Associate Vice President, Legal Knowledge & Workflow Management

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 former transactional attorney to join its Legal Strategy + Innovation (LSI) team as an Associate Vice President, Legal Knowledge & Workflow Management. This role is responsible for building and operationalizing Ares Legal's knowledge ecosystem across multiple geographies and lines of business—transforming institutional expertise, precedent and best practices into structured, reusable assets that drive consistent legal outcomes across the firm. You will function as both architect and operator: defining knowledge standards, governance and taxonomy while actively capturing, curating and deploying legal content across matters and teams. Workflow design serves as the delivery layer for this knowledge, ensuring that internal legal teams and service providers engage with the right guidance and decision support. The objective is to create a connected, measurable operating model where legal judgment is codified, shared and continuously improved through data and playbooks. This role leads the Knowledge & Workflow Management team within LSI and is responsible for translating broader LSI strategy into scalable knowledge assets, workflow standards and embedded legal guidance. The role partners closely with the VP, Legal Strategy + Innovation and the AVP, Legal Vendor Strategy & Management team to ensure that knowledge and workflow standards support Ares Legal's broader operating model, integrated service delivery approach and legal data strategy.

REPORTING

Reports to: Head of Legal Strategy + Innovation

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Knowledge & Workflow Architecture Design, document and optimize standardized end-to-end legal workflows that surface authoritative guidance, precedent and decision support at key points in the matter lifecycle. Define intake gates and data requirements that ensure complete, reliable information is captured at the right point in the process to enable systematic knowledge capture, reuse and analytics. Establish approval, escalation and routing logic that drives consistency, accountability and visibility across geographies and lines of business. Own knowledge taxonomy, metadata standards and content architecture across the Knowledge & Workflow Management pillar. Define requirements for how playbooks, templates, clause libraries and decision frameworks are embedded into workflow and CLM-enabled experiences. Knowledge-Enabled Service Delivery Define knowledge and workflow standards that enable internal legal teams and approved service providers to work from the same authoritative guidance, templates and process requirements. Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to embed knowledge assets and data capture requirements into CLM and related workflow systems. Support the Legal Vendor Strategy & Management team in embedding playbook adherence, knowledge reuse expectations and approved data and content requirements into service provider governance. Playbook, Content & Governance Translate legal and business experience into structured playbooks, templates and matter frameworks. Integrate playbook content into CLM and workflow tools to drive compliance and streamline execution. Maintain a single source of truth for process standards and legal guidance and continuously refine content based on user feedback, usage patterns and performance data. Own content governance, including drafting standards, approval workflows, refresh cycles and retirement protocols for outdated guidance. Lead the development and maintenance of clause libraries, precedent collections and reusable matter support materials for prioritized workflows. Knowledge Operations & Continuous Improvement Lead pilots and rollouts for new workflows and playbooks, measuring adoption and effectiveness. Define and monitor KPIs such as cycle times, intake completeness and process compliance. Drive a continuous improvement loop using metrics, feedback and automation opportunities. Lead UAT, training content and adoption support for knowledge-enabled workflows and tools within the pillar. Track metadata quality, content usage, workflow adoption and exception patterns to improve the effectiveness of embedded legal guidance. Cross-Functional Collaboration Collaborate with cross-functional teams to standardize workflows and align legal knowledge structures and standards with technology implementation and reporting. Serve as a liaison between practicing attorneys, operations and technology teams to capture expertise and operationalize it at scale.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education JD required. Member in good standing of a U.S. state bar. Required Skills & Experience 7+ years total experience, including at least 5+ years as a practicing transactional attorney (corporate, finance, M&A, private equity or fund formations). Proven ability to design, document and improve legal workflows and processes. Strong understanding of legal service delivery, knowledge management and matter governance. Experience collaborating across legal, business and technology teams to operationalize legal knowledge, standards and decision frameworks. Excellent communication, documentation and project management skills with the ability to translate legal judgment into clear, reusable guidance. Demonstrated experience building or maintaining playbooks, clause libraries, precedent systems or other structured legal knowledge assets. Experience embedding legal guidance into CLM, workflow automation or related systems preferred. Preferred Qualifications Experience as an in-house counsel or law firm knowledge and innovation leader with demonstrated responsibility for precedent, guidance, playbook development or workflow-enabled legal knowledge. Experience in legal operations, consulting or business process design with a focus on knowledge enablement or operating model design. Familiarity with CLM, workflow automation and matter management systems. Comfort using data and KPIs to track knowledge adoption and process performance and drive decisions.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

Priority legal processes are executed through standardized workflows and playbooks that reflect authoritative legal guidance and reduce outcome variability. Internal teams and approved service providers operate from authoritative playbooks, workflow standards and embedded guidance defined by the Knowledge & Workflow Management pillar. Reliable data is captured through intake gates and knowledge metadata and is available for performance analysis and continuous improvement. Measurable gains in efficiency, consistency and quality of matter execution are driven by reuse of precedent, stronger playbook adoption and reduced process variance. Continuous improvement is embedded into the Knowledge & Workflow Management pillar through feedback loops that identify knowledge gaps, outdated content and workflow friction points. Reporting Relationships Compensation The anticipated base salary 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. $240,000 - $270,000 / annum 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. 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.