Legal Business Associate Jobs in New York
Legal Business Associate jobs in New York are among the most active in the country, concentrated in corporate law, financial services compliance, and litigation support across a market that runs from entry-level paralegal-adjacent roles through senior legal operations positions. Most openings are in New York City, Buffalo, and Albany, with major employers including Cravath Swaine & Moore, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup maintaining consistent legal business headcount. The most in-demand specializations are corporate transactions, regulatory compliance, and contract management. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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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 an accomplished Senior Human Resources Business Partner to support its Legal, Risk and Compliance businesses. This role will serve as a senior HR advisor to Legal, Risk & Compliance leadership and will play a critical role in shaping and executing the talent and organizational strategies that support the continued growth and evolution of these businesses.
The Senior HRBP will partner closely with senior leaders to build, develop, and retain high-performing teams capable of delivering against the firm's ambitious growth objectives. The role requires a strategic, commercially minded HR leader who can operate effectively at the most senior levels of the organization, understand the dynamics of global Legal, Risk & Compliance functions, navigate complex organizational issues, and translate business priorities into effective talent strategies.
The successful candidate will bring deep expertise across talent management, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, workforce planning, succession planning, performance management, and employee relations. This individual will serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to senior leadership while helping the businesses scale effectively, develop leadership capability, strengthen talent pipelines, and evolve their organizational models to support continued growth. Other core responsibilities will include providing general HR guidance/counsel to managers and employees, managing employee relations and performance issues; facilitating new employee onboarding and exits; facilitating core processes related to headcount planning/organizational design, performance management, compensation, promotions; partnering with the Talent Acquisition team on searches from a recruitment strategy standpoint; playing a leading role in diversity and learning and development initiatives.
Ares is a fast-paced, high-growth, and rapidly evolving organization. Success in this role requires the ability to move seamlessly between strategic advisory and hands-on execution, exercise sound judgment in complex situations, and build strong relationships across businesses, functions, geographies, and levels of the organization.
Reporting relationships
Reports to: Managing Director, Head of Talent Management, Business Operations
Primary functions & responsibilities
- Act as a trusted strategic advisor to Legal, Risk & Compliance leaders/managers, developing a deep understanding of business strategy, growth objectives, organizational priorities, and talent needs to deliver commercially relevant HR strategies and solutions.
- Partner closely with business leadership to develop and execute talent and organizational strategies that enable growth and ensure the organization has the right talent, structure, and capabilities to deliver against evolving business priorities.
- Advise leadership on organizational design and effectiveness, including operating models, spans and layers, role clarity, team structures, leadership accountabilities, and organizational capabilities required to support continued scale and growth.
- Lead strategic workforce and headcount planning, partnering with leadership to anticipate future talent and capability requirements and align investment in talent with business priorities.
- Drive succession planning and talent reviews across functions, identifying critical roles and talent and developing thoughtful succession and development strategies.
- Proactively identify organizational, talent, and workforce trends across the businesses and translate these into actionable insights and recommendations to strengthen organizational effectiveness, talent outcomes, and the employee experience.
- Lead and influence key annual talent processes, including performance management, promotions, compensation planning, succession planning, talent reviews, and workforce planning, ensuring strong alignment between talent decisions, performance differentiation, and business priorities.
- Partner with senior leaders to assess, develop, and retain key talent, including proactively identifying retention risks, capability gaps, and development opportunities across critical populations.
- Advise leaders and managers on complex people and organizational matters, providing thoughtful, pragmatic, and commercially oriented guidance while balancing business objectives, employee considerations, risk, and Ares policies and practices.
- Support the continued evolution and scaling of the functions by identifying organizational and talent implications.
- Leverage workforce analytics, market intelligence, and qualitative insights to identify emerging talent and organizational themes and provide proactive, data-informed recommendations to business leadership.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen organizational effectiveness and HR practices across the functions, sharing best practices and helping drive scalable and consistent approaches across the global organizations.
- Build strong partnerships across the HR function and collaborate within the HR team to deliver integrated solutions aligned with business priorities, including:
- Talent Acquisition: Partner on strategic workforce planning, senior and critical hiring, candidate slate reviews, selection strategy, and offer structuring to ensure high-quality hiring outcomes and build the capabilities required to support future growth.
- Reward: Partner on compensation strategy, annual compensation processes, benchmarking, retention considerations, and complex compensation matters to support competitive, performance-oriented, and commercially appropriate outcomes.
- Talent Development: Drive succession planning, talent reviews, leadership development, performance management, and targeted development strategies for critical talent and future leaders.
- HR Operations: Partner to ensure effective execution of employee lifecycle processes while identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, data quality, and the employee and manager experience.
- DEI: Embed inclusive talent practices into hiring, development, promotion, succession, and broader people strategies in support of the firm's objectives and talent priorities.
Qualifications
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree required
- Advanced Degree preferred
Experience Required:
- 12-15+ years of progressive HR experience, including substantial experience operating as a senior HR Business Partner to executives and leadership teams within alternative asset management, asset management, financial services, investment banking, or another sophisticated, high-performance professional services environment.
- Demonstrated success serving as a strategic HR advisor to senior executives within complex, global, high-growth, and client-focused organizations.
- Experience supporting client-facing, distribution, wealth management, fundraising, product, or other commercial organizations strongly preferred.
- Deep experience translating business strategy and growth objectives into organizational and talent strategies.
- Experience building, coaching and developing high-performing teams with a strong player-coach mindset.
- Demonstrated expertise in organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, talent management, leadership development, change management, and organizational transformation.
- Significant experience advising senior leaders on complex performance, compensation, promotion, succession, development, and retention decisions.
- Strong analytical capabilities with demonstrated ability to use workforce data, market intelligence, and business insights to inform talent strategies and executive decision-making.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint; experience with Workday or comparable HRIS platforms preferred.
General Requirements:
The successful candidate will:
- Bring strong commercial acumen and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to quickly develop a deep understanding of Legal, Risk & Compliance business models, strategic priorities, growth drivers, and talent implications.
- Operate as a credible and trusted advisor to senior executives, combining strong business judgment with deep HR expertise.
- Demonstrate a strong bias for action, exceptional work ethic, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
- Exercise sound judgment and operate with a high degree of autonomy, discretion, and personal accountability.
- Exhibit the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and ethical decision-making.
- Navigate ambiguity and organizational complexity with confidence, resilience, adaptability, and pragmatism.
- Demonstrate exceptional relationship management and influencing skills, quickly establishing credibility and building effective partnerships across businesses, functions, geographies, and levels.
- Balance strategic thinking with a hands-on, execution-oriented approach and a willingness to engage directly in complex or high-priority matters.
- Demonstrate strong organizational discipline and the ability to manage multiple, competing priorities without sacrificing quality or attention to detail.
- Bring deep expertise in organizational design, workforce planning, talent management, and organizational transformation.
- Leverage strong analytical capabilities to interpret data, identify trends, challenge assumptions, and develop evidence-based HR strategies and recommendations.
- Communicate with clarity, credibility, and impact, both verbally and in writing, and tailor communication effectively across diverse stakeholder groups.
- Maintain composure, sound judgment, and professionalism in high-pressure, sensitive, or highly confidential situations.
- Demonstrate reliability, strong personal accountability, intellectual rigor, and a collaborative, team-oriented mindset.
- Handle confidential and sensitive business and employee information with the utmost discretion and care.
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.
$225,000-$275,000
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.
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 an accomplished Senior Human Resources Business Partner to support its Legal, Risk and Compliance businesses. This role will serve as a senior HR advisor to Legal, Risk & Compliance leadership and will play a critical role in shaping and executing the talent and organizational strategies that support the continued growth and evolution of these businesses.
The Senior HRBP will partner closely with senior leaders to build, develop, and retain high-performing teams capable of delivering against the firm's ambitious growth objectives. The role requires a strategic, commercially minded HR leader who can operate effectively at the most senior levels of the organization, understand the dynamics of global Legal, Risk & Compliance functions, navigate complex organizational issues, and translate business priorities into effective talent strategies.
The successful candidate will bring deep expertise across talent management, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, workforce planning, succession planning, performance management, and employee relations. This individual will serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to senior leadership while helping the businesses scale effectively, develop leadership capability, strengthen talent pipelines, and evolve their organizational models to support continued growth. Other core responsibilities will include providing general HR guidance/counsel to managers and employees, managing employee relations and performance issues; facilitating new employee onboarding and exits; facilitating core processes related to headcount planning/organizational design, performance management, compensation, promotions; partnering with the Talent Acquisition team on searches from a recruitment strategy standpoint; playing a leading role in diversity and learning and development initiatives.
Ares is a fast-paced, high-growth, and rapidly evolving organization. Success in this role requires the ability to move seamlessly between strategic advisory and hands-on execution, exercise sound judgment in complex situations, and build strong relationships across businesses, functions, geographies, and levels of the organization.
Reporting relationships
Reports to: Managing Director, Head of Talent Management, Business Operations
Primary functions & responsibilities
- Act as a trusted strategic advisor to Legal, Risk & Compliance leaders/managers, developing a deep understanding of business strategy, growth objectives, organizational priorities, and talent needs to deliver commercially relevant HR strategies and solutions.
- Partner closely with business leadership to develop and execute talent and organizational strategies that enable growth and ensure the organization has the right talent, structure, and capabilities to deliver against evolving business priorities.
- Advise leadership on organizational design and effectiveness, including operating models, spans and layers, role clarity, team structures, leadership accountabilities, and organizational capabilities required to support continued scale and growth.
- Lead strategic workforce and headcount planning, partnering with leadership to anticipate future talent and capability requirements and align investment in talent with business priorities.
- Drive succession planning and talent reviews across functions, identifying critical roles and talent and developing thoughtful succession and development strategies.
- Proactively identify organizational, talent, and workforce trends across the businesses and translate these into actionable insights and recommendations to strengthen organizational effectiveness, talent outcomes, and the employee experience.
- Lead and influence key annual talent processes, including performance management, promotions, compensation planning, succession planning, talent reviews, and workforce planning, ensuring strong alignment between talent decisions, performance differentiation, and business priorities.
- Partner with senior leaders to assess, develop, and retain key talent, including proactively identifying retention risks, capability gaps, and development opportunities across critical populations.
- Advise leaders and managers on complex people and organizational matters, providing thoughtful, pragmatic, and commercially oriented guidance while balancing business objectives, employee considerations, risk, and Ares policies and practices.
- Support the continued evolution and scaling of the functions by identifying organizational and talent implications.
- Leverage workforce analytics, market intelligence, and qualitative insights to identify emerging talent and organizational themes and provide proactive, data-informed recommendations to business leadership.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen organizational effectiveness and HR practices across the functions, sharing best practices and helping drive scalable and consistent approaches across the global organizations.
- Build strong partnerships across the HR function and collaborate within the HR team to deliver integrated solutions aligned with business priorities, including:
- Talent Acquisition: Partner on strategic workforce planning, senior and critical hiring, candidate slate reviews, selection strategy, and offer structuring to ensure high-quality hiring outcomes and build the capabilities required to support future growth.
- Reward: Partner on compensation strategy, annual compensation processes, benchmarking, retention considerations, and complex compensation matters to support competitive, performance-oriented, and commercially appropriate outcomes.
- Talent Development: Drive succession planning, talent reviews, leadership development, performance management, and targeted development strategies for critical talent and future leaders.
- HR Operations: Partner to ensure effective execution of employee lifecycle processes while identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, data quality, and the employee and manager experience.
- DEI: Embed inclusive talent practices into hiring, development, promotion, succession, and broader people strategies in support of the firm's objectives and talent priorities.
Qualifications
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree required
- Advanced Degree preferred
Experience Required:
- 12-15+ years of progressive HR experience, including substantial experience operating as a senior HR Business Partner to executives and leadership teams within alternative asset management, asset management, financial services, investment banking, or another sophisticated, high-performance professional services environment.
- Demonstrated success serving as a strategic HR advisor to senior executives within complex, global, high-growth, and client-focused organizations.
- Experience supporting client-facing, distribution, wealth management, fundraising, product, or other commercial organizations strongly preferred.
- Deep experience translating business strategy and growth objectives into organizational and talent strategies.
- Experience building, coaching and developing high-performing teams with a strong player-coach mindset.
- Demonstrated expertise in organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, talent management, leadership development, change management, and organizational transformation.
- Significant experience advising senior leaders on complex performance, compensation, promotion, succession, development, and retention decisions.
- Strong analytical capabilities with demonstrated ability to use workforce data, market intelligence, and business insights to inform talent strategies and executive decision-making.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint; experience with Workday or comparable HRIS platforms preferred.
General Requirements:
The successful candidate will:
- Bring strong commercial acumen and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to quickly develop a deep understanding of Legal, Risk & Compliance business models, strategic priorities, growth drivers, and talent implications.
- Operate as a credible and trusted advisor to senior executives, combining strong business judgment with deep HR expertise.
- Demonstrate a strong bias for action, exceptional work ethic, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
- Exercise sound judgment and operate with a high degree of autonomy, discretion, and personal accountability.
- Exhibit the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and ethical decision-making.
- Navigate ambiguity and organizational complexity with confidence, resilience, adaptability, and pragmatism.
- Demonstrate exceptional relationship management and influencing skills, quickly establishing credibility and building effective partnerships across businesses, functions, geographies, and levels.
- Balance strategic thinking with a hands-on, execution-oriented approach and a willingness to engage directly in complex or high-priority matters.
- Demonstrate strong organizational discipline and the ability to manage multiple, competing priorities without sacrificing quality or attention to detail.
- Bring deep expertise in organizational design, workforce planning, talent management, and organizational transformation.
- Leverage strong analytical capabilities to interpret data, identify trends, challenge assumptions, and develop evidence-based HR strategies and recommendations.
- Communicate with clarity, credibility, and impact, both verbally and in writing, and tailor communication effectively across diverse stakeholder groups.
- Maintain composure, sound judgment, and professionalism in high-pressure, sensitive, or highly confidential situations.
- Demonstrate reliability, strong personal accountability, intellectual rigor, and a collaborative, team-oriented mindset.
- Handle confidential and sensitive business and employee information with the utmost discretion and care.
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.
$225,000-$275,000
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.
See All 11 Legal Business Associate Jobs in New York
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Find Legal Business Associate JobsLegal Business Associate Jobs by City in New York
Where New York roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Legal Business Associate Job Market in New York
A snapshot from current New York openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Law & Legal Services
What New York Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in legal business associate jobs across New York.
- Bachelor's degree in business, legal studies, or a closely related field required
- Familiarity with New York court filing systems and legal document management platforms
- Experience supporting attorneys in corporate transactions, litigation, or compliance matters
- Proficiency in contract lifecycle management software and legal research tools
- Strong written communication skills for drafting correspondence and summarizing legal documents
- Ability to manage multiple matters simultaneously within fast-paced New York law firm environments
Legal Business Associate Jobs in New York: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a legal business associate in New York?
Most legal business associate roles in New York require a bachelor's degree in business administration, legal studies, or a related field, and no state license is mandated for the role itself. Employers in New York City's large law firms and financial institutions typically prefer candidates who have completed coursework in business law or corporate governance. A paralegal certificate from an American Bar Association-approved program, while not required, strengthens applications considerably in New York's competitive market.
How much do legal business associates make in New York?
Legal business associates in New York earn a median of about $68,410 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $48,330 for the lowest 10% to over $115,720 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire legal business associates in New York?
Employers hiring legal business associates in New York right now include HARVEY, Netflix, and Amazon, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. New York's dense concentration of Am Law 100 firms and global financial institutions means openings appear consistently across both traditional law firm settings and in-house corporate legal departments.
Which New York cities have the most legal business associate jobs?
New York, Buffalo, and Old Westbury have the most legal business associate openings in New York. New York City dominates because it is home to the largest concentration of corporate law firms, investment banks, and Fortune 500 legal departments in the country, while Buffalo and Albany draw openings from regional financial institutions, state government legal offices, and mid-size firms serving upstate corporate clients.
Are there remote legal business associate jobs in New York?
Yes, and more than many legal roles allow. About 80% of legal business associate openings tied to New York are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting the desk-based, document-heavy nature of the work. Contract review, compliance coordination, and legal operations management are the sub-functions most commonly offered in remote or hybrid arrangements by New York employers.
How can I get hired as a legal business associate in New York with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is a legal operations coordinator or legal administrative assistant role at a large New York law firm or financial institution, which builds the document management and attorney-support experience employers look for. Firms such as Sullivan & Cromwell and Skadden run structured associate programs that accept candidates without direct legal experience. Completing an ABA-approved paralegal certificate from a New York institution like Fordham or NYU gives candidates a measurable credential edge in the applicant pool.
Where can I find and apply to legal business associate jobs in New York?
You can find and apply to legal business associate jobs in New York on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings tied to the New York market. Find roles that match your experience and apply directly to the ones that fit.
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