The family office world is growing fast. Since 2019, the number of family offices globally has increased by nearly a third to over 8,000, and with that growth comes a sharper, more urgent competition for the right talent. Teams are becoming more structured and investment strategies more complex. The expectations around governance, performance, and discretion have never been higher. Yet the people who can genuinely thrive in these roles remain extraordinarily hard to find.
92% of large family offices report difficulties hiring (Campden Wealth / AlTi Tiedemann Global, 2025). Most family offices don’t post jobs publicly. They rely on trusted networks, specialist search partners, and confidential processes. And that’s exactly where we come in.
If you are looking to appoint a specialist recruitment partner, explore our family office recruitment services for confidential executive, finance, legal and operational hiring across the UK and internationally.
At Achieve Professionals, we work with single-family offices, multi-family offices, and private wealth structures across the UK, US, Europe, UAE, and APAC, placing exceptional people in roles that demand high professional standards, discretion, structure, and discipline.
Why Use a Family Office Recruitment Agency?
Family offices generally operate outside the mainstream recruitment market, preferring to identify talent through referrals and professional networks. While this approach can be effective, it can also make exceptional talent difficult to find. In these situations, the right recruitment partner can make a significant difference.
A generalist agency can fill a vacancy. A specialist can find the person who fits the role, the principal, and the culture of the office. In private wealth, that distinction matters a great deal.
Here’s why family offices work with specialist recruiters like Achieve Professionals:
- Discretion is non-negotiable. Many mandates are never made public. A specialist recruiter operates confidentially as standard, protecting both the client and the candidate.
- The best candidates aren’t looking. Top family office professionals are rarely on job boards. Reaching them requires a network built over years, not a database search.
- Cultural fit is as important as credentials. A family office hire works in close proximity to the principal and the family. Technical skill alone is not enough.
- Cross-border hiring is complex. International mandates require knowledge of multiple markets, jurisdictions, and candidate expectations simultaneously.
In short, the stakes are too high and the talent pool too discreet for a generalist recruitment approach.
The Roles We Place
Family office hiring spans a broader and more complex range of disciplines than almost any other sector. Our consultants are active across every function, from front-office investment professionals to the operational and governance leaders who keep the entire structure running.
We place across four core areas:
Investment and Wealth Management
Family offices are diversifying rapidly into private equity, venture capital, real estate, and impact investments. We place Chief Investment Officers, Investment Managers, Asset Managers, Private Equity Specialists, Hedge Fund Investment Specialists, and Portfolio Analysts, as well as Wealth Advisers and ESG and Impact Investment Specialists for offices building out responsible investment frameworks.
Finance, Tax and Legal
Finance and legal professionals in family offices are strategic partners to the principal, not back-office operators. We regularly place CFOs, Finance Directors, Financial Controllers, Family Office Accountants, Private Client Tax Advisers, Trust & Estate Planning Specialists, In-house Legal Counsel, and Paralegals.
Executive Leadership and Governance
As family offices become more institutional, demand for senior operational and governance professionals has grown sharply. We place CEOs, COOs, Chiefs of Staff, Company Secretaries, Compliance Leads, and Family Office Managers who can be key to the entire operation.
Operational and Lifestyle Support
Many family offices are investing in roles that support the principals directly. We place Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants (Private & Business), Lifestyle Managers, Estate Directors, and Philanthropy & Foundation Staff, including Foundation Directors and Programme Officers for family-led charitable structures.
For a confidential search across CEO, CFO, CIO, legal counsel, investment and private office support roles, speak with our family office recruitment specialists.
For roles that extend into the private household, including housekeepers, butlers, estate managers, and private chefs, our sister company Achieve Hospitality specialises in private household recruitment for UHNW principals and family offices worldwide.
Our Core Services
Every search is handled with care and precision to ensure fit with the office’s values, culture, and long-term vision.
1. Retained and Exclusive Search
For senior and business-critical appointments, we operate on a retained basis with a dedicated consultant, a bespoke search process, and a commitment to presenting only the most rigorously assessed candidates. Particularly suited to CIO, CFO, and Chief of Staff mandates, newly established offices building their first team, and roles requiring cross-border sourcing. You get access to our active candidate network, with strong shortlists and end-to-end process management.
2. Remote and Hybrid Hiring Solutions
The best family office professionals are increasingly global. We support remote and hybrid hiring across all levels, helping you source candidates experienced in operating across time zones and borders, and assessing them for the discretion and judgement that distributed roles require.
3. Interim and Contract Placements
Not every need is permanent. We place experienced interim professionals for project-based work, maternity cover, and transition periods. Fractional executive roles have grown significantly as family offices seek flexibility without sacrificing quality.
4. Market Intelligence and Benchmarking
We provide honest market insight on compensation benchmarks, candidate availability, and role design to help you build competitive packages and attract the right people in a tight market.
Where We Work – UK, US and Worldwide
Family wealth is global and so is our reach. We support single-family offices, multi-family offices, and private wealth structures across major wealth centres and offshore jurisdictions worldwide.
| Region | Key Markets | Typical Mandates |
| United Kingdom | London, Home Counties | Finance leadership, investment, legal, governance |
| United States | New York, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Texas | CIO, CFO, investment analysts, operations |
| Europe | Geneva, Monaco, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Gibraltar | Multi-jurisdictional finance, compliance, legal |
| Middle East | Dubai, Abu Dhabi | Investment professionals, family office managers |
| APAC | Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo | Portfolio management, wealth advisory, operations |
| Offshore & Private Wealth | Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman Islands, BVI, Bermuda, Gibraltar | Trust, legal, finance, governance |
We support confidential mandates across these markets, including searches that require multi-jurisdictional sourcing, relocation, or cross-border compliance expertise.
How to Choose a Family Office Recruitment Agency
Not every recruitment agency that claims family office experience has genuinely worked inside this world. The stakes of a poor appointment are too high to find that out after the fact. When evaluating a specialist partner, look for evidence across these areas:
- Dedicated sector experience – the recruiter should work exclusively or primarily within private wealth and family office structures, not treat it as one vertical among many.
- A confidential, direct-search process. Ask how the agency sources candidates and whether outreach is direct and discreet, or reliant on advertising.
- Cross-border capability where relevant. If your office operates across jurisdictions, confirm the recruiter has placed candidates across those markets, not just one domestic network.
- Verifiable evidence. Ask for case studies or references from comparable mandates. Anonymised examples are standard in this sector – a reluctance to provide any is a signal worth noting.
The right agency will ask as many questions as you do. That consultative approach, not speed of response, is the clearest indicator of a genuine specialist.
For organisations ready to begin a confidential search, explore our family office recruitment services.
Why Family Offices Choose Achieve Professionals
Most family offices that contact us have already tried a generalist agency. The shortlist came back technically qualified but wrong for the environment, perhaps including candidates who had never worked in close proximity to a principal, or who underestimated the discretion and judgement the role required. That gap is what our practice exists to close.
Our family office work is led by Andrew Bell, who built this specialism from the ground up and works directly with principals, CFOs, and investment partners on every mandate. He is not a generalist who occasionally places family office roles. This is his market.
What that means in practice
Shortlists built on direct outreach, not database searches. The professionals who perform best in family office roles are rarely actively looking. We reach them through a network developed over years of working exclusively in private wealth.
Assessment that goes beyond the CV. We evaluate discretion, working style, and fit with the principal’s environment alongside technical credentials. A candidate who is outstanding on paper but wrong for the culture is not a shortlist candidate.
Honest counsel throughout. If the brief is too narrow, the compensation is below market, or the timeline is unrealistic, we say so early. That transparency protects the quality of every appointment and saves time on both sides.
Global reach without generalist trade-offs. We place across the UK, US, Europe, UAE, and APAC, including multi-jurisdictional mandates and cross-border relocations, with the same specialist focus in each market.
The result is a search process that reflects how family offices actually operate, not how a volume recruitment agency thinks they do.
Our Family Office Recruitment Consultant
Andrew Bell – Principal Consultant Family Office
Andrew has placed across London, New York, Geneva, Dubai, and Singapore, and advises on both individual appointments and team builds for newly established offices.
You can reach Andrew directly or connect on LinkedIn.
Start Your Search
Whether you’re building a team from scratch, replacing a critical hire, or expanding into a new market, we’re ready to help.
Contact us today to discuss your family office hiring brief.
If you’d like to understand more about the talent landscape before you hire, explore our Family Office Talent Landscape in 2026 for insight on the roles, skills, and market trends shaping private wealth hiring this year.
For salary benchmarking ahead of your next appointment, download the UK Family Office Salary Guide 2026 – produced by our consultants using live market data from active mandates across the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
A family office recruitment agency helps principals, COOs and private wealth teams identify and appoint professionals across investment, finance, legal, governance, executive support and operational roles. The work typically involves confidential market mapping, direct candidate outreach, detailed assessment and carefully managed shortlisting.
Unlike a generalist process, family office recruitment considers the level of trust, discretion and principal interaction required alongside technical capability.
Assess cultural fit through the realities of the role, not broad personality statements. Be clear about the level of contact with the principal or family, decision-making style, working hours, travel expectations, confidentiality requirements and how independently the person needs to operate.
The strongest candidates combine relevant technical experience with sound judgement, adaptability and the ability to communicate appropriately in a high-trust environment.
A useful hiring brief sets out the role’s purpose, core responsibilities, reporting line and the outcomes expected in the first 6 to 12 months. It should also cover location, travel, working pattern, compensation range, technical requirements and any relevant private wealth or cross-border experience.
Include the level of principal interaction and any non-negotiable qualities, such as discretion, commercial judgement or the ability to work in a lean team. This gives the search process a clear basis for assessing candidates.
Timing depends on the seniority, specialism, location and level of confidentiality involved. Searches for senior investment, legal, finance or principal-facing roles often take longer because suitable candidates are approached directly and assessed carefully before they are introduced.
A well-defined brief, prompt feedback and realistic expectations around compensation and flexibility usually help a search move more efficiently without compromising quality.
