Ares Management private equity salary and jobs
Ranked on Ares Private Equity, which had one associate role posted, a lateral seat in Los Angeles. The posted junior pay is in the credit arm: $130,000–$175,000 for US Direct Lending associates.
Junior investing roles at Ares Management
Ares has businesses in private equity, credit, real assets and secondaries, and it is ranked here on the first. Its own posting describes that business: “Ares Private Equity flagship corporate opportunities strategy pursues investments in growth-oriented middle market companies in North America and Europe.” The one private equity investing role on its board on November 11, 2026 was Associate, Private Equity in Los Angeles, a lateral seat that “requires 2+ years of prior private equity experience”. The junior investing roles, and the posted pay, were in the credit arm: Associate, Credit, US Direct Lending (New York and Los Angeles), Alternative Credit and Infrastructure Debt. We could not source a figure for the size of Ares Private Equity or of the firm, so none is stated here.
Ares’s board listed 234 postings on November 11, 2026, the largest in the set; about 130 titles matched junior keywords across every function, most of them outside investing.
Ares Management private equity salary
Private equity: no junior base is posted. The one private equity role on Ares’s board on November 11, 2026, Associate, Private Equity in Los Angeles, asks for 3–5 years in total and 1–3 years in private equity, so it is a lateral seat and its pay is not shown here as junior pay. Credit arm: “$130,000.00 - $175,000.00” under the line “The anticipated base salary range for this position is listed below.” on Associate, Credit, US Direct Lending in New York, read from Ares’s own board on November 11, 2026 (posted October 8, 2026). The Los Angeles posting states the same range. Associate, Alternative Credit (3+ years) also states $130,000–$175,000, and Associate, Infrastructure Debt (2–3 years) states $155,000–$165,000. The postings say total compensation “may also include a discretionary performance-based bonus” and give no figure.
What Ares Management posts, by track and level
One row per track. A figure appears only where a live posting states it for a junior investing role, with the role and the experience asked for.
| Track | Titles on its postings or site | Undergraduate analyst | Pre-MBA associate | MBA intern | Role posted now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buyout | Associate | Not posted | No entry-level role posted | Not posted | Yes |
| Private credit | Analyst/Associate · Associate | Not posted | $130k–$175k (Associate, US Direct Lending, 1.5+ years); $130k–$175k (Associate, Alternative Credit, 3+ years); $155k–$165k (Associate, Infrastructure Debt, 2–3 years) | Not posted | Yes |
Base salary only, as quoted on the firm’s own postings on November 11, 2026. “Not posted” means no live posting states a figure for that level, not that the firm does not hire there. No firm posts bonus or carried interest.
See how Ares Management compares in the full private equity salary guide →
Why Ares Management ranks #22
Twenty-second place follows a review of this ranking by someone with industry knowledge. It is a judgement, not a measurement. Ares is ranked on its private equity business, not on its credit arm. Its own posting says Ares Private Equity invests in “growth-oriented middle market companies in North America and Europe”. We could not read a figure for the size of that business or of the firm, because Ares’s own site returned errors.
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