Associate Vice President, Legal Knowledge & Workflow Management

Job description

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 an Associate Vice President, Legal Knowledge and Workflow Management to serve as the Legal Strategy and Innovation (LSI) team's forward-deployed operating and transformation partner to Funds Legal. Embedded with Funds Legal and reporting to the Head of Legal Knowledge and Workflow Management, this role will work with Funds Legal leadership to improve how legal work is delivered across fund formation and capital raising by integrating knowledge, workflow, technology and AI, data and external service providers. The role's primary mandate is to redesign and scale the Funds Legal delivery model: identifying where attorney judgment is required, where work can be standardized, delegated or technology-enabled, how institutional knowledge and data should be captured and reused, and how outside counsel and other providers should fit into the model. The role will initially focus on fund formation and capital raising while supporting broader Funds Legal operating priorities over time. This is a hands-on legal transformation role, not a traditional knowledge management or technology support role. The successful candidate will combine substantive fluency in private funds with strong operating-model and process-design capabilities, practical implementation skills and the ability to influence senior attorneys and cross-functional partners. The role may be prototyping or configuring tools directly where practical, but its core responsibility is to define problems, translate legal work and judgment into scalable solutions and drive implementation and adoption. REPORTING Reports to: Head of Legal Knowledge and Workflow Management KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Funds Legal Operating Model and Transformation Serve as the forward-deployed LSI operating partner to Funds Legal, working with leadership to identify, prioritize and execute the transformation agenda for fund formation, capital raising and other priority workflows. Define and improve the Funds Legal operating model, including what work requires attorney judgment, what can move to other internal or external resources, what can be standardized or technology-enabled, and the ownership, handoffs, escalation paths and governance needed to support that model. Review priority workflows to identify bottlenecks, duplicative work, unclear handoffs, attorney time drains and opportunities to simplify, standardize, delegate or automate work, while creating common standards across products, geographies and teams where appropriate. Translate Funds Legal priorities and pain points into clear requirements, implementation roadmaps and operating changes, coordinating across LSI and relevant business and control functions to drive execution. Knowledge, Workflow and AI-Enabled Solutions Synthesize fund terms, precedent, house positions, regulatory requirements, legal work product and relevant matter context into practical guidance, playbooks, structured data, templates and reusable workflow assets. Translate legal judgment, house positions and risk tolerances into requirements, workflow steps, rules, checklists, prompts and controls that can support repeatable and technology-enabled legal processes. Design, prototype or configure where appropriate, test and implement workflow and AI-enabled solutions for priority capital raising work, including intake, document analysis, terms checking, investor comments, side letters, subscription and closing processes, MFN elections, clause comparison and deviation detection; partner with Corporate Tech and vendors where deeper development or integration is required. Establish practical governance for workflow and AI-enabled solutions, including evaluation, quality control, human review and ongoing updates as regulatory requirements, market practice, guidance and Ares house positions evolve. Vendor and Legal Service Delivery Strategy Partner with LSI’s Vendor Strategy and Management team to develop and execute Funds Legal’s outside counsel and legal service delivery strategy, including RFPs, pricing, alternative fee arrangements, provider selection, service expectations and performance management. Work with Funds Legal leadership and external fundraising counsel to redesign delivery models across scope, staffing, handoffs, process ownership, technology and AI use, data deliverables and knowledge transfer so external providers reinforce Ares' internal workflows and operating model. Develop and monitor expectations for external providers, including service quality, responsiveness, AI and technology use, confidentiality, data use, output ownership, access to matter data, transparency, human review and accountability; use spend, service and performance data to improve cost, leverage, responsiveness, quality and knowledge transfer. Implementation, Adoption and Performance Work directly with Funds Legal leaders and attorneys to co-design solutions, embed them in live matters and drive the change management, training and adoption required to make new ways of working sustainable. Coordinate with cross-functional stakeholders to implement agreed workflows and operating changes. Define and track measures such as adoption, cycle time, rework, data completeness, internal capacity, external spend and provider performance; use metrics, feedback and issue trends to continuously improve solutions and share reusable methods, templates and standards across LSI and other legal teams. QUALIFICATIONS Education J.D. strongly preferred but not required. Candidates without a J.D. should demonstrate significant substantive fluency in private funds legal work. Required Skills and Experience 7+ years of relevant experience in private funds legal practice, legal transformation or operations, knowledge management, law firm innovation, consulting, legal technology or a comparable role. Deep familiarity with private funds and capital raising legal work, including fund formation and structuring, investor negotiations, side letters, internal and external counsel roles and key cross-functional dependencies. Proven ability to redesign and implement legal workflows, operating models and processes, including moving from problem identification and requirements gathering through rollout, adoption and continuous improvement. Ability to work credibly with senior attorneys and translate legal judgment, house positions and risk tolerances into clear guidance, knowledge assets, workflow requirements, rules and controls. Experience building or improving knowledge resources, workflow tools, AI-enabled legal solutions or other scalable legal systems, including practical experience with generative AI and the judgment to determine when technology is and is not the right solution. Experience improving outside counsel or legal service delivery, including one or more of scope and staffing, pricing, RFPs, performance management, data deliverables or knowledge transfer. Excellent stakeholder management, communication and execution skills, with demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives spanning legal, business, technology, data and external providers. Preferred Qualifications Experience within or alongside an alternative asset manager or other fund sponsor. Experience as a practicing attorney or in a law firm innovation, legal transformation, knowledge management, legal product or embedded operating role supporting sophisticated legal teams. Hands-on familiarity with generative AI, prompt and output evaluation, no-code or low-code tools, knowledge platforms, workflow tools, legal data repositories or similar technologies. Experience with private funds terms data, side letter or LP negotiation analytics, document analysis, closing automation, legal services RFPs, alternative fee arrangements or external counsel delivery redesign. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE Funds Legal operates through a more scalable delivery model in which work is consistently routed to the right attorney, internal or external resource, or technology-enabled workflow through clear standards, processes and governance. Senior Funds attorneys spend more time on strategic fund design, key investor negotiations, business partnership and risk decisions, with repeatable work simplified, standardized, delegated or automated where appropriate. Fund knowledge, data and work product are captured, structured and reused systematically, and external counsel and vendors operate against clear expectations for service delivery, data sharing, knowledge transfer and performance. Funds Legal leadership has actionable visibility into workload, capacity, cycle time, quality, spend and provider performance, and the workflows, standards and operating practices developed within Funds Legal provide a reusable foundation for other legal teams over time. Reporting Relationships Managing Director, Legal Strategy and Operations Compensation The anticipated base salary range for this position is listed below. Total compensation may also include a discretionary performance-based bonus. Note, the range takes into account a broad spectrum of qualifications, including, but not limited to, years of relevant work experience, education, and other relevant qualifications specific to the role. $145,000-$195,000 The firm also offers robust Benefits offerings. Ares U.S. Core Benefits include Comprehensive Medical/Rx, Dental and Vision plans; 401(k) program with company match; Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA); Healthcare Savings Accounts (HSA) with company contribution; Basic and Voluntary Life Insurance; Long-Term Disability (LTD) and Short-Term Disability (STD) insurance; Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and Commuter Benefits plan for parking and transit. Ares offers a number of additional benefits including access to a world-class medical advisory team, a mental health app that includes coaching, therapy and psychiatry, a mindfulness and wellbeing app, financial wellness benefit that includes access to a financial advisor, new parent leave, reproductive and adoption assistance, emergency backup care, matching gift program, education sponsorship program, and much more. 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.