Associate, COO - Industry Research

Athene; New York (NY); On-site; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Athene is looking for a Business Strategy Associate to join the Corporate Credit COO team in New York. This role supports the COO with responsibilities spanning investment grade credit research, portfolio management, and direct lending.

The candidate should have 2-5 years of experience in business strategy, preferably within asset management or private credit. Strong operational and analytical skills are required, alongside a curiosity for credit markets. The position offers a salary range of $175,000 to $200,000 plus an annual bonus.

Qualifications

• 2-5 years of experience in business strategy or technology-forward role.
• Strong understanding of process scaling through technology.
• Intellectual curiosity about public and private credit markets.

Responsibilities

• Develop a deep understanding of Apollo's credit business operations.
• Drive operational projects and improve business effectiveness.
• Manage cross-functional team coordination for business needs.

Skills

Operational capability

Analytical skills

Presentation skills

Project management

AI technology integration

Job description

Position Overview

We are seeking a strong business strategy candidate to join the Corporate Credit COO team in New York. This role directly supports the COO of Research and Investment Grade, with responsibility spanning IG and Performing Credit research, the IG credit business across public and private portfolio management, and Direct Lending. The business strategy associate will work cross‑functionally with senior portfolio managers, research analysts, and business leadership across Apollo's credit investment platform to drive operational excellence, shape how the business measures and reviews its performance, and ensure the platform's processes, research infrastructure, and technology evolve as the platform scales.

We are looking for someone who brings deep experience scaling investment processes and workflows through technology and partnership with portfolio managers and research analysts – particularly in private credit, direct lending, or other asset classes where the operational challenges are rooted in unstructured data, document‑heavy workflows, and the absence of standardized market infrastructure. The candidate should have strong operational and analytical capability with genuine curiosity about credit markets and the judgment to know which problems matter most. The candidate must be able to work independently across a complex, multi‑strategy platform, move fluidly between solving a specific problem and thinking about the system that created it, and earn credibility with senior investment professionals through the quality and precision of their work.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develop a deep understanding of how Apollo's credit business operates, identify process, structure, tooling, or resourcing gaps that create friction or risk, and drive improvements that make the business more effective.
• Own and drive cross‑platform operational projects end‑to‑end, translating recurring pain points into durable solutions with clear ownership, governance, and adoption.
• Coordinate across research, portfolio management, data engineering, product, and technology teams to ensure business needs are understood and prioritized correctly, particularly efforts to systematize processes such as credit agreement parsing, covenant tracking, borrower financial monitoring, and pipeline data infrastructure.
• Help design infrastructure and reporting layer across asset classes that gives portfolio managers and leadership real‑time visibility into research views, deal status, portfolio risks, and performance.
• Partner with the broader Corporate Credit COO organization on technology workstreams that cross multiple domains.
• Actively participate in research platform and technology transformation initiatives, partnering with product and engineering teams to deliver next‑generation platform capabilities that support the business.
• Help drive AI adoption and integration across the IG PM and Research businesses, identifying high‑impact use cases, supporting implementation alongside the quant and technology teams, and tracking adoption across the platform.
• Drive the business review process, ensuring leadership has a clear, accurate, and current picture of progress against objectives.
• Own the preparation of materials for business reviews, risk reviews, and senior leadership updates, gathering inputs across teams and framing the narrative.
• Own recurring analytical deliverables including research coverage tracking, performance metrics, and platform reporting.

Qualifications & Experience

• 2‑5 years of experience in business strategy, operations, or a technology‑forward role within asset management, private credit, or a related investment business; direct experience with direct lending or private credit strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of working alongside portfolio managers and research analysts to scale investment processes through technology.
• Product‑oriented mindset: able to think critically about how tools (especially AI), research workflows, and technology should work for the business, and translate business and research needs into clear requirements for product and engineering teams.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of problems end‑to‑end, from diagnosis through implementation and adoption, with minimal oversight.
• Strong prioritization instincts and the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams across teams and stakeholders with minimal oversight.
• Strong presentation and verbal communication: concise, structured, and effective with senior investment professionals.
• Intellectual curiosity about public and private credit markets and the technical and operational depth to understand how portfolio management and research processes operate and scale.

Pay Range

$175,000 - $200,000. This position is also eligible for a discretionary annual bonus based on personal, team, and firm performance. Compensation ranges are based on several factors including job function, level, and geographic location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed here.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Apollo Global Management, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries and affiliates) is committed to championing opportunity. The firm and its affiliates comply with applicable discrimination and equal opportunities legislation in all of its jurisdictions and do not discriminate in employment or recruitment based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, veteran status, disability, age, citizenship, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.