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 seeking a full-time Principal to join our dynamic and growing Insurance Solutions team. The candidate will be an integral part of the investment team and work closely with senior members of Ares Insurance Solutions (“AIS”) on a variety of activities. AIS is an in-house team that provides asset management, capital solutions and corporate development services to Ares Management’s strategic initiatives in insurance, including Ares’ new life and annuity platform, Aspida Financial. The new hire will work collaboratively with AIS leadership, internal and external investment teams, corporate strategy, and other stakeholders to support the growth of the insurance business.

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.

Primary functions & responsibilities

The candidate will provide support for the day-to-day investment portfolio activities for senior members of Ares Insurance Solutions. Key responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Collaborate with senior leadership to develop and execute strategic asset allocation plans, ensuring alignment with AIS/Aspida goals.
• Lead the evaluation, due diligence and onboarding of new managers including implementation across Aspida entities based on investment objectives, guidelines risk appetite and ALM constraints.
• Partner with Aspida for the onboarding of new clients/entities as well as implementing the set-up of new investment strategies.
• Oversee the preparation of investment committee memos for new managers/strategies and entity-specific investment portfolio reviews.
• Drive ongoing discussions with asset managers on investment portfolio to include market opportunity, performance and ensure manager compliance with guidelines by entity.
• Lead relationship with specific Aspida entities to include communicating market observations, investment strategy, portfolio positioning and performance.
• Continuously approach the business with a view towards potential opportunities of increased efficiency and optimization.
• Develop professional business relationships and partner with risk management, actuarial, financial and other Ares / Aspida team members to support Aspida.
• Provide mentoring and guidance to junior members on the team as AIS continues to grow.

Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree or international equivalent required, preferably in Economics, Business, or Business Management. Professional designations such as CFA, CPA, FRM, CAIA, etc., MBA would be viewed favorably, but not essential.

Experience/Skills Required:

• 10+ years of relevant experience as an insurance investment professional with a preference towards involvement with liability-centric portfolios and working with third-party asset managers.
• Broad strategic investment perspective with advanced knowledge of asset liability management, accounting and regulatory capital specific to life and annuity insurance companies.
• Significant exposure to fixed income insurance portfolio management across private and public markets, including portfolio performance measurement, and asset and liability management as it relates to an insurance company.
• Experience developing strategies, creating investment policies and guidelines and building infrastructure to support needs of an insurance company’s balance sheet across multiple jurisdictions.
• Previous experience with leading the evaluation, implementation, and oversight of external managers.
• Accuracy and attention to detail is essential with strong analytical acumen.
• Ability to work effectively in a collegial, fast moving, demanding, and dynamic environment.
• Proven record of delivering and exceeding expectations in a cl