Discretion is the job specification, and it is rarely written down.

A family office is not a small company. It is somebody's money, somebody's family, and usually somebody's life's work, run by a small number of people who all know each other. Hiring into it looks like hiring into a business and works almost nothing like it.

What is different here

There is usually no HR function and no processThe hire happens through people the principal already trusts, which is why introductions carry more weight here than anywhere else on this site, and why a strong candidate from a cold channel can lose to a weaker one who came through somebody's recommendation. Understand that before deciding it is unfair.

Discretion is a hard requirement, not a soft oneWhat somebody owns, what things are worth, who is fighting with whom: none of it is shareable, and the damage from a breach is not commercial, it is personal. References here are about judgement and mouth-shut, and they are worth taking more seriously than the CV.

Governance is about family, not about a boardSuccession, the next generation, a family council, and the question of who decides when the principal no longer wants to. An executive coming from a corporate finance background often expects a governance structure that does not exist, and the job is frequently to build one carefully rather than to operate inside one.

Some of it is regulated and some of it is notA single-family office managing only that family's own money often sits outside FCA authorisation. Once it advises others, pools outside money, or carries out regulated activities, that can change, and the answer depends on the specific arrangement rather than on the label. Worth establishing before a hire, because it decides whether an approved function is in scope at all.

What to ask, that you would not ask elsewhere

Tell me about a time you were told something you could not repeat, including to people who expected to be told.
How do you handle it when the person paying you is also the person you need to disagree with?
What governance would you want in place in year one, and what would you deliberately leave alone?
Have you worked with a next generation coming into the picture, and how did that go?
What would make you decline this?

Where it goes wrong

Running it like a corporate search and wondering why the good candidates do not engage.
Hiring somebody brilliant with no appetite for the personal side of the work. Technical strength does not survive a family disagreement.
Leaving the reporting line to the principal implicit, then discovering three people think they are the decision-maker.
Assuming no regulation applies because the entity is private. That depends on what it actually does with whose money.

Which seat you are actually hiring

The sector changes the conditions, not the job. What each seat covers, what it costs and when it is the wrong hire is set out across the eleven seat pages, and the cost calculator will tell you whether the work you have described is really a fractional one. If the job turns out to be five days a week and permanent, we find full-time executives too.

Common questions

There is usually no HR function and no process?

The hire happens through people the principal already trusts, which is why introductions carry more weight here than anywhere else on this site, and why a strong candidate from a cold channel can lose to a weaker one who came through somebody's recommendation. Understand that before deciding it is unfair.

What should I ask when hiring for family offices?

Tell me about a time you were told something you could not repeat, including to people who expected to be told. How do you handle it when the person paying you is also the person you need to disagree with? What governance would you want in place in year one, and what would you deliberately leave alone?

What goes wrong when hiring into family offices?

Running it like a corporate search and wondering why the good candidates do not engage. Hiring somebody brilliant with no appetite for the personal side of the work. Technical strength does not survive a family disagreement.

Check it yourself

FCA: the Financial Services Register

Whether a family office needs FCA authorisation depends on the activities it carries out and for whom, not on what it is called. This is general information, not legal or regulatory advice. Take proper advice on your own structure.

The bench

Operators who have worked in family offices

Filter the bench by sector: Banking & financial services, Venture capital & private equity, Real estate & construction. Every operator checked by hand against their LinkedIn and CV, booked direct, with nothing taken from their rate.