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 Management is currently seeking a Product Manager to join the Deal & Order Management Systems team within the Technology & Information Security organization in our New York City or Los Angelesoffice. The IT team consists of over 300 team members globally and is responsible for the firm’s technology landscape. The Deal & Order Management Systems team within IT oversees and manages Ares’ Front Office and Investment platforms. The group supports the business across all Ares’ pools of capital, and the core functions include developing the technology strategy, vision, project execution, and support for these investment platforms.
This is a leadership and people management role. The ideal candidate will be responsible for overseeing the maintenance and enhancement of the Order Management System (OMS) and its ancillary platforms. This individual will work closely with the trading desk, compliance, investment operations, and other technology verticals to provide support and solutions and optimize the trade lifecycle. To be successful, you will need a sound understanding of the deal life cycle and order management workflows, strong communication skills, attention to detail, and a self-starting attitude.

Primary functions and essential responsibilities

• Lead the product management function supporting firmwide Order Management System (OMS) across Front and Middle Office functions, including Portfolio Management, Trading, Compliance, Trade Confirmations, and Settlements

• Engage with the business stakeholders to evaluate their needs and problems to build and execute OMS platform roadmap; Proactively recommend solutions and process improvements

• Establish strong working relationships with the business as well as technology teams to facilitate application support and adoption

• Act as a Subject Matter Expert supporting Trading systems and associated workflows; provide best-practice guidance to the business stakeholders and internal development partners. Identify opportunities to improve business processes and operational efficiencies

• Lead the product rollout process by driving decisions, overseeing solution design and delivery, tracking issues, and assisting with a timely resolution in support of the initiative. Provide post-rollout and day-to-day product support as needed

• Build, maintain, and execute project plans. Keep the stakeholders and sponsors abreast of project and milestone updates

• Lead and mentor the team by focusing on operational excellence, innovation, and agile delivery

• Develop and maintain a target operating model in conjunction with the technology leadership that will scale with the business

• Enforce regulatory requirements and internal/external audit policies to mitigate operational risk

• Lead discussions with vendors in ongoing relationships as well as new engagements and onboarding

• Identify opportunities to enhance efficiency across the trading workflow and operational processes

• Follow current industry trends and best practices to stay up to date on investment technology

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Finance

Experience Required:

• A minimum of 8-10 years of relevant technology experience maintaining and/or implementing an Order Management System (OMS) and supporting associated business workflows

• A minimum of 2 years of people management experience and ability to coach and mentor junior team members

• Prior experience with an alternative asset manager is preferred; broader fixed-income buy-side asset management experience is required

• Prior experience with implementing or supporting 3rd party Order Management Systems such as Allvue/Black Mountain Systems Everest (preferred) or a comparable platform

• Expertise with building and supporting portfolio compliance guidelines (pre and post trade)

• Sound understanding of investment data and trading workflows and systems; Familiarity with institutional asset management research, trading workflows, and associated systems

• Solid understanding of the data points associated with different asset classes, such as Loans, Bonds, Equities, and Derivatives

• Experience managing internal and external stakeholders and leading project prioritization discussions to drive product vision and roadmap

• Proficient with SQL for ad-hoc queries and data analysis; prior experience writing SQL stored procedures, functions, and views is a big plus

• Understanding of the FIX protocol and SWIFT messaging

• Advanced Excel skills for data analysis, including modeling and complex lookups

• Experience with Agile project management methodology is required

• Prior experience implementing or supporting DealCloud is a plus

• Exposure to BI solutions like Tableau or Power BI (preferred) is a plus

• Working knowledge of Python is beneficial

General Requirements:

• Strong sense of ownership and accountability

• Ability to manage challenging workflow in a fast-paced, dynamic organization, managing multiple assignments in a deadline-driven environment

• Inquisitive and committed to continual improvement/learning

• Organizational skills, demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and lead deliverables to completion

• Excellent communication (written, verbal, presentation, documentation) and client service skills; capability of interacting with stakeholders to drive project/task/support engagement

• Ability to work independently within a fast-paced environment with a hands-on approach

• Ability to be flexible in terms of hours in order to coordinate with team members across time zones

• Comfort in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty in a dynamic environment

• Dependable, great attitude, highly motivated and a team player

• Ability to resolve issues with minimal supervision

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$200,000 - $220,000

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.