Associate, Legal Vendor Strategy & Management

Ares is seeking a data-driven Associate, Legal Vendor Strategy & Management to support Ares Legal’s implementation of best-in-class legal vendor and spend management practices. The role is focused on standardizing how Ares evaluates, engages and manages legal service providers to drive cost and performance value across the firm.
The Associate will function as both a data translator and a commercial business partner—turning legal spend, matter and performance data into insights that inform sourcing decisions, pricing strategies and ongoing vendor management. Working at the intersection of legal, finance and technology, this role enables leadership visibility, cost discipline and accountability by embedding analytics into day-to-day vendor governance and decision-making processes.

Reports to: Associate Vice President, Legal Vendor Strategy & Management

Spend Analytics, Budgeting & Forecasting:

• Develop, maintain and continuously enhance spend reporting, analytics and performance dashboards that support vendor management, budgeting and executive decision-making.

• Support annual budgeting, rolling forecasting and variance analysis in partnership with Legal leadership and Finance and Accounting at the matter, vendor and portfolio levels.

• Identify cost drivers and inefficiencies, including pricing gaps, scope creep and demand drivers; recommend corrective actions aligned with sourcing and pricing strategies.

• Analyze and maintain vendor scorecards integrating spend, rate discipline, matter mix, AFA usage and performance metrics to enable vendor differentiation and governance.

• Produce monthly and quarterly reporting packages highlighting trends, savings opportunities, demand drivers and resource optimization insights for leadership review with clear implications for action.

Data Governance & Process Management:

• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to enforce data capture standards for vendor, matter, budget and invoice intake at the point of request and billing.

• Ensure the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of legal spend and vendor data used for forecasting, sourcing and performance reviews.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align data inputs and workflows with leadership reporting and decision-making needs.

• Support reconciliation, testing and system integration activities to enhance data flow and reliability while improve scalability of reporting.

• Implement and administer RFP and vendor sourcing tools, including configuration, data standards and integration with other matter and spend systems.

• Maintain centralized, up-to-date firm profiles capturing capabilities, pricing models, performance history and areas of expertise to support sourcing and allocation decisions.

Vendor Strategy & Performance Support:

• Analyze vendor utilization, sourcing mix, AFA adoption and rate structures to inform strategy and portfolio optimization.

• Support RFPs and competitive sourcing initiatives through data analysis, pricing comparisons and proposal evaluation including scoring and recommendations.

• Track vendor performance against KPIs, including pricing commitments, AFAs and compliance with Outside Counsel Guidelines (OCGs).

• Use performance data to identify improvement opportunities and support vendor review discussions with fact-based materials and insights.

• Plan, organize and support Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with key vendors, including agenda development, performance materials and follow-up actions.

• Develop and maintain vendor knowledge maps that document firm capabilities, subject-matter strengths, historical matter experience and strategic fit across practice areas.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Accounting or Data Analytics or equivalent quantitative discipline required.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 3+ years of experience in financial analysis, legal operations or pricing, management consulting or business intelligence, with exposure to spend management, vendor analytics or cost governance, ideally within a corporate or professional services environment.

• Experience analyzing complex data sets related to spend, pricing or performance and providing actionable insights and reporting.

• Familiarity with legal technology systems, legal e-billing tools, matter management platforms or law firm practice management systems.

• Advanced with PowerPoint, Excel and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker); experience building automated dashboards, repeatable reporting and effective presentation decks; experience with DAX, Python or SQL a plus.

• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to translate data into clear recommendations that support sourcing, budgeting and vendor management decisions.

• Excellent attention to detail and commitment to data integrity across financial, vendor and matter data.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to effectively interact with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

• Collaborative, adaptable mindset suited to a transformative, data-driven environment with evolving processes and systems.

• Leadership relies on spend dashboards and vendor scorecards as the primary input for budgeting, sourcing decisions and vendor performance reviews.

• Legal spend is predictable, with materially improved forecast accuracy and reduced budget variance across matters and vendors.

• Vendors are actively managed through structured governance (RFPs, rate review, AFAs and QBRs), with documented actions and follow-through.

• Measurable savings and value realization are achieved through disciplined rate management, scope control and strategic sourcing—not one-off reductions.

• Ares maintains current firm profiles and vendor knowledge maps that clearly differentiate providers by capability, cost, performance and strategic fit.

• Vendor accountability is transparent, data-driven and consistently applied across matters, teams and geographies.