We recruit executive and administrative support for Private and Family Offices. We hire for judgement, boundaries, and calm delivery under pressure.
These are high-trust environments. 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 part of the process design, not marketing language.
Executive & Administrative Support Recruitment Agency
We place:
- Executive Assistants (EA)
- Personal Assistants (PA)
- Family Office Assistants
- Chiefs of Staff
We scope by decision flow and privacy exposure, not job titles.
EA vs PA vs Family Office Assistant vs Chief of Staff: which hire is right?
This is not a seniority ladder. It is a choice between four centres of gravity:
- executive workflow and stakeholder control
- lifestyle logistics and personal continuity
- office administration and follow-through
- cross-stakeholder delivery and decision cadence
A simple selection rule:
- Start with an Executive Assistant when the priority is executive workflow, diary control, senior stakeholders, and controlled communication.
- Start with a Personal Assistant when the priority is lifestyle logistics, travel, personal administration, household coordination, and privacy continuity.
- Start with a Family Office Assistant when the priority is admin cadence, documentation hygiene, meeting packs, renewals, and coordination across advisers and entities.
- Start with a Chief of Staff when the priority is cross-workstream delivery, decision hygiene, and an operating rhythm that closes decisions through others.
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.
Executive Assistant (EA)
We run family office executive assistant recruitment when a principal needs a gatekeeper who can triage priorities, manage diary and inbox, and handle advisers with pace and discretion.
See: Executive Assistant
Personal Assistant (PA)
We support family office personal assistant recruitment when the work is lifestyle-first: travel, diaries across family members, residences, events, and personal administration that needs calm follow-through.
See: Personal Assistant
Family Office Assistant
We place through family office assistant recruitment when the office needs dependable admin coverage: document control, expenses, supplier coordination, meeting support, and consistent follow-through.
See: Family Office Assistant
Chief of Staff
We advise clients to hire a family office Chief of Staff when priorities, advisers, and workstreams need coordination through one operating lead, with real access and defined authority.
See: Chief of Staff
Role scope in a family office: office, household, lifestyle
We scope these hires by separating:
- office execution
- household operations
- lifestyle support
Then we define authority, coverage, and confidentiality in each lane. Most mis-hires happen when coverage is implied rather than agreed, especially across travel, time zones, and out-of-hours requests.
What to include in your brief
- 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.
If you cannot state who owns prioritisation, the role will inherit conflicting instructions and churn risk rises.
Stakeholder map and boundaries
- Office stakeholders: principal, COO, CFO/CIO, advisers, trustees, legal and tax counsel, private bankers.
- Household stakeholders: household manager, estate leads, security, drivers, childcare, contractors, yacht/aviation teams where relevant.
- Boundary rule: decide what is office-only, household-only, and shared, including how information moves between circles.
Agree systems too: where documents live, who has access, and what is private by default.
What great looks like: skills, judgement, discretion
We look for people who protect time, information, and decision quality without constant direction. In high-trust environments, baseline admin skills matter, but judgement keeps things safe and smooth.
Screening priorities that predict longevity:
- 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.
Common hiring mistakes
- Hiring an EA when the real need is lifestyle coverage.
- Blurring household and office support without authority or privacy rules.
- Over-indexing on brand names and under-testing judgement.
- Under-defining pace and availability (travel, time zones, what “urgent” means).
- Treating discretion as assumed rather than validated.
Interviewing and vetting: assessing fit beyond the CV
Titles do not prove discretion, pace, or authority handling. We assess behaviour in practical scenarios.
Scenario testing
- Diary and inbox triage: conflicting requests from principal, adviser, and family member.
- Travel disruption: last-minute changes and how options are communicated.
- Sensitive information: board packs, NDAs, personal and family context, and how notes are handled.
- Vendor pressure: maintaining standards without amplifying noise.
Listen for calm prioritisation, precise questions, and a bias for protecting confidentiality.
Referencing discipline in high-trust environments
- Reference for context, not flattery: judgement calls, boundaries, pressure, mistakes.
- Validate discretion: what access they were trusted with, not just tasks performed.
- Check stakeholder style: advisers, staff, family dynamics, escalation behaviour.
Compensation context
Compensation depends on scope, access, hours, travel, and complexity. As a practical guide, US often prices higher than UK and most of Europe, but role design can override geography.
We share ranges and drivers discreetly once scope is clear.
Next steps
If you are hiring executive or administrative support for a Private or Family Office, we can help you define the lane, authority, and coverage model before we approach the market.
Contact us and we will respond discreetly.
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