The Opportunity
A Senior Administrative Assistant is needed for an international UHNW family based in Venice, supporting an active family office and multiple residences across Italy. The role is finance-led: day-to-day bookkeeping, payments, reconciliations, and pre-tax records, alongside the administrative backbone of a complex private environment. Permanent, full-time. Start as soon as possible.
About the family and the family office
The Principals are an international family with multiple residences in Italy, an active family office, and internationally recognised cultural and environmental foundations. The administrative environment is multi-jurisdictional: domestic and international payments, several entities, multiple property projects, vehicles and boats, and ongoing dialogue with accountants, tax advisors, banks, fiduciaries, and external consultants.
The family office is small and trusted. The Senior Administrative Assistant is the steady hand at the centre of it: the person who owns the books, the records, the payments calendar, and the documentation that holds the operation together. The right person brings structure, accuracy, and continuity to a complex private environment, and is comfortable working autonomously while liaising upward and outward across the family's professional network.
The role is based in Venice. Regular travel to Bologna is part of the rhythm. The household and family office are private and discreet by default. The work stays inside the family.
Why this role
This is a senior seat with real ownership. Finance, bookkeeping, administration, property and supplier coordination, vehicle and asset administration: all sit under this remit. The Principal is hiring for someone who has already done this for a UHNW family or family office and can pick up the books from day one. This is not a step-up from a corporate accounting or administrative role without private-side family-office experience.
For someone who wants the breadth of a family-office seat, the variety of multi-residence and foundation-adjacent administration, and the autonomy to run their own remit without a layer of supervision, this brief offers all of it inside a discreet, established environment.
Key Responsibilities
Finance, bookkeeping, and pre-accounting
- Manage day-to-day bookkeeping and financial administration for the family office and private household entities.
- Process domestic and international payments, bank transfers, supplier payments, and invoice registrations.
- Monitor bank accounts, credit card statements, cash flow movements, and petty cash balances.
- Prepare monthly reconciliations, expense tracking, and financial summaries.
- Maintain accurate accounting records and supporting documentation up to pre-tax filing stage.
- Coordinate with accountants, tax advisors, banks, and fiduciaries to ensure timely and accurate reporting.
- Ensure timely settlement of invoices, taxes, insurance premiums, subscriptions, utilities, and recurring obligations.
- Organise and maintain financial documentation for annual tax filings and audits.
Administration and documentation
- Maintain highly organised digital and physical filing systems across personal, financial, legal, and property-related matters.
- Handle confidential documentation with the highest level of discretion and professionalism.
- Manage administrative records, contracts, insurance policies, and official correspondence.
- Oversee invoice coding, expense allocation, and administrative tracking systems.
- Support the day-to-day operations of the family office with precision and responsiveness.
Properties and supplier coordination
- Review quotations, invoices, budgets, and payment requests related to maintenance works and ongoing property projects.
- Monitor cost controls, approvals, timelines, and supporting administrative documentation across multiple residences.
- Liaise with suppliers, contractors, and project leads on administrative readiness, payment scheduling, and document trafficking.
Vehicle and asset administration
- Coordinate servicing, registrations, insurance renewals, and documentation for vehicles and boats.
- Monitor maintenance schedules and liaise with relevant service providers.
- Maintain accurate administrative records related to family assets and mobility arrangements.
Requirements
Must-haves
- Five plus years already in a Senior Administrative Assistant, Family Office Administrator, Bookkeeper, or equivalent senior administrative-finance role within a UHNW family office, private office, or multi-jurisdictional household. This is not a step-up role; the family is hiring for confirmed family-office experience.
- Fluent English and Italian, written and spoken.
- Familiarity with Italian administrative and fiscal documentation processes.
- Proven experience in bookkeeping, financial administration, and pre-accounting coordination, including domestic and international payments and multi-entity records.
- Strong proficiency in Google Workspace, Excel and spreadsheets, digital filing systems, and administrative software.
- High level of discretion, professionalism, and accuracy.
- Ability to work independently, prioritise effectively, and manage multiple workstreams simultaneously.
- Based in Venice or Northern Italy, with the ability to travel regularly to Bologna.
- Right to work in Italy.
Strong advantage
- Degree in Economics, Finance, or a related discipline.
- French and/or Spanish in addition to English and Italian.
- Practical experience in property administration alongside family-office finance.
- Prior exposure to foundations, philanthropic vehicles, or cultural and environmental entities adjacent to a family office.
Working in this family office
The work runs to a steady monthly rhythm anchored by reconciliations, payments, supplier cycles, and reporting to accountants and advisors. Around that rhythm sit the moving pieces of a multi-residence family: property projects, vehicle and boat administration, foundation-adjacent records, and the steady flow of correspondence and documentation that comes with a complex private environment.
The family office is small, established, and trusted. The Senior Administrative Assistant operates with autonomy, holds standards without being asked, and communicates cleanly with the family, with accountants and external advisors, and with suppliers. The cultural register is calm and discreet. The work is the work; the person doing it is steady, accurate, and quiet about it.
Practical Information
- Start: As soon as possible.
- Reporting to: The family, with day-to-day coordination across the family office and external advisors.
- Location: Venice, Italy. Regular travel to Bologna as required.
- Languages: Fluent English and Italian required. French and/or Spanish welcome.
- Right to work in Italy required: Italian citizenship, EU citizenship, or valid Italian work authorisation.
- Standard NDA required.
Application Process
Please note: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are only able to contact candidates who are successfully shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within 14 days of submitting your application, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.
