Chief of Staff to a billionaire: Duties & Responsibilities in 2024
When working for a high-net-worth family, celebrity, billionaire or royal family, the COS is the "patriarch" of the household and/or corporate staff.
It's important to note that no employer's job description could be all-encompassing. Each estate stands alone, and structures vary from household to household.
In fact, in some households, the COS may be called the Estate Manager. But if the UHNW family has multiple properties, then each will usually have a dedicated EM and the Chief of Staff will be like the CEO of all the other employees.
Here are some duties and responsibilities that our founder, Brian Daniel (Headhunter to the Stars), had when working for a royal family as a Chief of Staff:
It's important to note that no employer's job description could be all-encompassing. Each estate stands alone, and structures vary from household to household.
In fact, in some households, the COS may be called the Estate Manager. But if the UHNW family has multiple properties, then each will usually have a dedicated EM and the Chief of Staff will be like the CEO of all the other employees.
Here are some duties and responsibilities that our founder, Brian Daniel (Headhunter to the Stars), had when working for a royal family as a Chief of Staff:
- Private jet, yacht, and helicopter management
- Estate and mega-mansion management
- Hiring & supervision of workers: house managers, butlers, security, nannies, chefs, etc.
- Installation of home movie theaters
- Purchases of rare art and exotic automobiles
- Exotic car fleet management
- Party & event planning
- Creation of household and training manuals
- Installation of complex home security systems
- Supervision of construction and renovations
- Lifestyle management and vacation planning
- Wealth management and reviewed investment opportunities
- Celebrity handling and media relations
- Calendar management: personal & professional, domestic & international
- Commercial contract management
- Family management services
- Supervision of payroll/accounting services
- Family governance & legal affairs
- Assisted in succession planning
- Philanthropy coordination
- Inventory & financial assets
- Generated comprehensive monthly reports
- Award shows/backstage experience: Grammy, Oscar, Emmy, etc.
- Liaison to business managers, lawyers & other royal family members
- Worked with private security (police, retired Secret Service & active State Department officers)
- Created one-of-a-kind and once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences
- Served as a confidant and true-right hand in all ways A to Z
Wealthy families often use a recruitment firm like The Celebrity Personal Assistant Network to hire domestic staff for their private aircraft, yacht, or estate. With such a large management team to be responsible for, the chief of staff has a great deal of responsibility. With multiple homes, for example, several members of the staff will be responsible for just a single estate.
Wealthy families often need security
One aspect of working for a billionaire or high-net-worth family is that they constantly need protection, and not just for their businesses. A vast majority need round-the-clock surveilling, which has a major impact on one's life and career.
With multiple estates, mega-yachts and private jets needing 24-hour protection, it wouldn't be uncommon to employ dozens of personal protection agents just to handle security. Managing assets like exotic car fleets is also essential because some of the antique cars can run into the millions of dollars, and theft is always a possibility.
All of the security personnel also report to the Chief of Staff.
With multiple estates, mega-yachts and private jets needing 24-hour protection, it wouldn't be uncommon to employ dozens of personal protection agents just to handle security. Managing assets like exotic car fleets is also essential because some of the antique cars can run into the millions of dollars, and theft is always a possibility.
All of the security personnel also report to the Chief of Staff.
The family office to a billionaire
When people hear the term, home office or family office, it often conjures images of a person sitting in a converted bedroom at a desk with rows of books on shelves collecting dust. Well, a family office for an ultra-high net worth individual is so much more involved. In the world of a Fortune 500 CEO or the founder of a Silicon Valley company's world, it means a business team of top-notch team-members to manage the wealth and investments.
Sometimes these offices manage the lives of multiple families, other times it's called a Single Family Office because the client has holdings so vast that a dedicated group of specialists need to manage the money. These types of positions are often life changing because their support of the UHNWI requires that they sign an NDA: Non-disclosure agreement -- often meaning that they are not even allowed to tell anyone they know who they work for.
These specialists also interact with the COS because they need to collaborate on important projects.
Sometimes these offices manage the lives of multiple families, other times it's called a Single Family Office because the client has holdings so vast that a dedicated group of specialists need to manage the money. These types of positions are often life changing because their support of the UHNWI requires that they sign an NDA: Non-disclosure agreement -- often meaning that they are not even allowed to tell anyone they know who they work for.
These specialists also interact with the COS because they need to collaborate on important projects.
An Estate Manager reports to the Chief of Staff
The estate manager is like the "president" of the house, but they still report to the chief of staff, which is like the CEO of all the staff globally. Putting good people in these roles is paramount because if the wrong person is hired, it can disrupt the synergy of the staff. With that said, it's not uncommon for staff members to recommend friends for a role because trust is so essential; but three years of experience is often required if you work for a billionaire.
The Chief of Staff won't usually have a personal life
In the past, the chief of staff for a high-net-worth family was often a man, but now a woman in the role is a lot more common. Clients that contact a domestic staff agency to enquire about services often mention the sacrifice and dedication needed for the role, and this importance is above that of salaries because the lives of the family: father, wife, daughter, son ("the children") are at stake. And these roles are often more demanding than that of a high-profile government position.
You may have seen profiles of billionaire household staff in Business Insider or Fortune Magazine, and it probably looked like a lot of fun; but imagine the role taking up more than half of your life. You have to figure on working 12 hours a day, six days a week. A vast majority of candidates don't consider that when thinking about the position.
You may have seen profiles of billionaire household staff in Business Insider or Fortune Magazine, and it probably looked like a lot of fun; but imagine the role taking up more than half of your life. You have to figure on working 12 hours a day, six days a week. A vast majority of candidates don't consider that when thinking about the position.
Other duties & responsibilities of a CoS working for a billionaire
There couldn't be just one, definitive list of duties and responsibilities because every household is different; but here are some considerations when working for an UHNWF that have not been discussed yet. Again, this list is by no means exhaustive:
One final note: These roles are often obtained by word of mouth. You usually have to know a friend who works for high society because you could spend hour upon hour searching LinkedIn to no avail.
- Liaison with the media (New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, etc.)
- Hiring and training of employees
- Embody the company mission
- Support co-founder and other stakeholders
- Negotiate salaries with staff members
- Implementation of emergency plans in case of fire or other disaster
- Go out of town on occasion with the principal
- Maintain the operations of the main house and other properties
- Head committees with other stakeholders about operational improvements
- Discuss philanthropic endeavors with the principal about how society can be bettered with charitable giving
- Search Google and other platforms to find "bad press" from entities looking to harm the UHNWI
- Create and implement systems for each building to ensure that efficiencies can be made
One final note: These roles are often obtained by word of mouth. You usually have to know a friend who works for high society because you could spend hour upon hour searching LinkedIn to no avail.
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