When you run a business and a family at the same time, a personal assistant is usually the first hire that makes everything else work. Finding the right one is the hard part.
Morgan & Mallet places personal assistants for UHNW and HNW individuals across the US. We’ve been doing this for over ten years, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.
PA is one of the top five roles we fill, and 80 to 90% of our PA clients are entrepreneurs and founders.
When you call us, we’ll have three to five candidates ready to meet you within two to three weeks. We have built a database of some of the very best candidates in the industry.
They have all been through a 90-minute interview with us, passed a criminal background check, and we have checked their references from their previous roles.
We also handle contracts, payroll setup, and the legal side, so you’re don’t have to deal with that on your own.
Get in touch to hire a personal assistant.
Years placing Personal Assistants
Structured interview for candidates
Replacement guarantee on every placement
Of our business comes from past clients who refer us
Why hire a personal assistant through an agency?
Hiring a PA yourself can be a gamble. You might get hundreds of applications. Most won’t have private household experience.
The ones who look good on paper might have no idea how to handle your life once they’re inside it.
Morgan Richez, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet: “Household staff recruitment is the most important recruitment compared to even your company, because the people will live with you and will enter in your private life. You need to enjoy the personality. That’s why clients love people with discretion.”
The best private PAs are rarely job hunting. They’re already working for someone and they’ll only move for something better.
That’s why we headhunt alongside every search. A job ad alone won’t reach the people you actually want.
For every 100 applications Morgan & Mallet receives, two or three are top-tier candidates.
The screening alone is a full-time job, and most households don’t have the time or the experience to do it well.
What Type of Personal Assistant Do You Need?
Private PA
A private PA runs your personal admin. Scheduling, email, travel, errands, household purchases and paying bills.
They work from your home, your office, or a mix of both.
In the US, 80 to 90% of Morgan & Mallet’s private PA clients are entrepreneurs.
Also most of our private PA placements are full-time and live-out.
Live-in roles do come up, usually for families in remote areas or with large estates where having someone on-site around the clock makes more sense.
Family Office PA
A family office PA works inside a family office, usually reporting to an estate manager or chief of staff.
They deal with personal admin and financial paperwork over different properties and members of the family.
Ideally you need someone in this role who’s good with budgets and comfortable working with lawyers and accountants.
It’s more structured than a typical private PA role.
Traveling PA
A traveling PA goes where you go.
If you split time between homes in different states or countries, they travel with you and keep things running at each one.
Some of our billionaire clients have four or five PAs, each covering a different region.
Celebrity PA
A celebrity PA works for a high-profile person and everything is confidential.
NDAs before the first interview are expected. They handle media exposure, public schedules, and personal admin while staying completely in the background.
In Los Angeles, 77% of Morgan & Mallet’s PA placements ned to have NDAs, according to our 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report.
Temporary and Seasonal PA
A temporary PA covers a specific period. A move, or a renovation, or staying at a second property.
We place PAs on short-term contracts, part-time or full-time, with the option to convert to permanent if the fit is right.
For a full breakdown of what PAs do day to day, see our personal assistant job description page.
How much does a personal assistant cost?
Personal assistant salaries in the US range from $120,000 to $250,000 a year, according to Morgan & Mallet’s 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report.
What makes the salary higher?
Languages are a big one. Bilingual or trilingual PAs have higher salaries in every market we work in.
Live-in roles pay less base salary but include accommodation and meals, which can be worth $20,000 to $40,000 a year as well.
As an employer you’ll also need to cover payroll taxes (FICA), workers’ comp, and usually health insurance.
Executive assistants doing both corporate and private work are at the higher end, around $120,000 to $250,000.
How do I find a good personal assistant?
When you work with us, we start with a detailed call. We ask you things about your household, your routine, properties, expectations, and what you actually need your PA to do every day day.
One client might want someone texting them a plan at 7am. Another doesn’t want to hear from their PA unless something’s gone wrong.
These things are really important to know from the start so we can find the right person.
Jonathan de Vanderbilt, recruiter at Morgan & Mallet: “The fastest searches start with clarity. When a household can explain expectations at week two, month two, and month six, interviews improve and candidates self-select accurately.”
Then we search our network and headhunt at the same time. We advertise every role too, because the right person might not be in our system yet.
Every candidate does a 90-minute interview with us. We want to know what they’d do in certain situations if things went wrong for example. Just to get a feel for how they work.
Or we might ask how they’d handle overhearing something they shouldn’t have.
Can they switch between scheduling software without being taught? That kind of thing.
Ellie Littlechild, recruiter at Morgan & Mallet, puts candidates through real scenarios: “Travel changes late in the evening. Vendor failures before guests arrive. Expense approvals under pressure. These moments reveal working style quickly.”
We call old employers and go through the last few years of work history, and run criminal background checks.
For high-profile placements, candidates sometimes sign NDAs before they even know who the principal is.
NDA use in private households has gone up a lot since 2020, mostly because of social media.
We will present to you 3-5 candidates. We set up interviews and paid trial days if needed so you can see how each person actually works before you make a decision.
Should a personal assistant work from home?
This comes up in almost every PA search now.
Morgan Richez: “The personal assistant job, you need to offer at least one or two days home office. If you say Monday to Friday in the office, people won’t accept this anymore.”
Most strong candidates expect some remote flexibility. Build it into the role and you’ll get better applicants. If you do only want sometime full-time and in-person the search could take longer.
There’s a trust element too.
Employers worry about staff working from home, especially early on.
One or two days is the compromise most households land on. Full remote is rare in private PA roles and most principals don’t want it.
What should I look for when hiring a personal assistant?
Organizational skills and discretion are non-negotiable, they’re obviously just part of the job.
We understand what makes a discrete candidate. Morgan our co-founder has worked for high profile clients himself when he worked as household staff.
He says:
“When (my principal) used to talk to me, of course we had nice conversations, but I was not too curious. I didn’t ask too many questions. It’s very important to stay in your place. You can talk to someone, but it’s not good to be too curious – to think, ‘Now he trusts me, he’s a friend, I can do what I want.’ No. He’s still my boss. I need to respect him.”
But apart from that, it depends on your household.
Some roles need someone bilingual. Others need someone comfortable with technology and scheduling platforms.
If your PA is managing other staff or coordinating suppliers, they need to be confident making decisions on their own.
Rachel Dixon, recruiter at Morgan & Mallet: “Treat the hire as a senior operator. Walk through routines. Explain preferences. Introduce vendors properly. Clarify authority and communication norms. When onboarding is weak, households misread confusion as failure.”
The first three months are really important and this is where if you catch things early, they can be fixed.
Every week we will check to see if everything is going ok in this first period.
90-day replacement guarantee. If it doesn’t work out, we find someone new at no extra cost.
We also help with contracts, payroll setup, and employment law. We can connect you with lawyers in New York, California, Florida, and every other state where you’re hiring.
If you’re in New York or California, you’ll need to know about domestic worker bills of rights. They set rules on working hours, overtime, and rest periods that don’t apply in every state.
What is the difference between a PA and an executive assistant?
A personal assistant manages your personal and professional life. Things like hotels, restaurants, travel, calendar, household purchases, family logistics. The role revolves around you.
An executive assistant supports a CEO or senior executive. But at UHNW level, the EA can deal with personal tasks too, which is why companies contact us even though we specialize in private households.
A chief of staff is a senior role that combines PA, house manager, and family office type roles. They work across multiple properties, manage other staff, and deal with budgets.
Salaries go up to $300,000 in the US, according to Morgan & Mallet’s 2025/26 Annual Report.
We place all three. If you’re not sure which one you need, we’ll figure that out on the first call.
What other household staff might I need?
If you’re building a household team, you might also need a house manager to look after everything that happens day to day and staff management.
A butler for formal service and guest management, or an estate manager for property maintenance and managing everything over different homes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to hire a PA?
Two to six weeks depending on the role. Celebrity and UHNW placements can take longer because vetting is more involved and confidentiality slows things down.
Do you place Personal assistants outside of major cities?
We also serve families in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Tribeca, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Malibu, Coral Gables, and Palm Beach Island.
We cover the entire US and internationally, so just contact us to start your search.
Can the same PA work across multiple properties?
Yes. A lot of our PAs travel with the principal or manage things across two or three homes. Some billionaire clients have four or five PAs, each covering a different region.
What if I need staff in other countries too?
Same recruiter handles everything. Morgan & Mallet has offices in London, Paris, Geneva, Monaco, and Dubai.
What's the difference between permanent and temporary PA hire?
Permanent PAs become long-term members of your household. Temporary PAs cover specific periods like a move, a renovation, or parental leave. We place both, and temporary placements can convert to permanent if the fit works.
Can AI replace a personal assistant?
But anything that needs judgment, discretion, or real relationships with suppliers and service providers still needs a person.
New York
office address
260 Madison Avenue, 8th floor, 10016, New York, NY - United States
phone
+1 917-843-5691
contact@morganmallet.agency
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed
Miami
office address
1221 Brickell Ave Bricknell, Miami, FL 33131, United States
phone
+1 305 710 3380
contact@morganmallet.agency
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed
Los Angeles
office address
895 Dove St, Newport Beach, CA 92660, United States
phone
+1 305 710 3380
contact@morganmallet.agency
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed