Associate, Shared Business Services (Secondaries 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

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

Reports to: VP, Shared Business Services

Supervises: n/a

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

We are seeking a highly analytical and detail-oriented professional to support the Credit Secondaries investment team across underwriting, portfolio management, market monitoring, and internal database initiatives. The role will provide exposure to private credit, secondary transactions, portfolio analytics, and investment decision-making processes. Responsibilities include:

Primary Functions

• Support the evaluation of prospective Credit Secondaries investments, including LP-led and GP-led transactions.
• Review and organize diligence materials, including loan tapes, financial statements, portfolio reports, capital account statements, and broker materials.
• Transcribe and validate loan-level and portfolio-level data within internal underwriting models and ensure the accuracy of model outputs, analytics, and reporting exhibits.
• Build, update, and maintain underwriting and portfolio monitoring models, including return analyses, sensitivity scenarios, and valuation outputs.
• Perform quantitative and qualitative analysis of underlying credit portfolios, including borrower performance, industry exposure, concentration risks, and key portfolio trends.
• Roll forward underwriting models using updated financial information and assumptions provided by the investment and finance teams.
• Monitor and summarize quarterly performance of publicly traded Business Development Companies (BDCs), including earnings, valuation marks, portfolio activity, and market developments.
• Maintain internal databases and trackers, including closed deal databases, transaction comparables, underwriting assumptions, portfolio monitoring tools, and market intelligence repositories.
• Assist with preparation of investment committee materials, diligence summaries, pricing analyses, portfolio reviews, and other investment-related deliverables.

Supplementary Tasks

• Conduct company, industry, and market research to support underwriting, valuation, and portfolio monitoring activities.
• Support the development and enhancement of internal analytical tools, databases, templates, and reporting frameworks.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, automate recurring tasks, and enhance data quality and operational efficiency.
• Collaborate with investment professionals across geographies on strategic initiatives, recurring business activities, and ad hoc analytical projects

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in business, finance, or another pre-professional field, or a discipline with exposure to Private Credit and Secondaries.
• Strong academic background and demonstrated interest in private credit, alternative investments, secondaries, or financial markets.

Experience Required:

• 3–6 years of experience preferred. Experience in private credit, direct lending, leveraged finance, credit research, investment banking, valuation, transaction advisory, portfolio management, secondaries, or private markets operations would be highly relevant.
• Prior exposure to fund modeling, credit analysis, cash flow modeling, portfolio monitoring, or investment committee materials is preferred.
• Experience with Power BI, VBA, Python, SQL, or other automation tools is a plus.

General Requirements:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Ability to reduce complex problems and models into key drivers. Ability to combine disparate datasets and assumptions.
• Advanced financial analysis, valuation, and modeling capabilities, including Credit analysis, Portfolio Monitoring, NAV analysis, portfolio valuations, and fund waterfall structures.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, and a professional, polished demeanor.
• Ability to work independently and thrive in collaborative, fast-paced deal teams
• Willingness to undergo extensive training to understand fund model nuances.

Reporting Relationships

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.