A personal assistant manages the daily logistics, communications, and coordination that allow another person to focus on their actual work. The role exists because senior people run out of hours before they run out of decisions. A PA reclaims that time by handling everything around the edges: diary, travel, correspondence, expenses, and household coordination. The principal can then operate at full capacity.
The scope varies enormously depending on who the PA works for. A PA supporting a managing director at a law firm manages meeting schedules and board packs. A PA supporting a UHNW family principal manages six properties across three countries, coordinates private travel, liaises with household staff, and ensures the family's personal infrastructure runs without friction. Same title. Different universe.
This guide covers both ends of the spectrum and everything in between.
Every PA role is built around a common set of responsibilities. The weight placed on each varies by employer, industry, and seniority.
Diary and schedule management. This is the foundation. A PA controls who gets access to the principal's time, resolves conflicts between competing commitments, and ensures preparation materials arrive in advance. In private settings, the diary includes personal appointments, family commitments, and property schedules alongside professional obligations. Managing a diary well requires judgement, not just logistics. It means knowing which meeting can move, which cannot, and which should never have been booked in the first place.
Correspondence and communication. PAs filter and manage inbound communication, including emails, calls, and messages, and respond on behalf of the principal where appropriate. They draft correspondence, manage follow-ups, and act as the gatekeeper between the principal and everyone else. The quality of a PA's written communication directly reflects on the person they represent.
Travel planning. Booking flights, hotels, and ground transport is the visible part. The invisible part is managing preferences, anticipating visa requirements, building contingency into itineraries, and handling disruption calmly when plans change. For PAs supporting international principals, travel coordination can consume half the working week.
Expense management. Tracking receipts, reconciling spend, processing reimbursements, and liaising with accountants or finance teams. In private households, this often extends to managing household budgets, supplier payments, and property-related costs.
Event and meeting coordination. Organising internal meetings, dinners, events, and conferences. This includes venue selection, guest lists, catering, logistics, and on-the-day management. In UHNW households, events may include private parties, philanthropic dinners, or international gatherings requiring security and protocol awareness.
Research and briefing. Preparing background notes for meetings, compiling information on people, companies, or destinations, and summarising material so the principal can make decisions quickly. Strong PAs present information concisely rather than forwarding raw data.
Personal support. In many PA roles, particularly private ones, personal tasks are part of the job. Medical appointments, gift sourcing, wardrobe coordination, school logistics for children, household contractor management. The boundary between professional and personal is fluid, and the best PAs navigate it without confusion.
These three titles are used loosely, but the roles are distinct. Getting the distinction right matters when hiring or when choosing a career path.
A Personal Assistant typically supports one individual with a blend of personal and professional tasks. The scope is broad and lifestyle-adjacent. The PA manages the private sphere, including travel, household, and personal logistics, alongside professional diary and correspondence.
An Executive Assistant is more focused on the professional side. EAs manage executive workflows, prepare board materials, coordinate stakeholder access, and act as the gatekeeper for the principal's professional time. In larger organisations, EAs often support multiple senior leaders.
A Chief of Staff operates at a different level entirely. A CoS manages delivery, decision cadence, and cross-stakeholder coordination. They need authority to close decisions and hold people accountable. This is a strategic operations role, not an administrative one.
The confusion arises because many roles blend elements of all three. A private PA for a UHNW principal may manage travel logistics (PA), filter advisor communications (EA), and coordinate between the family office, estate team, and legal counsel (CoS-adjacent). The title matters less than the scope. What matters is defining the role clearly before hiring.
For a deeper comparison, see our PA vs EA vs Chief of Staff guide.
Most online content about personal assistants describes corporate PA roles: managing a CEO's diary in an office, coordinating meetings between departments, filing expense reports through company systems. This is a well-understood, well-served market.
Private PA roles are different in almost every dimension. A private PA works for an individual or family, not a company. The employer is the principal, often a UHNW individual, founder, or family office principal. The setting is their private life, their properties, their family infrastructure.
What makes private PA roles distinct:
The scope is wider. A corporate PA manages a professional diary. A private PA manages a life: multiple residences, international travel, household staff coordination, school logistics, medical appointments, financial administration, and personal security arrangements. The role touches everything.
Discretion is absolute. Private PAs handle information that is genuinely sensitive: financial details, family matters, health records, and security arrangements. The principal's life is not public, and the PA's job is to keep it that way. Breach of confidentiality in this world ends careers instantly.
The hours are different. Private PA roles rarely follow a 9-to-5 pattern. Principals travel internationally, entertain at weekends, and make decisions outside office hours. The best private PAs build sustainable boundaries, but flexibility is part of the deal.
The relationship is closer. A corporate PA may work in an open-plan office with dozens of colleagues. A private PA often works alone, in the principal's home, with direct daily contact. The dynamic is intimate and demands a level of emotional intelligence that corporate roles rarely require.
The compensation is higher. A senior corporate PA in London earns £45,000-£65,000. A private PA supporting a UHNW principal earns £55,000-£130,000+, often with accommodation, travel, private health insurance, and discretionary bonuses. The US market pays higher still, particularly in New York, the Hamptons, and California.
Travelling PA roles add another layer. Many UHNW principals spend significant time outside their primary residence, moving between properties, on yachts, and at seasonal locations. A travelling PA accompanies them, managing logistics on the move, coordinating with local staff at each destination, and maintaining continuity across locations. These roles require someone comfortable living out of a suitcase, adaptable to different cultures and time zones, and capable of operating independently without a fixed office or team.
PA salaries vary by setting, seniority, and geography. The ranges below reflect current market conditions for permanent, full-time roles.
United Kingdom, corporate:
Junior PA (0-2 years): £28,000-£35,000
Mid-level PA (3-5 years): £36,000-£48,000
Senior PA / EA to C-suite (5+ years): £50,000-£65,000
United Kingdom, private / UHNW:
Private PA: £55,000-£130,000
Senior private PA to UHNW principal: £80,000-£130,000+
Travelling PA (international): £65,000-£150,000+ plus travel and accommodation
United States, private / UHNW:
Private PA: $95,000-$165,000
Senior private PA (New York, LA, Hamptons): $130,000-$220,000+
Travelling PA: $110,000-$200,000+ plus expenses
Private PA packages typically include accommodation (in live-in roles), private health insurance, travel expenses, and discretionary bonuses. In UHNW households, the total package value can exceed the headline salary by 30-50%.
These figures reflect the upper end of the market, the segment Oplu recruits in. Generic PA salary data published on job boards tends to skew lower because it aggregates corporate and entry-level roles.
Technical competence is table stakes. Any competent PA can manage a diary and book a flight. What separates the best from the adequate is a set of qualities that cannot be taught in a training course.
Anticipation. The best PAs solve problems before the principal knows they exist. They see the scheduling conflict before it materialises, prepare the briefing before it is requested, and flag the issue before it escalates. This requires deep knowledge of the principal's patterns, preferences, and priorities.
Judgement. A PA makes dozens of micro-decisions every day on behalf of the principal. Which calls to put through. Which emails to escalate. Which requests to handle independently. Which meetings to protect. Getting these judgement calls right requires experience, confidence, and an accurate read of the principal's priorities.
Discretion. In private settings, this is non-negotiable. The PA knows everything: finances, family dynamics, health matters, business dealings, personal relationships. That information stays locked. The best private PAs are invisible to the outside world. Nobody knows what they know.
Resilience under pressure. Plans change. Flights cancel. Principals change their minds. Households are unpredictable. A great PA absorbs disruption calmly, adjusts the plan, and moves on without drama. The principal should never feel the stress of the logistics. That is the PA's job to carry.
Communication without ego. PAs operate in the background. They make other people look good. The work is rarely credited and often invisible. This suits some personalities and frustrates others. The PAs who thrive in private settings are those who find satisfaction in the smooth functioning of someone else's world, not in recognition for their own.
Hiring a PA for a UHNW principal is not the same as hiring one for a corporate office. The stakes are higher, the pool is smaller, and the fit requirements are more personal.
Define the scope before you search. Is this a professional PA, a personal PA, or both? Does the role involve travel? Multiple properties? Household staff coordination? Children's logistics? The clearer the brief, the faster the search and the better the shortlist.
Do not rely on job boards. The best private PAs do not apply to advertised roles. They work through referral, through trusted agencies, or are approached directly. Open advertising attracts volume but rarely quality for this level of role.
Reference thoroughly. A PA will have access to your home, your family, your finances, and your schedule. Reference checks should be recent, detailed, and conducted with previous principals, not just HR departments.
Trial before committing. A one-week paid trial gives both sides a realistic view of fit. Chemistry matters in a role this close to the principal's daily life.
Get the package right. Private PAs at this level are in high demand. If the salary is below market, accommodation is inadequate, or the hours are undefined, the best candidates will not engage. Oplu provides current benchmarking once the brief is agreed.
Oplu places personal assistants, executive assistants, and chiefs of staff for UHNW principals, family offices, and private estates. We work primarily on exclusive and retained mandates where the search requires discretion, speed, and genuine understanding of the principal's world.
Our process is built around fit, not volume. We present a small shortlist of candidates we have spoken with directly, referenced where possible, and assessed for role-fit, not just availability. Every candidate profile includes working style, compensation expectations, and an honest assessment of where they will and will not thrive.
For current vacancies see our job board. To discuss a search get in touch.
There is no mandatory qualification. Most PAs enter through administrative roles and build experience over time. For corporate settings, business administration diplomas or NVQ Level 3 credentials can help. For private PA roles, relevant experience supporting a principal or UHNW family matters far more than formal qualifications. Discretion, judgement, and resilience are harder to teach than diary management.
6 min
4 min
9 min
9 min
8 min
4 min
