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 household role with travel attached. It is a different kind of role with different demands, different pay structures, and a different profile of person who can do it well.
Most online content about travelling private staff conflates the role with a standard live-in job. The reality is that travelling positions sit at the intersection of hospitality, logistics, and personal service, and they only work for candidates who are genuinely comfortable living out of a suitcase for months at a time. This guide covers what the role involves, where the demand is, how compensation is structured, and what separates a candidate who thrives from one who burns out inside a year.
Oplu places travelling staff across nanny, PA, butler, chef, and housekeeper roles. If you are scoping one of these searches, see our Private Households & Estates page and the relevant category below.
A travelling role means the principal's life happens across multiple locations, and the staff member goes with them. The pattern varies by family, but the common shapes are these.
Seasonal rotation. The family moves between a primary residence and one or two seasonal homes: London in term time, Mallorca or the Hamptons in summer, Aspen or St Barts at Christmas. The travelling staff follow, often with gaps in the primary residence when the family is elsewhere. Nannies, housekeepers, and chefs in this pattern need to integrate quickly with local staff at each destination.
Yacht and vessel coverage. Principals who spend summers on a yacht often bring core staff on board to maintain continuity. A travelling nanny on a superyacht is not the same as yacht crew. The brief is childcare, not hospitality service. The nanny needs to operate alongside crew without confusion about lines of authority.
Touring or business travel. Some principals travel constantly for business or operate across multiple commercial interests. A travelling PA or EA in this structure is rarely in one city for more than a week. The job is mobile logistics at professional speed.
International relocation across the year. The most intense travelling roles involve families with a genuinely nomadic year: four to six locations, no single residence dominating. These are the hardest roles to staff. The candidate pool is small, the burnout rate is high, and the compensation reflects it.
For travelling positions, the candidate is available around the clock for the duration. Define overtime rules before the search, not after the first trip.
Not every private role exists in a travelling format. The ones Oplu places most often are below.
Travelling Nanny. The most common travelling role. A travelling nanny moves with the children, maintains routine across locations, and manages the continuity that children need. British nannies, particularly Norland-trained, command a premium internationally. Relocating a UK nanny to the Middle East, Asia, or the Caribbean is significantly more expensive than hiring locally, but it is common practice among UHNW families who want Western childcare standards. Rates in these placements sit well above domestic UK ranges.
Travelling PA and EA. A travelling PA supports the principal across all locations, handling the logistics of the move itself as well as the day-to-day diary, correspondence, and household coordination. The role often expands into travel booking, property handover, security liaison, and advance work at each destination. A strong travelling PA effectively runs a mobile office.
Travelling Butler. Less common but growing in demand. A travelling butler maintains service standards across residences and coordinates with local household staff. The role suits butlers from hotel or royal backgrounds who are comfortable adjusting to new teams and physical environments quickly.
Travelling Chef. Travelling chefs sit in two distinct tiers. The first is a touring private chef who travels with the principal and cooks in whatever kitchen is available. The second is a chef who rotates between owned residences where the kitchen is pre-provisioned. Both need adaptability and strong sourcing networks in multiple countries.
Travelling Housekeeper or Laundry Specialist. For families with formal wardrobes, collections, or specific standards, a travelling housekeeper maintains consistency. The role often includes packing, unpacking, wardrobe care, and coordination with local housekeeping staff at each residence.
Travelling Security and Close Protection. Outside our direct remit, but frequently staffed alongside the roles above. Worth understanding because the travelling security lead often becomes a de facto coordinator on the ground.
A travelling role is not a promoted version of a static one. The demands are different enough that candidates who excel in fixed residences often fail in travelling seats.
No fixed home. The candidate's personal life is disrupted. Relationships, family, and health routines suffer. The candidates who last are the ones who have built a life that accommodates this, not candidates who think they can manage it.
Constant adaptation. Every location is different. Different local staff, different logistics, different legal and cultural conventions. A good travelling candidate adjusts within 48 hours of arrival. A candidate who needs a month to settle will never keep up.
Authority without structure. In a fixed residence, the lines of authority are clear. In a travelling role, the candidate often arrives at a new location to find a local team they have never met and must coordinate with immediately. This requires diplomatic authority, not positional authority. One mis-sent thread can land badly. One misjudged interaction with a local team damages the whole season.
Operating without support. A travelling PA might land in a city at 2am, handle a logistics problem, brief the principal, and rebook a dinner, alone, with no office behind them. The role requires autonomy and calm. Candidates who thrive on being part of a team often struggle.
Health and boundaries. Long-haul travel, irregular hours, unfamiliar food, and high-stress environments compound over time. The best travelling staff we have placed have explicit protocols for managing their own health and boundaries. Without them, the role ends in burnout within eighteen months.
Travelling roles pay significantly above static equivalents. The premium reflects the disruption, the scope, and the intensity.
United Kingdom base plus travel premium:
Travelling Nanny: £80,000-£150,000+ plus travel, accommodation, and per diems
Travelling PA or EA: £85,000-£150,000+ plus travel, accommodation, and expenses
Travelling Butler: £70,000-£130,000+ plus travel and accommodation
Travelling Chef: £80,000-£160,000+ plus travel, accommodation, and sourcing budget
Travelling Housekeeper: £60,000-£110,000+ plus travel and accommodation
United States base:
Travelling Nanny: $110,000-$200,000+ plus travel
Travelling PA: $130,000-$250,000+ plus travel
Travelling Butler and Chef: ranges similar to senior static roles plus travel premium
International placements (Middle East, Asia, Caribbean):
UK-sourced travelling staff placed into these markets command a further premium of 30-60% above UK equivalents, often paid net of local tax.
On top of base salary, packages typically include:
All travel (flights usually business class on long haul)
Accommodation at each location (often within the principal's property)
Per diems covering meals and incidentals when off duty
Health insurance with international coverage
Return visits home during extended postings
Discretionary bonuses tied to trip length, difficulty, or specific projects
Generic published salary data for nannies, butlers, and PAs does not capture the travelling market. The pool is small, the compensation is negotiated individually, and the packages are structured around the specific family's travel pattern.
The qualities that separate travelling staff from their static counterparts are not primarily skill-based. They are temperamental.
Comfort with flux. Itineraries change. Flights are rearranged. Destinations are added mid-trip. A candidate who needs a stable plan will struggle. The best travelling staff treat the plan as a starting point, not a contract.
Physical and mental resilience. Long-haul travel compounds. Jet lag, unfamiliar food, irregular sleep, and high-pressure work wear down candidates who have not built routines to manage it. We interview for this directly because CVs do not reveal it.
Cultural adaptability. A travelling PA may work with French suppliers in Courchevel, Italian drivers in Sardinia, and a Thai housekeeping team in Phuket within a month. Candidates who expect their home standards to travel with them create friction everywhere. The best candidates adjust to local conventions without compromising the principal's standards.
Discretion at pace. Every new location introduces new people, new contractors, and new opportunities for information to leak. A travelling candidate operates under constant exposure. They must maintain discretion even when tired, rushed, and surrounded by unfamiliar staff.
A life structured for the role. This sounds obvious but it is the biggest predictor of retention. Candidates with young children, unreliable partners, or unresolved family commitments rarely last. The candidates who thrive have arranged their personal lives so that three months on the move does not create domestic crisis.
The most common hiring mistakes are structural, not personal.
Under-scoping the travel. Clients describe the role as "some travel" when it is actually six months a year on the move. Candidates accept on the "some travel" description and leave when the reality hits. Write down the annual travel calendar before you write the job description.
Not defining overtime or duty hours. Travelling staff will accept intense hours if they are defined. Open-ended expectations drive burnout and churn. Set the rules before the first trip.
Treating the role as seasonal. Some clients hire a travelling nanny for "the summer" without realising that the best candidates want year-round employment with guaranteed travel. A three-month role attracts a weaker pool. A permanent role with six months on the road attracts the strongest candidates.
Skipping a trial trip. A week of reality on the road tells you more than three interviews. We strongly recommend a paid trial trip for any travelling role above £80,000.
Assuming the static reference is enough. A nanny who thrived in a London townhouse may not thrive moving between four residences. References need to be specific to travelling work, not just private service.
Travelling roles are among the hardest private placements because the qualifying pool is small and the brief is complex. We maintain direct relationships with experienced travelling candidates across nanny, PA, butler, chef, and housekeeper disciplines, many of whom work through referral only.
Our scoping focuses on travel pattern, coverage model, authority structure at each location, and the principal's working style on the road. We then approach a small shortlist of candidates who have demonstrably operated in comparable travel patterns. We do not present candidates who "could do it." We present candidates who have done it, at a comparable level, for a comparable family structure.
For current opportunities, see our job board. To discuss a travelling staff search, get in touch.
A travelling nanny accompanies the family between residences, on holidays, and on international trips. The role maintains routine and continuity for the children regardless of location. It suits experienced nannies who have built their lives around the demands of constant movement. Rates sit well above static nanny salaries because of the scope and intensity.
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