Vp, Ares Foundation Program 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.

Ares Management Corporation (“Ares” or the “firm”) is looking for a professional to join our Philanthropy team in either the U.S. or Europe as a Program Officer in support of the Ares Charitable Foundation (“Ares Foundation”). The Philanthropy team is part of the broader global Human Resources team and actively supports our local communities where we do business through a portfolio of three programs:

• Ares Foundation, which awards grants to nonprofit organizations globally, with the mission to accelerate equality of economic opportunity through funding priorities in Career Preparation & Reskilling, Entrepreneurship and Personal
• Finance Ares in Motion (“AIM”), the firm’s signature platform for employee engagement, volunteerism ad matching gifts
• Corporate Contributions, which includes sponsorships and support of charitable causes outside the scope of the Ares Foundation’s funding priorities

The Program Officer will oversee the Ares Foundation’s recently launched employee-directed grantmaking in the U.S. and Europe. This individual will collaborate with regional committees in these geographies to expertly identify, vet and recommend initiatives for funding. Furthermore, this individual will effectively manage grantee relationships and support grantees ongoing through a highly relational approach.

Reporting to the Ares Foundation Executive Director, the successful candidate should possess the abilities to identify ecosystems for strategic grantmaking. The candidate should also support efforts to capture, analyze and report rigorous evidence of grantmaking effectiveness as well as understand the geographic, cultural and philanthropic landscape to advise appropriate levers of change. In addition, they must be able to ascertain opportunities, successes, and challenges to both inform the Ares Foundation’s practice and strengthen that of grantees.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience in either Philanthropy (ideally as a foundation Program Officer) or a relevant field, strong project management skills, excellent communication and influencing skills, and the highest degree of integrity and judgment. They will be detail-oriented, accuracy-focused, flexible, and collaborative in approach, and possess a process-improvement mindset.

The Ares Foundation has awarded $3.4 million in grants globally since 2022, including for initiatives that help ready marginalized groups for green careers, prepare low-income women to transition out of poverty, examine barriers to young people’s successful workforce entry, promote disability workforce inclusion and encourage intergenerational entrepreneurship.

Reporting relationships

Reports to: Head of Philanthropy and Executive Director, Ares Charitable Foundation

Supervises: n/a

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

• Develop substantive, evidence-based written grant recommendations and cogently present recommendations to the GRDC in specified region(s), Grant Approval Committee (“GAC”) and Board of Directors (“BoD”)
• Serve as staff liaison to the Grant Review & Diligence Committees (“GRDCs”) in specified region(s), working closely with members to perform necessary due diligence of nonprofits, monitor grant outputs and outcomes, and report progress against stated goals and deliverables
• Assist with data capture, analysis and reporting for grants awarded in specified region(s) to support the Ares Foundation’s learning, assessment, thought leadership and storytelling activities
• Collaborate with Ares colleagues across myriad business lines as relevant on issues of common concern for positive societal impact
• Help the Ares Foundation establish ecosystems for grantmaking in its funding priorities, including to share substantive knowledge with – and serve as a connector of – key stakeholders
• Expertly identify, vet and recommend organizations for grant funding to support initiatives that accord with the Ares Foundation’s mission to accelerate equality of economic opportunity and at least one of its three funding priorities (Career Preparation & Reskilling, Entrepreneurship and Personal Finance)
• Provide relationship management to grantees throughout the funding period, including ongoing collaboration, technical advisement and assistance, volunteer matching of Ares professionals, and opportunities to build and exchange knowledge with Ares Foundation grantees
• Partner with GRDCs, GAC and BoD as necessary to ascertain opportunities, successes, and challenges

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree required

Experience Required: At least 7-10 years’ relevant experience

General Requirements

Abilities to:

• Scope and manage strategic and project-level plans that help identify active steps to move projects forward in partnership with others
• Support evaluation, assessment and learning activities through data collection and analysis that inform and strengthen practice ongoing
• Ideate, scope, plan, operationalize and continuously improve processes and protocols to drive alignment within Ares Foundation initiatives, specifically, and across the Philanthropy portfolio, generally, to help execute and achieve the team’s strategic goals
• Work independently and within a small team with confidence and a high level of emotional intelligence
• Think critically and anticipate issues before they arise, including to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks as well as problem-solve challenges
• Support operational activities, including the development of budgets, performance/progress reports and presentations
• Build, manage and sustain relationships with internal and external stakeholders with cultural sensitivity, empathy, and respect
• Communicate complex concepts in an engaging, cogent manner that appeals to myriad stakeholders
• Give and receive clear and constructive feedback with diplomacy, professionalism, and humility

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

The anticipated 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.

$160,000.00 - $200,000.00

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.