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 Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is looking to hire a VP, Legal Vendor Management – Strategy & Operations to join its existing Legal team of 50+ attorneys and other legal professionals. The position will be located in Los Angeles or New York. The position will be responsible for overseeing all legal billing processes and executing the department’s spend management strategy. Reporting directly to the Head of Legal Strategy + Innovation, this role will be tasked with driving operational excellence in legal billing while providing strategic insights to optimize legal spend. The position will also ensure the effective administration of engagement letters, conflict waivers and other critical legal vendor agreements.

The Ares Legal team is responsible for advising on a wide range of legal matters and helps guide Ares’ business through an evolving and complex financial, legal, and regulatory environment across the multiple jurisdictions in which we operate. While this role is an operations role, familiarity and extensive experience with legal matters relevant to the alternative investment management industry is highly preferable.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS
Reports to: Head of Legal Strategy + Innovation

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS & RESPONSIBILITIES
 

Legal Billing and Process Management

• Lead the end-to-end legal billing lifecycle, ensuring efficiency, accuracy and compliance with billing guidelines and internal policies.

• Act as the primary point of contact for complex billing issues, resolving high-impact discrepancies and implementing improvements.

• Collaborate with finance & accounting stakeholders, IT and legal leadership to align billing processes with overall business objectives.

• Partner with the firm’s e-billing provider to enhance system functionality, generate advanced reporting and create dashboards for senior leadership reviews.

• Provide high-level analysis of legal billing data to inform decision-making and process improvements.

• Oversee the approval and onboarding process for new law firms, timekeepers and rates.

• Monitor systemic billing issues and proactively address data anomalies.

• Provide leadership and guidance to billing support staff to ensure efficient operations.

Spend Management

• Execute the legal department’s spend management strategy to control costs and maximize value.

• Oversee legal spend forecasting, budgeting and tracking in alignment with financial targets.

• Leverage data analytics to identify savings opportunities and recommend strategic adjustments.

• Serve as a key advisor on legal spend, presenting insights and key performance indicators (KPIs) to senior leadership.

• Lead negotiations with law firms, including alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) and volume discounts.

• Track and report on panel program and non-panel program spend, highlighting outliers and savings opportunities.

Vendor and Engagement Administration

• Oversee the administration of engagement letters, conflict waivers and other legal vendor agreements to ensure alignment with company objectives.

• Maintain a tracking system for legal engagements, ensuring compliance with pricing, terms and policies.

• Manage relationships with external firms, ensuring compliance with engagement and billing terms.

• Partner with legal leadership to manage conflict checks and waivers with external firms

Compliance and Process Improvement

• Ensure compliance with internal policies, external regulations and industry standards across legal billing and spend management functions.

• Identify and implement process improvements to enhance efficiency, transparency and cost-effectiveness.

• Stay current with industry trends and best practices, applying innovative solutions to improve operations.

QUALIFICATIONS
 

Education: 

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, information systems or another quantitively driven field.

Experience Required:
Basic/Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in legal billing or pricing, financial planning & analysis, corporate strategy, data science or a related field.

• Strong quantitative skills with experience in financial analysis, budgeting, project and spend management.

• Advanced analytical skills to interpret billing data and provide strategic insights.

• Strong project management skills and the ability to oversee multiple initiatives.

• Highly organized with the ability to autonomously manage complex agreements and processes.

• Strong interpersonal skills with experience managing vendor relationships.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Expertise in legal billing processes and spend management systems (e.g., matter management, e-billing platforms).

• Proven ability to manage AFAs, rate negotiations and volume discounts with law firms.

• Proven experience leading complex billing processes and resolving discrepancies.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access), MS SQL and MS PowerBI for data analysis.

• Experience presenting data insights and financial reports to senior leadership

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$170,000 - $210,000 / annum

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.