Associate, FX & Interest Rate Hedging

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 is seeking a self-motivated individual with a strong interest in FX and rates markets for an Associate role in our Global Capital Solutions (GCS) team in our Los Angeles office. The GCS team oversees and manages fund level FX and interest rate hedging across the Ares platform. Under the leadership of the GCS, the Associate will have a primary focus on trade execution, creating quantitative models to identify optimal hedging solutions, monitoring risk, ISDA Documentation, and establishing external and internal relationship to ensure timely and accurate results.

Primary functions and essential responsibilities:

• Analyze fund level exposure to foreign exchange (FX) and interest rate risks and quantify potential impacts on financial performance. Choose appropriate hedging instruments based on the fund’s hedging objective, risk tolerance, market conditions, and financial goals. Conduct quantitative analysis on hedging strategies and create presentations to the deal team on optimal hedging strategy.
• Execute derivative trades in accordance with defined hedging strategy, ensuring compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements.
• Continuously monitor global FX markets to identify trends and potential risks that affect a fund’s hedging strategy.
• Evaluate fund-level hedge ratios across all business strategies and collaborate closely with the fund accounting teams to manage risk.
• Collaborate efficiently with banks, brokers, internal and external counsel, and Ares operations team to onboard ISDAs and execute derivatives.
• Collaborate with internal teams: finance, treasury, investor relations, deal teams, and accounting teams to ensure alignment of the hedging program with overall return objectives.
• Assist with implementation of new FX execution platform by thoroughly testing and troubleshooting all transactions to streamline processes and improve accuracy.
• Keep up to date with regulatory changes affecting FX and interest rate hedging and ensure the firm’s practices remain compliant.
• Prepare comprehensive quarterly analyses of FX trade volumes to quantify trends, performance metrics, and areas for optimization.
• Identify and escalate any trade errors to senior team members promptly, ensuring that issues are addressed and resolved efficiently to maintain the integrity of the hedging program.
• Support the completion of ad-hoc requests and special projects, ensuring timely and accurate delivery of tasks as needed.
• Analyze extensive datasets to develop bank scorecards, identifying key performance indicators and trends to evaluate and optimize banking relationships.
• Displays comfort in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty in dynamic and fast paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to research and leverage available resources to accomplish the task at hand.
• Possesses good judgement and understanding when to solve issues independently vs. when to escalate to a senior team member.

Education/Experience Required:

• 2-4 years’ experience in hedging or corporate finance
• Ability to work both independently and as a productive member of transaction teams, possessing initiative and an entrepreneurial spirit 
• Advanced MS Excel and PowerPoint skills
• Experience with Power BI or other business intelligence tools a plus
• Superior oral and written communication skills 
• Excellent editorial and review skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Finance, Computer Science, Math, or related field.
• CFA preferred

General Requirements:

• Proficient in corporate finance concepts and bond math

• Dependable and highly motivated team player: demonstrates reliability, a positive attitude, and strong motivation to contribute effectively within a team environment.
• Adaptability in fast-paced environments: thrives in dynamic settings, capable of providing swift solutions to complex problems.
• Proactive and self-directed: exhibits a can-do attitude, proactive nature, and the ability to work independently with minimal supervision. quickly learns, adapts, and resolves issues efficiently.
• Role flexibility and continuous learning: open to taking on new projects and acquiring new skills, demonstrating flexibility in role responsibilities.
• Exceptional communication skills: possesses outstanding written and verbal communication, presentation, documentation, and interpersonal skills, with a strong customer focus.
• Effective time management: successfully manages multiple priorities and competing demands, showcasing strong time management and prioritization abilities.
• Attention to detail and decision-making: maintains high accuracy and detail orientation, with confident decision-making skills.
• Analytical and research skills: capable of extracting meaningful information from extensive research and analysis, presenting findings clearly and effectively.
• Judgment and problem-solving: exercises good judgment in escalating issues versus solving problems independently.
• Innovative and efficiency-oriented: possesses an analytical mind and a passion for introducing new ideas to enhance process efficiency.
• Comfort with ambiguity: comfortable dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty in a fast-paced environment.
• Flexible working hours: willing to adjust working hours to coordinate with team members across various time zones.
• Commitment to continuous improvement: eager to take on new projects and continuously learn new skills.

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$100,000 - $120,000

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.