Managing Director, 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 is a leading participant in the global alternative credit markets with approximately $36.0 billion of assets under management (“AUM”) invested across multiple, actively-managed funds as of December 31, 2023. Of this AUM, the Alt Credit Team manages over $15.1 billion of dedicated capital on behalf of insurers including Aspida, our indirect insurance subsidiary. The Alt Credit Team today comprises approximately 70 investment professionals located primarily in three Ares offices: New York City, Atlanta and London. 

Ares’ Alt Credit platform employs strategies that are asset-focused, making investments backed by assets and contractual cash flows such as loans, leases and receivables. Alt Credit fills gaps in the capital markets between credit, private equity and real estate, investing across a spectrum of liquid and illiquid opportunities that include various specialty finance sectors, net leases, structured products, cash flow streams (e.g., royalties, licensing, management fees), and other asset types. 

Ares is seeking a Principal/Managing Director to join our Alternative Credit Group in the New York office (in-person), focused on investing in primarily private, asset-backed debt for insurance company balance sheets. These mandates focus on delivering excess return, current yield and attractive capital treatment for insurance clients with a focus on privately-originated opportunities. The qualified candidate will have significant experience in structuring asset-backed transactions for insurance balance sheets, with deep expertise in the considerations of regulatory capital charges and balance sheet accounting treatment for US (and, ideally, also European) insurance companies. The candidate will have a proven track record of executing transaction structures ranging from lending facilities, forward-flow arrangements and whole-loan investments. The candidate will have a proven track record in sourcing, structuring, and underwriting asset-backed transactions across a range of consumer and commercial assets, and in working with rating agency analysts to achieve desired ratings.  Strong relationships with specialty-finance companies are expected.  Participation in client relationship management through analysis, advice, market updates and idea generation is also expected. 

Primary functions and responsibilities:

• Insurance Structuring: Utilize deep knowledge of regulatory capital and accounting treatment for US and/or European insurance companies to structure asset-based transactions for their balance sheets.  Experience working with ratings agencies through the rating process on private transactions.
• Sourcing & Origination: Utilize existing relationships with market participants to source and originate private investment opportunities especially related to pools of consumer and commercials assets.  Lead documentation and rating processes. 
• 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, Bloomberg, and Excel is critical for success in the role.
• Investment Recommendation: Lead the development of investment committee memos and supporting analysis; discuss capital treatment and relative value with insurance clients.
• 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.  MBA or CFA welcomed but not required. 
• 12+ years of finance experience with direct exposure to asset-backed transactions, with a preference for experience within an insurance company or asset manager focused on insurance clients.
• Prior experience in related asset-backed sectors such as MBS, CMBS and CLOs will be considered positively, as will broader experience in insurance asset allocation and overall portfolio construction. 
• Demonstrat