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Family Office Search & Recruitment

Your Legacy, Our Expertise

Oplu helps UHNW principals and decision-makers hire for lasting success in private and family offices. Our searches are discreet, senior-led, and built to protect confidentiality whilst delivering a decision-ready shortlist. Hiring in private offices is hard for predictable reasons. Time is limited, internal resources are stretched, and the process carries confidentiality and reputational risk.

Most offices do not have the capacity to run a comprehensive search alongside day-to-day priorities. Even when there is an HR function, private hires still require specialist judgement, controlled disclosure, and access to passive candidates internationally.

Family office recruitment agency

We are a specialist family office recruitment agency built for precision and discretion, with deep experience across the wider private client services landscape. Most recruitment is built for volume. We run searches where the brief is defined by authority and access, not title. We recruit on proven track record, not potential. When a family needs someone who has managed a comparable office or held a comparable mandate, that is who we find. When a mandate is senior or sensitive, we run family office executive search rather than open-market advertising.

When to engage a specialist family office recruiter

Time and resource constraints

Running the search internally would consume disproportionate time alongside day-to-day priorities. You lack internal HR capacity or the bandwidth to manage a lengthy, confidential process without disruption.

Confidentiality and disclosure control

A broad search would widen exposure or create noise. You need controlled outreach to passive candidates. The brief is sensitive or the role carries access to critical information.

CVs converge and volume replaces judgement

Standard recruitment methods break because candidate pools look similar on paper. You need expert assessment of operating style, boundaries, and behaviour under pressure. Oplu sources talent through headhunting and controlled networks, not open channels.

Multi-agency activity and loss of control

Engaging multiple recruiters creates duplicated outreach and leakage. You need a single, accountable search partner with discretion discipline built into the process.

Clients sometimes expect a recruitment fee to deliver the cheapest hire. The fee exists to find the best candidate in the shortest time. If the priority is minimum cost, the search will not deliver what either side needs.

In high-trust environments, fit is assumed rather than tested against operating style and boundaries. Confidentiality is treated as a formality rather than an operational discipline.

What to prepare before briefing

Briefing checklist: scope, hours, boundaries and decision rights

Before you approach the market, lock these elements:

  • Success profile and non-negotiables for the role

  • Authority, access, and boundaries (what the person can decide, approve, escalate)

  • Travel, language, location, and rota requirements

  • Who is involved in the decision, and how you will make the hire

  • Coverage model (live-in or live-out, time zones, weekend expectations, backup cover)

  • Reporting line and key stakeholder relationships

  • What discretion looks like in practice for this role and team

Stakeholder alignment

Agreement across decision-makers on mandate, authority, and working pattern prevents churn. We ensure the principal, office leadership, and any advisers or trustees involved are aligned before search begins. Scope drift costs you time and impacts retention.

Confidentiality and privacy considerations

Define what information can be shared, with whom, and at what stage. Agree the disclosure sequence (initial approach, shortlist introduction, referencing). Clarify any constraints on reference contact or background checks. Decide how candidates learn about the family or office during the process.

How Oplu runs a search

We begin by scoping the brief properly. We confirm the success profile and non-negotiables. We align on authority, access, and boundaries. We clarify travel, language, location, and rota requirements. We decide who is involved and how decisions will be made. We map key stakeholders and potential friction points.

We then design the search around disclosure and access. We agree what can be shared, with whom, and at what stage. This keeps pace without widening exposure. Telling someone to be discreet is not the same as building a process where leaks cannot happen by accident.

We combine headhunting with targeted visibility. We run family office headhunting in the true sense: targeted outreach to passive candidates calibrated to your requirements and operating style. Where helpful, we add controlled visibility without broadcasting the mandate. We shortlist deliberately so you see consistent information without uncontrolled circulation.

Oplu uses structured shortlisting and optional video screening. Where appropriate, we can include one-way video interviews as an optional first stage to reduce diary load and improve early signal. We handle referencing discreetly and in the right sequence. We support offer clarity and onboarding alignment, then correct scope drift early before it becomes churn.

Briefing checklist summary

Before engagement with candidates:

  • Role mandate: title, authority, decision rights

  • Coverage: locations, hours, travel, time zones

  • Reporting line and stakeholder map

  • Confidentiality protocol and disclosure sequence

  • Key interfaces (principal, advisers, household, vendors)

  • What "good" looks like in practice

  • Any constraints or sensitivities

Aligned stakeholders:

  • Principal or primary decision-maker

  • Office leadership or COO

  • Any trustees, advisers, or family members with decision input

  • Timeline and availability for interviews

Privacy boundaries:

  • What can be shared in initial approach

  • When and how candidate speaks to principal or adviser

  • Reference protocol and timing

  • Feedback and close-down communication

Next steps

Further reading

Executive assistant, representing high-trust administrative support for family offices.

Executive & Administrative Support Recruitment for Family Offices

Oplu recruits executive and administrative support for Private and Family Offices. These are high-trust hires where judgement, boundaries, and calm delivery under pressure matter more than job titles. A single misrouted email, a loose conversation, or unclear diary authority creates exposure. We run discreet, controlled searches. Often these are replacement hires, so confidentiality and staged disclosure are built into the process, not treated as a courtesy. In private offices, CVs converge quickly. What decides outcomes is operating style and how the person behaves when three things collide at once.

Executive & administrative support recruitment agency

Oplu places Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants, Family Office Assistants, and Chiefs of Staff who safeguard time, information flow, and decision cadence in high-trust private settings. We scope by decision flow and privacy exposure, not job titles.
Roles in this category

EA vs PA vs Chief of Staff vs Family Office Assistant: which hire is right?

This is not a seniority ladder. It is a choice between four centres of gravity.

Executive Assistant (EA)

Hire an EA when the priority is executive workflow, diary control, senior stakeholders, and controlled communication. The EA protects the principal's time and information flow.
See: Executive Assistant recruitment

Personal Assistant (PA)

Hire a PA when the priority is lifestyle logistics, travel, personal administration, and household coordination. The PA protects continuity across the principal's private life.
See: Personal Assistant recruitment

Family Office Assistant

Hire a Family Office Assistant when the priority is admin cadence, documentation hygiene, meeting packs, renewals, and coordination across advisers and entities.
See: Family Office Assistant recruitment

Chief of Staff

Hire a Chief of Staff when priorities, advisers, and workstreams need coordination through one operating lead with real access and defined authority.
See: Chief of Staff recruitment

Private PA for Founders & Entrepreneurs

Hire a Private PA when the principal is building at speed, has no family office or household team, and needs personal support from scratch. The candidate must thrive with ambiguity and build systems alongside daily logistics.
See: Private PA for Founders recruitment
Role Focus Typical mandate Key difference
Executive Assistant Executive workflow, diary, stakeholders Principal's professional rhythm Gatekeeps time and information
Personal Assistant Lifestyle, travel, household coordination Principal's personal continuity Manages the private sphere
Family Office Assistant Admin cadence, documentation, coordination Office-wide follow-through Serves the office, not one person
Chief of Staff Delivery, decision cadence, cross-stakeholder Operating rhythm across workstreams Needs authority to close decisions
Private PA for Founders Personal logistics, travel, admin, vendors Founder's private continuity Builds infrastructure from scratch
Splitting EA and PA responsibilities often improves boundaries, but adds handovers and increases the cost of coverage. In a family office, the diary often becomes the information gate, so scope is a privacy decision as much as an admin one. A PA or EA who has grown with a principal from the early days often ends up in a Chief of Staff seat by default. They are loyal, trusted, and know everything. But a seasoned EA is not a Chief of Staff. The skills are different. When the office outgrows informal coordination, the gap becomes visible fast. Senior support staff salaries in UHNW environments decouple from market rates over time. A PA who has spent five years with a principal, knows every preference, holds every relationship, and manages a complex private life is worth far more to that employer than the open market would pay. This creates a dislocation: the candidate earns well above market but knows a move would likely mean a significant drop until they prove their value again. Unlike corporate career paths, there is no predictable ladder. Salary follows contribution, proximity, and trust, not tenure or title.

Who we support

  • UHNW principals and family members hiring executive support
  • Family Office Directors and Managers building or restructuring support teams
  • Chiefs of Staff and COOs adding capacity without widening disclosure
  • Heads of operations and administration replacing or upgrading key roles
  • Trusted advisers coordinating the hire on behalf of the principal

How to scope the hire

Before briefing, define:
  • Responsibilities: diary and inbox, travel, expenses, meeting preparation, document handling, supplier coordination, project support
  • Coverage: locations and residences, travel cadence, time zones, weekend expectations, backup cover
  • Authority: who can instruct, what can be actioned without approval, spend limits, access to sensitive information
  • Reporting line: who sets weekly priorities, who reviews performance, who resolves conflicts
  • Boundaries: what is office-only, household-only, and shared, including how information moves between circles
If two people can instruct without coordinating, the hire will fail. It is never the candidate's fault.

What great looks like

  • Discretion under pressure: handling sensitive content without over-sharing
  • Triage instincts: what gets escalated, what gets solved quietly, what can wait
  • Stakeholder handling: calm with advisers and family matters, respectful with staff and vendors
  • Writing and clarity: concise emails, accurate notes, clean briefing documents
  • Process hygiene: reliable records, clean handovers, controlled access
The best hires we have placed are the ones the principal stopped thinking about. Not because they disappeared, but because nothing fell through.

How Oplu works

We scope these hires by separating office execution, household operations, and lifestyle support. Then we define authority, coverage, and confidentiality in each lane. We assess behaviour in practical scenarios, not just credentials. We test diary and inbox triage under conflicting demands, travel disruption response, sensitive information handling, and vendor pressure. Referencing is handled discreetly and in the right sequence, validating judgement calls and boundary handling, not just tasks performed.

Next steps

  • Explore roles by category: Executive & Administrative Support, Private & Family Office Management, Investment Roles
  • Hiring now: start a confidential search with a scoped brief and a discreet process
  • Candidates: explore current opportunities and submit your CV on our job board
  • Back to: Family Office Recruitment, Family Office Hire Hub

Further reading

Learn More
Experienced professional working on a laptop, representing private family office operations management and governance.

Private & Family Office Management Recruitment

Oplu recruits private office operational leaders for UHNW families when the issue is governance, standards, and accountability, not capacity. This is where a mis-hire creates noise, delays, and privacy risk. Family office management recruitment is the right lever when you need one operator to run the rhythm, hold standards, and protect the principal's time, without widening disclosure. You are usually ready to hire private family office management roles when the principal becomes the default escalation point for routine decisions, you are expanding across locations and standards start to drift, there is friction between office and household on authority and access, multiple stakeholders pull in different directions with no clear owner, or the office is scaling, restructuring, or inheriting complexity and needs tighter governance. In high-trust environments, hires fail less from capability and more from unclear mandate. If nobody can explain who owns what, the best person you hire will spend their first six months in meetings that should have happened before they arrived.

Private & Family Office Management Recruitment Agency

We recruit private office operational leaders for UHNW families when the issue is governance, standards, and accountability. This is a small world, and visibility creates risk. We keep searches tight and processes discreet, often handling replacement hires where confidentiality and staged disclosure are essential.

Role links

Family Office Director/Manager vs Director of Operations vs Director of Administration: which hire is right?

Family Office Director/Manager

The top operating seat when delegated authority is real. Owns operating rhythm, stakeholder governance and cross-functional oversight across entities, advisers and residences. Reports directly to principal or board. Typically ranges from £90,000-£160,000+ in the UK.

Director of Operations

Delivery is the focus. Turns decisions into outcomes and enforces standards under time pressure. Own supplier performance, budget discipline, multi-stream project delivery and escalation. Works under the Director or Principal. Typically ranges from £80,000-£140,000 in the UK.

Director of Administration

Controls and continuity through clean workflows. Makes confidentiality workable at speed through disciplined access, documentation standards and vendor management. Supports the Director or Principal. Typically ranges from £70,000-£120,000 in the UK.
Role Focus Key mandate Reports to
Family Office Director/Manager Governance, standards, principal protection Operating system, adviser coordination, entity controls Principal/board
Director of Operations Delivery and outcomes Supplier performance, budget discipline, multi-site execution Director/Principal
Director of Administration Controls and continuity Documentation, access discipline, workflow standards Director/Principal
What to use to decide: Family Office Director/Manager owns the whole operating system and sits closest to the principal. Director of Operations owns delivery and vendor management when scope is clear. Director of Administration owns documentation and access when the focus is confidentiality and workflow structure. The strongest operators we have placed barely register in the first week. By week four, everyone wonders how the office ran without them.

Who we support

  • Families with multiple entities, advisers and residences needing tighter governance.
  • Offices restructuring or transitioning to new leadership.
  • Principals scaling operations and needing cleaner decision trails.
  • Trustees managing complexity across geographies and stakeholders.
  • Family offices where confidentiality or privacy risk is elevated.

How to scope the hire

Before briefing:
  • Outcomes: What should the office look like in 90 and 180 days?
  • Authority: What can they decide? Approve? Escalate? With what thresholds?
  • Interfaces: Who reports to them? Who do they answer to? How do they interface with advisers, household and finance?
  • Scope boundaries: What sits within the role? What sits outside?
  • Standards: What does good look like in approvals, documentation and service consistency across locations?
Most privacy failures we see are process failures. They happen because access was never locked down properly, not because someone intended to leak. Informal delegation and loose access habits create avoidable exposure.

What great looks like

  • A light governance cadence with real follow-through.
  • Stakeholder handling across principal, family and advisers without noise.
  • Consistent standards across locations, vendors and sensitive communications.
  • Tight information handling and clean access discipline.
  • Cultural alignment that fits your home and your reputation.
Most adviser friction we see starts with unclear authority. If the adviser does not know who can instruct them, every conversation becomes political.

How Oplu works

We begin by pressure-testing the mandate, authority map and reporting lines. This is where ambiguity hides. Once the brief is locked, we run a controlled search with direct outreach to candidates who fit your governance model and disclosure risk. We keep shortlists deliberately small. We stage referencing to protect privacy. And we support the transition with clear onboarding and early-stage performance coaching to reduce churn. This hire often replaces someone in role, so we manage timeline and disclosure carefully.

Next steps

Further reading

Learn More
Investment advisors discussing portfolio performance and strategic allocation documents in a luxurious private office, representing investment roles in family office.

Private & Family Office Investment Roles Recruitment

Oplu recruits investment talent for Private and Family Offices. We hire for mandate clarity, delegated authority, and decision discipline, not "more ideas". In high-trust environments, investment decisions sit beside family dynamics, liquidity events, reputational risk, and adviser politics. We have seen excellent investment professionals fail because the family never agreed what "risk" meant. The mandate conversation is harder than the hire. Do it first. We pressure-test scope and decision rights before approaching the market.

Private & Family Office Investment Recruitment Agency

We run controlled, private recruitment for families and trustees who need one accountable owner for investment decisions, implementation, or decision support. Shortlists stay deliberately tight to protect confidentiality and accelerate decisions. You are usually ready for an investment hire when:
  • Decisions recur across public markets, private markets, or direct deals and consistency matters.
  • Delegated authority is needed to move at pace without constant principal involvement.
  • Governance needs to mature: risk limits, a decision log, and a predictable cadence.
  • Advisers provide inputs, but nobody internally owns the full picture end-to-end.

Which investment hire is right

We separate options by accountability, not seniority. The right choice depends on whether you need mandate ownership and governance, day-to-day execution and monitoring, or research, pack quality and decision support.
Role Focus Typical mandate Key difference
Chief Investment Officer Governance, mandate, risk limits, reporting narrative End-to-end investment system, stakeholder alignment Owns the whole picture
Investment / Portfolio Manager Implementation, monitoring, rebalancing, reporting Portfolio rhythm and control between meetings Owns execution and rhythm
Investment Analyst Pack quality, evidence, reconciliation, decision support Research, committee materials, data integrity Owns pack integrity, not decisions
Outsourced advisory External input and framework Breadth without internal headcount Advice, not accountability
A simple selection rule:
  • Choose a CIO for mandate ownership, governance cadence, risk posture, and stakeholder alignment.
  • Choose an Investment / Portfolio Manager for implementation rhythm, monitoring, liquidity planning, and decision-ready reporting.
  • Add an Analyst when decision-makers exist but capacity is thin, and pack quality is becoming a risk.
  • Use outsourced advisory when headcount is unrealistic, but be explicit about where accountability sits internally.

Chief Investment Officer (CIO)

A CIO owns the investment system end-to-end: mandate, portfolio construction, manager oversight, risk management, reporting cadence, and stakeholder alignment. See: Chief Investment Officer (CIO)

Investment / Portfolio Manager

This role owns the portfolio between meetings: implementation, monitoring, rebalancing, liquidity rhythm, and exception handling within delegated limits. See: Investment / Portfolio Manager

Analyst

This role owns pack integrity and decision support: version discipline, reconciled numbers, evidence tracking, and clear written materials that make decisions easier. See: Family Office Analyst

Related roles

What to include in the brief

Most families write a job description before they write the mandate. The mandate is what keeps stakeholders aligned when markets move. Include, at minimum:
  • Objectives, time horizon, and liquidity needs, including known future cash calls.
  • Current asset mix, concentration risks, and any legacy positions that are politically sensitive.
  • Operating model: in-house, external managers, banks, OCIO, direct deals, or hybrid.
  • Stakeholders and reporting: principal, trustees, board, CFO, and advisers.
  • Delegated authority, sign-offs, escalation triggers, and any investment committee cadence.
  • Constraints: jurisdictions, tax coordination points, and privacy boundaries.

Mandate checklist

  • Who decides, and who can act without approval.
  • What "risk" means for this family, including drawdown and liquidity tolerance.
  • What stays in-house vs what is delegated to banks, managers, or advisers.
  • How performance will be assessed, and over what time period.
  • What information is private by default, and who is allowed access.
  • What a "good week" looks like, including reporting rhythm and meeting cadence.

Common hiring mistakes

The failure modes are structural:
  • Hiring a CIO when the real gap is execution, then judging them on day-to-day output.
  • Hiring an Investment / Portfolio Manager without delegated authority, then blaming them for slow progress.
  • Over-indexing on brand names and under-testing discretion and private office mindset.
  • Widening the process before the mandate is settled, increasing privacy risk and stakeholder noise.
  • Leaving decision style implicit (informal in practice, formal on paper), then watching friction build.

How Oplu works

Oplu runs controlled, private recruitment for families who need execution control and predictable reporting without widening the circle. Many of these searches are discreet, including replacement situations. We begin with scoping. We pressure-test your mandate and authority before the search begins. This protects both the family and the candidate. Vague mandates create friction that even strong hires cannot overcome. Our search is deliberately private. We use direct outreach and controlled disclosure. We do not advertise widely or create broadcast processes for investment roles. Confidentiality and governance clarity matter more than volume. Your shortlist will be deliberately small, built for comparison and decision-making. We typically present 3-5 candidates with written profiles covering role-fit, working pattern, compensation expectations, and notice period.

Next steps

Further reading

Learn More

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Testimonials

We engaged Oplu on a Travelling Personal Assistant hire. The experience was genuinely different. They were direct, relevant, and rigorous in screening. Communication was clear and the process was transparent from the outset. We went from brief to placement within weeks, which is unusual for this type of role.

Chief of Staff

Single Family Office, London

We worked with Oplu on an Investment Associate hire for our multi-family office. The brief required strong financial capability, and personality fit mattered just as much. Oplu excels at assessing fit. They brought structure and pace without compromising standards. Updates were clear, feedback loops were tight, and the shortlist quality was consistently high.

COO

Multi Family Office, London

Oplu helped us hire an IT specialist for our single-family office. It was a high-stakes brief involving global travel, trading and investment systems, security, and the principal’s day-to-day requirements. Oplu understood our confidentiality needs immediately and ran a very controlled process. Screening was detailed and thoughtful, and every candidate presented was relevant.

Director

Single Family Office, Monaco

Family Office Hiring FAQs

These are three different centres of gravity, not a ladder. An Executive Assistant owns executive workflow, diary control, and senior stakeholder gating. A Personal Assistant owns lifestyle logistics, travel, and personal continuity. A Chief of Staff owns cross-workstream delivery and decision cadence through others. Some families hire both EA and PA for split coverage. Oplu helps you lock the lane before search begins.

Our Process

  • Onboarding

    Tell us your brief and together we’ll work to define the perfect candidate profile.

  • Research

    We research the market and using our specialised knowledge, expertise and extensive networks we source talent which matches your brief.

  • Management

    From here we manage the entire process, using the latest recruitment technology, we submit suitable applicants and field candidate questions. we interview and schedule trials.

  • Securing The Hire

    Once all interviews are complete our team will support you with the job offer and any negotiations to ensure a successful result.

Featured Resources

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  • Professional handshake during a candidate interview, representing Oplu’s candidate selection process for private recruitment.

    8 min

    How Oplu Selects Candidates
    Most recruitment agencies present CVs. We present candidates. The distinction matters. A CV is a document. A candidate is a person whose personality, judgement, and behaviour under pressure have been
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  • 8 min

    Travelling Positions in Private Households
    A travelling position is a private staff role where the candidate moves with the principal or family between residences, yachts, seasonal locations, and international trips. The job is not a standard
    Read More

  • 8 min

    Building the First Hire in a Single Family Office
    Most principals approach their first family office hire as if they were filling a job. They write a description, list the responsibilities, set a budget, and start interviewing. The first hire in a si
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