Senior Associate, Corporate Strategy (HR M&A and Transformation

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.

Ares is seeking a high-performing, intellectually curious, and execution-oriented Senior Associate to join the Corporate Strategy Group with a focus on Human Capital M&A, Transformation, and Strategic Projects. This individual will play a key role in executing the firm's most important growth, integration, and transformation initiatives, partnering closely with team members across the organization to drive strategic outcomes and enterprise value creation.

The Corporate Strategy Group works directly with Ares' senior leadership and business group heads to evaluate and execute the firm's highest-priority strategic initiatives, including management company acquisitions, strategic partnerships, business expansion, strategic projects, and enterprise transformation initiatives.

This role sits at the intersection of Corporate Strategy, Human Resources (HR), M&A Integration, Business Transformation, and Project Management. The Senior Associate will help assess potential acquisition opportunities, shape integration strategies, support organizational and workforce transformation efforts, and drive initiatives that enhance scalability, operational effectiveness, technology enablement, governance, and employee experience.

The successful candidate will serve as both a thought partner and execution owner, translating complex business objectives into actionable plans while coordinating efforts across HR, Technology, Finance, Legal, Compliance, and other groups as required. The role offers significant exposure to senior executives and the opportunity to contribute to initiatives that shape the future growth and evolution of Ares.

This position presents a unique opportunity to combine M&A transaction execution, operating model design and change work, organizational transformation, and enterprise program execution within the firm's most visible and impactful strategic function.

Reports to:

Managing Director, HR M&A and Project Management

• Support the evaluation and execution of acquisitions, strategic investments, and other growth initiatives, with a focus on human capital, organizational, and operating model considerations.
• Assess talent, organizational structure, compensation, benefits, workforce, culture, and HR technology environments to identify opportunities, risks, integration requirements, and value creation opportunities.
• Develop executive-level analyses, recommendations, and decision materials to inform transaction evaluation and strategic decision-making.
• Translate diligence findings into integration priorities, synergy opportunities, workforce strategies, and long-term value creation initiatives.
• Partner with stakeholders across Corporate Strategy, Human Resources, Employment Legal, Finance, Technology, and other groups as required to support transaction execution and integration readiness.

• Support the planning and execution of complex HR integration programs from pre-close diligence through post-close integration.
• Drive alignment across functional teams and business leaders to ensure coordinated execution of integration objectives and achievement of key milestones.
• Lead development of HR integration workplans, governance routines, status reporting, risk management, and dependency tracking frameworks.
• Support organizational HR integration efforts, including workforce transitions, operating model alignment, HR systems integration, policy harmonization, change management, and synergy…