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
Summary:
Ares Management is seeking a Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis (“FP&A”) to serve as the senior FP&A leader for our European office, with responsibility spanning both the Credit and Real Assets segments.
This role represents a unique opportunity to help shape the next phase of FP&A within a rapidly growing global alternative asset manager. The individual will have significant visibility with European and global leadership and play a key role in improving decision support, profitability insights, and financial transparency across the business.
The VP will be a strategic finance partner to European business unit leadership, driving the annual budgeting, monthly forecasting, and long-range planning processes, while delivering executive-ready reporting, analysis, and insights across both segments. The candidate will be expected to understand complex fund structures, management fee and incentive fee mechanics, expense allocations, and segment-level profitability drivers specific to Credit and Real Assets.
This role requires a dynamic, hands-on finance professional capable of operating independently in a fast-paced, growing environment, while building strong working relationships with senior investment professionals, business operations leaders, and global FP&A colleagues in Los Angeles and other regional offices.
Primary Functions and Essential Responsibilities:
Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting
- Lead the annual budgeting, monthly forecasting, and long-range financial planning process for the European Credit and Real Assets businesses
- Develop and maintain sophisticated financial models for funds, products, and strategic initiatives across both segments, including management fees, incentive fees/carried interest, and expense allocations
- Own the general and administrative expense forecast, ensuring accuracy and transparency, while identifying cost-saving opportunities and partnering with business leaders to drive greater operational efficiency
- Produce executive-level reporting packages and dashboards summarizing European segment performance
- Prepare variance analysis and commentary for actual vs. budget/forecast results, partnering with investment professionals, fund and corporate accounting and business operations teams
Business Partnership & Leadership
- Serve as the primary FP&A point of contact for European leadership across the Credit and Real Assets segments
- Partner closely with business unit heads and senior leadership to provide financial insights, scenario analysis, and recommendations that support business decisions
- Act as a trusted advisor to regional leadership, translating complex business questions into actionable analyses tailored to Credit and Real Assets segments
- Mentor and develop European FP&A team members, ensuring high performance, accountability, and career growth
- Build strong working relationships across the European operation (deal teams, business operations, finance and accounting) and the wider Ares business
Process, Systems & Data Integrity
- Champion data integrity and scalable processes by enhancing governance, documentation, and controls, while automating recurring reporting to shift time toward value-added analysis
- Drive consistency between European reporting and global FP&A standards, ensuring alignment across segments and geographies
- Work with the broader FP&A team to implement technology that helps automate processes for better efficiency, accuracy, and consistency
- Opportunity to help modernize FP&A processes through data, automation, AI, and planning technology
Education & Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s Degree required
- MBA and/or CFA a plus
- ACCA or equivalent
Experience Required:
- At least 8–12 years of relevant professional experience in FP&A, corporate finance, or strategic finance, preferably within alternative investments (credit, real assets/real estate, or private equity)
- Prior experience operating in a senior/leadership capacity, ideally with cross-border or European exposure
- Strong knowledge of fund structures, management fee bases, and incentive fee/carried interest mechanics
- Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills; experience with planning systems such as Anaplan, OneStream, AI, Power BI, strongly preferred
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence and present to senior leadership across regions
Reporting Relationships
Principal, Financial Planning & Analysis
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.
