Lead engineering delivery and operational ownership for the Legal and technology portfolio, ensuring solutions are scalable, resilient, secure, and audit-ready.
Serve as the technical lead for platform strategy, implementation, and support across Legal systems, including matter management/e-billing, legal entity management, CLM, and third-party intake/TPRM tooling.
Partner with Legal, and key stakeholder groups to translate business needs into clear technical requirements, solution designs, delivery plans, and measurable outcomes.
Own end-to-end delivery: discovery, architecture/design, build/configuration, testing/UAT, release, and production support-aligned with SDLC, change management, and operational readiness.
Establish and maintain integration patterns and data flows across core platforms (APIs, batch, middleware), supporting reporting, auditability, and downstream finance/procurement or records-management dependencies.
Drive strong engineering discipline: configuration standards, code quality, peer review, automated testing where applicable, environment management, and release governance.
Ensure embedded controls across workflows: approvals, access management, segregation of duties, evidence capture, and traceability aligned to audit and regulatory expectations.
Lead a small team of technical resources, providing coaching, prioritization, and delivery oversight; foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
Manage vendors/partners as needed: solution selection support, implementation oversight, SLA/service performance, roadmap alignment, and cost management.
Provide transparent, executive-ready reporting on platform health, delivery status, risks/issues, dependencies, and remediation plans
Requirements
10+ years of progressive technology experience, including significant hands-on delivery experience supporting Legal systems and governance platforms in a complex environment.
Experience in complex, regulated financial services; alternative asset management experience strongly preferred.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to influence and collaborate across senior business and technology stakeholders.
Demonstrated people leadership experience (direct management and/or leading teams through delivery and operations).
Experience Required
Strong engineering fundamentals and hands-on delivery experience, including: SQL (required), data analysis/troubleshooting, and comfort navigating complex process and data flows
Experience with at least one general-purpose language (e.g., Python, Java, C#, JavaScript) and common integration approaches (REST APIs, services, batch)
Working knowledge of SDLC, testing strategies, release/change management, and production support
Experience implementing and supporting Legal and related risk platforms, including one or more of: Matter management / e-billing ecosystem
Benefits
Health insurance
Additional Information
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 is seeking a Legal Engineering Lead (Vice President) to join Corporate Technology, reporting to the Head of Legal and Compliance Technology . This role will lead engineering delivery, platform health, and ongoing evolution of technology solutions supporting Ares' Legal and related risk and third-party governance workflows-driving scalable, secure, and audit-ready capabilities that improve operational efficiency and control effectiveness.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineering leader with deep familiarity across Legal/GC processes and related risk workflows, ideally from a large alternative asset manager or similarly complex regulated firm (large law firm experience supporting sophisticated legal operations is also valued). This leader will bring strong technical fundamentals (e.g., SQL and at least one coding language), experience with integrations and data platforms, and the ability to partner closely with business stakeholders and vendors to deliver measurable outcomes.
This role requires experience implementing and operating modern legal and risk platforms, including matter management and e-billing (e.g., Simple Legal / Passport / Apperio or similar), Legal Entity Management (e.g., GEMS), Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions (e.g., Icertis, Ironclad), and third-party risk management (TPRM) and intake tooling (e.g., Zip and comparable platforms).
Ares Management · New York, NY