Regulatory Compliance Engineering Lead

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 Vice President, Regulatory Compliance Engineering Lead to join our Corporate Technology organization, reporting to the Head of Legal Risk and Compliance Technology. This role will lead the engineering delivery, platform health, and ongoing evolution of technology solutions supporting Ares’ Regulatory Compliance functions—most notably our AML/KYC processes.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineering leader with deep expertise in Regulatory Compliance technology within a complex financial services environment (experience at a large alternative asset manager or similarly regulated firm strongly preferred). This leader will guide a small team of technical resources and partner closely with Compliance stakeholders, Product/Program partners, and cross-functional Technology teams to deliver secure, scalable, and audit-ready solutions.

This role requires strong Pega expertise (critical), as Pega underpins key AML/KYC workflows. Familiarity with adjacent compliance platforms and ecosystems—such as Intapp (Conflicts clearance), Archer, Global Relay, and ComplySci/Comply (and comparable tools)—is highly valued.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead engineering delivery and operational ownership for the Regulatory Compliance technology portfolio, with primary focus on AML/KYC workflows and supporting controls.
• Serve as the technical lead and escalation point for the Pega platform implementation supporting AML/KYC, ensuring robust design, performance, security, and maintainability.
• Partner with Compliance leadership and key stakeholders to translate regulatory needs into clear technical requirements, delivery plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Own end-to-end solution delivery: technical discovery, design, build, test, release, and production support, aligning with SDLC, change management, and audit expectations.
• Drive a strong engineering discipline: code quality, peer review, automated testing, CI/CD where applicable, environment management, and release governance.
• Establish and maintain integration patterns and data flows (APIs, batch, messaging/events as appropriate) to support compliance reporting, auditability, and downstream dependencies.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise standards for security, identity/access controls, data governance, records retention, resiliency, and regulatory traceability.
• Build and lead a small team of engineers/technical resources: hiring input, coaching, task planning, performance feedback, and fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Enterprise Architecture, Information Security, Data/Analytics, Infrastructure, and adjacent application teams to manage dependencies and deliver cohesive outcomes.
• Manage vendors/partners as needed: delivery oversight, quality control, prioritization, and ensuring alignment with Ares’ standards and roadmap.
• Provide transparent, executive-ready reporting on progress, risks, issues, and remediation plans—especially for compliance-impacting items.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of progressive technology experience, with significant hands-on delivery experience in Regulatory Compliance or adjacent risk/control domains.
• Demonstrated experience implementing and supporting AML/KYC technology processes and workflows.
• Experience in complex, regulated financial services; alternative asset management experience strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Computer Science/Engineering background preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to influence and collaborate effectively with senior business and technology partners.

Experience Required

• Pega platform expertise (required/critical), including hands-on experience designing, developing, and supporting Pega-based enterprise workflows (ideally within AML/KYC or similar regulated processes).
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and hands-on development experience, including:
  • SQL (required), data <