Senior Associate, Alternative Credit

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 Alternative Credit focuses on asset-based finance (ABF) and tactical asset investing opportunities beyond traditional markets, such as corporate debt, real estate and private equity. This strategy seeks opportunities in large, diversified portfolios, including specialty finance, lender finance, equipment leasing, structured products, net lease, cash-flow streams (e.g., royalties, licensing, management fees) and other asset-focused investments.  As of March 31, 2026 (and inclusive of Q2 capital raises), Ares Alternative Credit managed approximately $57.3 billion in assets,  Ares is a co-founder of the Promote Giving initiative (www.promotegiving.org) and at least 5-10% of the promote (carried interest and incentive fee) profits of Alternative Credit's flagship Pathfinder family of funds have been pledged to be donated to global health and education charitable organizations.

Primary functions and essential responsibilities:

Ares is seeking a Senior Associate to join our Alternative Credit Group in the New York office. This strategy focuses on delivering strong risk adjusted excess return over investment grade corporates for insurance balance sheets, with a focus on whole loan acquisitions and privately originated asset-based opportunities. The qualified candidate will have a proven track record in sourcing, structuring, and underwriting asset-based financing and forward flow transactions. Illustrative examples of asset types include consumer loans, student loans, lender finance, infrastructure, transportation, and royalties.

The ideal candidate will also have experience in rating agency methodologies. The ideal candidate will be able to operate independently with core responsibilities in sourcing and execution. The candidate should have significant experience interacting with portfolio companies, rating agencies, banks, legal counsel, and have familiarity with investing insurance capital.

Primary functions and responsibilities:

• Financial Modeling & Analysis: Thoroughly analyze and underwrite potential investments including reviews of collateral tapes, historical performance, facility structure, and develop quantitative models to conduct scenario analysis. Strong proficiency with Intex or Python preferred.
• Due Diligence: Lead due diligence processes including management due diligence, data analysis, and lead all third party work flows including counsel, rating agencies, and other groups as appropriate to facilitate successful closing of transactions.
• Documentation: Lead documentation processes and negotiations with counterparties. Significant expertise in assembling term sheets, commitment letters, and driving the execution of definitive transaction documents is required.
• Portfolio Management: Provide active input for active portfolio management of transactions in portfolio. This includes providing oversight and input on transactions and working with portfolio managers to actively manage and continuously assess risk and exposure across the portfolios.

Qualifications:

• Superior academic achievement at a top tier undergraduate program is required.
• 6+ years of finance experience with direct exposure to asset-backed transactions, with a preference for investment banking or buyside experience and familiarity with insurance capital
• Demonstrated track record in sourcing and executing privately originated asset-based opportunities.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills that demonstrate an ability to articulate a clear, concise analysis of investment risk and relative value.
• Self-motivated and driven; ability to work effectively in a collegial, fast moving, demanding, and dynamic environment. Evidence of intellectual curiosity, creative problem-solving skills, and adaptability. Sophisticated financial modeling and analytical capabilities.

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

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.