data-informed recommendations.
Share best practices and help establish scalable, consistent HR approaches across the global organizations.
Partner with Talent Acquisition on workforce planning, senior and critical hiring, candidate slate reviews, selection strategy, and offer structuring.
Partner with Reward on compensation strategy, annual compensation processes, benchmarking, retention considerations, and complex compensation matters.
Partner with Talent Development on succession planning, talent reviews, leadership development, performance management, and targeted development strategies.
Partner with HR Operations to execute employee lifecycle processes and improve efficiency, scalability, data quality, and employee and manager experience.
Embed inclusive talent practices in hiring, development, promotion, succession, and broader people strategies.
Provide general HR guidance and counsel to managers and employees; manage employee relations and performance issues; and facilitate onboarding and exits.