Running a UHNW household is an operational undertaking. The right staff make it invisible. The wrong hire makes everything harder, and in a principal's home, there is no buffer between a bad placement and the people it affects most.
Talent Gurus places private household staff for UHNW families, private estates, and family offices across the United States and internationally. Searches are run on both retained and contingency bases, every candidate is directly approached, and every engagement starts with a rouka intelligence analysis so you know exactly what the market looks like before the search begins.
The roles are the same titles you find everywhere. Estate Manager. House Manager. Personal Assistant. Private Chef. Head of Security. But the requirements at the UHNW level are not the same as those titles suggest in any other context.
A House Manager for a principal with four residences, a yacht, a private aircraft, and a 12-person household staff is running a small business. An Executive Personal Assistant at this level is on call around the clock, manages subordinate staff, and handles matters that require absolute discretion and judgment. A Head of Security may be coordinating a full protective detail across multiple jurisdictions.
The candidates who perform at this level are not on job boards. They are employed, embedded, and loyal to their current principals. Reaching them requires direct outreach from search professionals who know who they are and have the relationships to approach them properly.
Estate and Property: Estate Director, Estate Manager, Multi-Property Estate Manager, Director of Residences, House Manager, Head of Maintenance, Property Manager
Personal and Administrative:Chief of Staff, Executive Personal Assistant, Personal Assistant, Family Assistant, Executive Assistant
Security:Head of Security, Executive Protection Lead, Security Manager, Close Protection Officer
Culinary:Private Chef, Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Pastry Chef
Service:Butler, Head of Household, Houseman, Housekeeper, Laundress
Childcare and Education:Nanny, Governess, Private Tutor, Family educator
Transport:Private Chauffeur, Estate Driver
We also staff complete household teams for new estate acquisitions, relocation projects, and principal transitions.
All figures are US national baseline at the senior experience level, sourced from rouka. Regional premiums apply in New York, Palm Beach, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Aspen, and similar high-cost markets.
Estate Director / Estate Manager (single property)
P50: $185,000 · P75: $260,000 · P90: $338,000
Estate Manager (multi-property, 3 or more residences)
P50: $280,000 · P75: $390,000 · P90: $520,000
Chief of Staff (household)
P50: $260,000 · P75: $345,000 · P90: $466,000
Executive Personal Assistant
P50: $150,000 · P75: $235,000 · P90: $306,000
House Manager
P50: $130,000 · P75: $170,000 · P90: $221,000
Head of Security / Executive Protection
P50: $175,000 · P75: $250,000 · P90: $320,000
Housing, company vehicle, and performance bonuses are standard components of most senior household packages and are not reflected in the base figures above.
The same patterns appear across failed household searches. Budgeting at market floor. Unclear scope. Rushed timelines. These are not new problems but they are avoidable ones.
Budget misalignment is the most common cause of a stalled search. A budget set at P25 produces a candidate pool that looks nothing like a budget set at P50. The people who can actually do the job at the UHNW level are not available at market floor rates. They do not need to be.
Scope ambiguity kills placements in year one. A House Manager hired without a clear understanding of their authority, their reporting structure, and the boundaries of their role will fail not because they lack skill but because the environment is unworkable. We help clients define the role properly before the search starts.
Timeline pressure produces bad decisions. Senior household placements should take 8 to 14 weeks from brief to accepted offer. Compressing that timeline to fill a gap quickly almost always results in a placement that fails within 18 months and a search that starts again from zero.
Every engagement is retained. We do not work on contingency for senior household roles. The search requires full commitment from both sides.
Before any outreach begins we run a rouka intelligence brief. You receive the complexity score for your specific search, full compensation benchmarks adjusted for your location and requirements, a candidate pool assessment showing how many viable candidates exist, and our initial sourcing strategy. This brief is included in every engagement.
We approach candidates directly and discreetly. Principal identity is protected until there is mutual interest and an NDA is in place. We present a shortlist of 3 to 5 candidates with full assessment, compensation context, and reference background. We manage the offer stage and provide counter-offer strategy where needed.
For complete household team builds we sequence the search by role priority, typically starting with the Estate Manager or Chief of Staff and building the team from the top down.
Tell us about the role and we will run a rouka analysis within 48 hours. You will receive the complexity score, full compensation benchmarks, candidate pool assessment, and initial sourcing strategy before you commit to anything.
Contact Charbel directly: charbel@talent-gurus.com
