Principal, Compliance Officer

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:
This role requires a motivated, agile, and adaptable compliance professional with a results-oriented approach to resolving various compliance issues and achieving multiple objectives in a fast paced, rapidly growing environment.

Ares is a flat, flexible, and dynamic organization. The firm fosters a culture of collaboration, entrepreneurialism, integrity and partnership, both internally amongst colleagues and externally amongst clients and other stakeholders. The Ares team operates with a growth mindset, communicates transparently, and cultivates a high-performance and results-oriented environment.

The Ares Compliance Department oversees and manages Ares’ global regulatory compliance and ethics program. Under the leadership of the Global Chief Compliance & Regulatory Officer, the Compliance Department is comprised of functionally and business-aligned teams that operate collaboratively based on the Firm’s overall structure.

Primary Functions and Essential Responsibilities:
Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

- Providing strategic leadership to the Executive Committee, Board of Managers, and international stakeholders on the regulatory implications of business developments
- Contribute to the integration of Ares’ two current AIFMs (GCP Luxembourg and Ares Management Luxembourg)
- Co-ordinating the compliance training programme and oversight of GCP’s regulated and unregulated offices across the European Union
- Efficiently manage and oversee the workplan for the Luxembourg-based Compliance team.
- Assist with creating a scalable compliance programme for a large AIFM, with multiple international Compliance stakeholders both within and outside of the Firm, including the financial crime framework required for a wide range of counterparties (including but not limited to investors, transaction counterparties, delegates, contractual counterparties, and tenants of real estate portfolios).
- Identify and assess the compliance risks to which the IFM is exposed, including identification and assessment of compliance risk in connection with new products and activities
- Assess the appropriateness of internal policies, procedures and guidelines, ensure a follow-up of any identified deficiencies, make recommendations for amendments, where necessary and supervise the implementation of corrective measures to mitigate the identified deficiencies
- Regularly monitor compliance with the compliance policies, procedures and instructions by performing regular and comprehensive compliance risk assessments and testing and preparing reports for senior management including any significant compliance issues that have arisen, corrective measures taken, and investigations carried out
- Establish and manage an issue escalation process which keeps firm management informed of incidents presenting material compliance and/or reputational risk
- Maintain a list of the main rules that govern the performance of the IFM’s activities
- Serve as Money Laundering Reporting Officer, RC and Complaints Handling Officer for the IFM
- Centralise all information on compliance-related matters
- Educate staff with respect to compliance matters and act as advisor on compliance queries from staff members
- Prepare periodic reports and notification to management and regulatory authorities on compliance and AML-CTF
- Ensure the regulatory framework of the IFM in Luxembourg, and within the branches of the IFM and unregulated European offices of GCP, positions the firm appropriately with regulators and other bodies with oversight of the firm
- In coordination with the other Conducting Officers, the Head of European Compliance and the Global Chief Compliance & Regulatory Officer, liaise with external parties and regulators on behalf of the IFM and its branches
- Develop, maintain and broaden effective working relationships across the organization and within the Compliance Department
- Maintain and demonstrate a thorough understanding of the regulations applicable to investment related activities and stay abreast of legal and regulatory developments
- Maintain a training plan for compliance policies and ensure new hire and annual training is completed

Education:

- Bachelor’s Degree required
- Advanced Degree or Certification
- Membership of Luxembourg Association for Compliance Officers a plus

Experience Required:

- 12+ years of Finance indust