Associate Vice President, Investment Operations

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 looking for an Associate Vice President to join the Mumbai Investment Operations team.  The Investment Operations team works closely with business stakeholders in various lines of business, as well as various corporate functions.  This position requires experience with corporate actions and loan servicing, with expertise in Wall Street Office and a little more about experience with complex reorgs and non standard transactions involving bonds, equities, clo equity, loans, etc. The ideal candidate will be responsible for overseeing loan operations team, fund admins, custodians, etc., as well as processing all credit activity and restructures in WSO for loans for various business lines.  Other responsibilities include research and escalation of loan operations issues and breaks, working in partnership with the Loan Settlements/Servicing teams in Los Angeles.  Must have practical experience with the loan closing and loan servicing process, also processing experience in Wall Street Office is preferred.

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 responsibilities:

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Serve as primary escalation contact and day to day manager for the loan operations team in Mumbai
• Facilitate training and provide ongoing support for the local team
• Coordinate, process, and reconcile the processing of all daily servicing events, including amendments and restructures (preparation of transaction loaders, reviewing funds flows, and more)
• Oversee and manage loan processing in WSO of all deals
• Direct third-party fund administrators and custodian banks on appropriate processing and review/reconcile processing output for accuracy, including restructures, multicurrency facility processing, non pro rata activity, principal repayments with fees, etc.
• Daily review of credit events with third-party administrators and custodian banks
• Act as 1st point of escalation for high-risk breaks and identify areas for issue prevention
• Review daily recons between internal systems and third parties to resolve discrepancies
• Coordinate loan operations related audit requests
• Prepare KPIs on a regular basis and participate in ad hoc projects
• Maintain high standard of quality controls, and work with internal and external stakeholders to enhance loan operations workflows
• Liaise with local finance teams, offshore partners, deal teams, investment accounting, middle office, treasury, and trustees for all portfolio-specific activity and issues, ensuring cross-communication of critical information between firm departments
• Manage oversight of all UK based agents and custodians to resolve loan related issues in a timely manner

Experience Required: 

• 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 closing process in ClearPar and 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

Associate Vice President, Global Asset Servicing & Reconciliation

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.

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