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A governess is a private educator qualified to take care of your child’s learning at home. She plans daily lessons, runs language practice, and teaches good manners, along with what your child learns at school.
Morgan & Mallet, a luxury household staffing agency, places governesses in ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) homes across the U.S. and worldwide, each vetted for their academic and extracurricular background.
From our 200,000 global candidate database, we find and place governesses who can teach your child to your standards.
We also take a step further than matching based on qualifications. Laurine Mallet, our co-founder, worked as a nanny before starting the agency. That experience shapes how we place every childcare role. We check whether the candidate’s behavior works well for your household and your child.
Whether you need a live-out governess during the school year or a travel-ready candidate for the summer, our governess agency recruiters find your match.
If you’re wondering whether you need a governess or a nanny, our recruiters can guide you with a short call at +1 (646) 965-2308 today.
What is a governess?
A governess is a teacher employed privately to develop your child’s academics at home. The role dates back centuries to wealthy European households. Today, the work covers both academic and cultural education.
Morgan Richez, our co-founder, has seen the demand for modern governesses rise.
“We see the concern wealthy families have about their child’s education and language. That’s why the focus is on finding a good school and a good governess for children aged between five and twelve.”
The modern governess is a career educator, working with your child during after-school hours and weekends. They have a teaching degree or childcare diplomas. She prepares lessons, working alongside what’s taught at school and by other instructors instead of replacing them entirely.
Our U.S. governess candidates have experience with Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Waldorf-inspired methods. These support how your child develops both inside and outside the classroom.
Outside of academics, the governess surrounds your child with a second language at home. Your governess speaks in French, English, or Spanish with your child while they eat, play, and get ready for bed.
We get most governess requests from families in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Miami. There are more families looking for a good governess than there are qualified governesses to place. That’s why families come to us early, and why our global network matters.
What does a governess do?
The primary role of a governess is teaching so she’s usually hired by families with school-aged children. Outside the class, she also takes care of the other parts that shape your child’s development. A governess’s main duties fall into a few groups:
Schoolwork: She supervises your child’s homework, tutors them on the hard subjects, and keeps direct contact with their teachers and school. A good governess can tell what problems they have in math class before it shows up on a report card.
Lesson planning: The governess prepares your child for upcoming tests and exams according to the school’s curriculum. This would include ISEE or SSAT preparation and interview practice for selective schools. Our recruiters note that 74% of our childcare candidates help New York and London families with prep for school entry.
Languages: The governess is fluent in the language you want your children to pick up or keep. By speaking to your child in the second language outside of lessons, like during meals and playtime, your child practices daily conversations. French, Spanish, and Mandarin are the most requested languages from our U.S. clients.
Manners and etiquette: The social behavior of your child like table manners, greetings for adults, how to hold conversations, and how to handle themselves at a family event is also taken care of by the governess. That’s why more U.S. families request a European governess from the start.
Morgan Richez our co-founder spent years as a butler and chauffeur in wealthy London homes. That background is why he recognizes the increased interest in hiring European governesses. Many families prefer the European approach to teaching and socializing, built on centuries of tradition.
The wider day: She also schedules screen-free time for your child by organizing museum trips, music practice, and sports activities. By structuring a day with meaningful activities, she keeps your child’s learning going beyond the textbook.
A governess helps your child develop their cognitive and social skills through education. The role of cleaning up after your child falls on the housekeeper while the nanny takes care of your young toddlers. Morgan & Mallet recruiters can guide you on which role would best suit your home based on what you need.
Governess or nanny: which does your family need?
The difference between both titles depends on what your child needs the most right now. Most families calling us know what they’re looking for, but don’t know the title of the role. And that’s completely normal.
A nanny is perfect if you’re looking for a carer for your younger children. She sets proper meal and snack times, keeps together the nap and bedtime routines, picks and drops off your child at school, and plays with them during the afternoons.
She’s the right hire from the birth of your child, often taking care of the child into their early teen years. If you need someone who stays with your child all day, keeping them safe and happy, then a nanny is the right hire.
A governess focuses on improving your child’s education at home through lesson plans, language building, and socializing. The children go to school, so her working hours are from mid-afternoon into the evenings.
If you need someone to continue teaching your child after school is done, then a governess is the right hire.
A private tutor usually teaches one subject or prepares your child for a single exam. They stay with your child a few hours a week. If your child struggles with algebra or French but excels everywhere else, a tutor for that specific subject is the right choice.
A private educator, also known as a governess-tutor, leads a complete homeschooling program for your child. They prepare the entire curriculum at home. We often see this hire as the best choice for families with a travel calendar that doesn’t work with a fixed school year.
Many families choose to employ both a governess and a nanny. The nanny handles the 3-year-old while the governess teaches the 9-year-old. Each role coordinates with the other, working as a team as the children grow. We fill both positions and you can learn more about our nanny placements here.
An educational nanny is an overlapping role, where one person handles childcare and schoolwork. The right candidate depends on which half of the work matters more for your child. We also find and place educational nannies, helping you decide on their responsibilities before interviewing candidates.
Full-time, traveling, bilingual: the shapes of the role
Full-time governess: She’s responsible for your child’s education five or more days a week. The role could be live-in or live-out according to your schedule. The governess’s working hours are in the afternoons and weekends. While the kids are at school during the day, she works on lesson plans.
Traveling governess: As your family travels between homes, your governess goes with you. She provides steady schooling for your children across different time zones. If the travel crosses borders, list the countries and number of days in the contract. This makes the search go faster.
Bilingual governess: The governess understands that the best way for your child to pick up a second language is to immerse them in it. She speaks to your child in the other language throughout the day so practice isn’t limited to lessons.
Governess-tutor or private educator: They run the entire homeschooling program, building the curriculum and giving you reports on your child’s progress. When a fixed school year doesn’t fit your family schedule, we find a governess-tutor for your home.
Holiday governess: The holiday governess fills your child’s day with enriching activities during school breaks spent in the Hamptons or Aspen. It’s a part-time role and a good place for families to start before hiring a full-time governess.
How we find your governess
- The consultation: A short but in-depth conversation about your children lets our recruiter know where to start looking. We ask about your children’s ages, schools, stronger subjects, weaker subjects, and what languages matter. Knowing these points helps us narrow down the search.
- Shortlist: Your recruiter then sorts through 200,000 professionals in our database so you get a shortlist of up to five vetted candidates who fit your needs.
- Interviews and trial periods: When you get the shortlist, you can interview them on their previous experience yourself. Through trial periods, you can see how your preferred candidate spends time with your children, whether they’re just chatting or teaching.
- Offer and contract: We can guide you on the gross salary. The offer depends on the working hours, vacation days, travel, and if the role is live-in. For legal help with drafting employment contracts, we can connect you with legal advisors depending on your state.
- Placement and follow-up: We keep up with your family even after the placement, checking in at 10 days to see if everyone has settled well. If you still have doubts about the right fit, we offer a three-month replacement guarantee.
How we vet governesses
Every candidate on your shortlist has been through a 90-minute interview with our recruiters. We also ask for credible references backing their experience and verify their teaching qualifications. That’s why only one in four applicants makes it into our database. Of the 200,000 candidates on our database, 50,300+ have been fully vetted.
During the interview, we ask scenario-based questions to see how they’d handle a real situation. For example, we might ask them to describe how they’d teach a 7-year-old struggling with reading comprehension.
The answers tell us how the candidate teaches while the rest of the 90 minutes tells us about their behavior. Laurine Mallet our co-founder would rather the interview feel like a conversation than a test. That way the candidate relaxes and opens up as it goes on.
This openness means we know more about the candidate, about roles they’ve covered in the past but did not mention in their resume. It also lets us know the candidates who share their past employer’s private life without being asked. Discretion and temperament cannot be checked on paper.
Every candidate must provide us with at least two strong references. We know written references are harder to verify, that’s why we directly contact each reference by phone. We ask about the specifics of the past role, the names of the children, subjects covered, and how they progressed.
We look at the candidates language fluency by interviewing them in the language itself. Morgan & Mallet’s multilingual recruitment team means a candidate applying for a Spanish-speaking role gets interviewed in Spanish.
We check the candidate’s state teaching license and proof of their subject degree with the institution that issued them.
At the same time, we check each candidate’s identity documents, and every candidate clears a full criminal background check before they start with your family.
How much does a governess cost?
A full-time governess in the U.S. earns $70,000 to $130,000 gross per year, according to Morgan & Mallet’s 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report.
Most U.S. placements are in the middle of this. The top of the range goes to the harder-to-fill positions: hybrid roles, heavy travel, or a rare language.
We’ve seen how the pay moved up in the last two years and the short supply is the reason. Eric Rios, Morgan & Mallet’s consultant in New York, says this rise comes from fewer candidates, more travel roles, and duties beyond teaching.
Qualifications and language skills determine a governess salary. A Montessori-trained educator earns more than a graduate with tutoring experience. Fluency in second languages like Mandarin or Arabic also adds to the salary.
The schedule of the governess, whether it’s a live-in or live-out role, also affects salary. Live-in roles have a lower cash salary but accommodations and meals become a part of the package. Providing a comfortable accommodation where the governess has a separate room with its own bathroom keeps the candidate in the post for years.
The number of children to be taught also moves the salary. A governess with three third graders will ask for more than a governess with one 12-year-old.
On top of the gross salary, you also cover employer costs like unemployment tax along with workers’ compensation, health insurance, and agency placement fees.
Why families trust Morgan & Mallet with your children’s education
Governesses from our network have prepared children for entrance exams, taught French and Spanish in English-speaking homes, and traveled with families for months at a time. Since 2015, we’ve placed them with royal and UHNW families across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
We only interview candidates with at least three years of verified experience inside private households. That’s why 96% of our governess placements succeed at the first match.
We maintain a strict vetting procedure because we understand what a governess becomes for your family. That kind of fit needs a recruiter who understands the role and a network built over ten years.
You can read more about how Morgan & Mallet works and the people behind each recruitment on our about us page.
What Makes a Strong
Governess Placement
One of our recruiters, Julie Mauro, shared feedback from a family about their successful governess placement:
“Our governess has become so much more than an educator, she’s a true part of our family. Her commitment, kindness, and constant desire to grow make her presence invaluable to our child’s development and to our family’s daily life.
Since welcoming our governess, life at home has changed for the better. She’s become part of our rhythm, our values, and most importantly, our child’s lives.”
This outcome needs specific capabilities we verify during the selection process.
Governess job description
A governess educates school-age children inside a private household. She or he runs the academic side of the children’s day around their school schedule, teaches languages, and helps teach manners and social skills.
This is a job description we would write for a family hiring a full-time, live-in governess for two school-age children in New York
Example of a governess job description
About the family
A high-net-worth family is hiring a governess for their two children, aged 7 and 10, both in private school in New York.
The household already has a nanny, who looks after the children’s daily routine and care. The governess will lead the children’s education, languages, and cultural side of the day.
Responsibilities
During term time
- Collect the children from school and supervise homework and revision following the school’s curriculum
- Teach French and basic Spanish through conversation, reading, and structured activity
- Run after-school activities the children actually enjoy: museum visits, music practice, art projects, sport
- Help with manners, conversation, and how to greet adults at the dinner table
- Keep the children’s school, tutors, and other household staff (especially the nanny) updated on the children’s progress and routines
During school holidays
- Travel with the family which can be quite frequently
- Run a structured learning schedule for reading, languages, and cultural activities
- Plan and lead day trips and outings that build on what the children are learning
- Keep routines, language practice, and reading consistent while the family is away from New York
Ongoing
- Send the parents regular written updates on each child’s progress
- Plan and source materials for upcoming weeks
- Coordinate with the nanny on handover times and the children’s routine
Requirements
Essential
- Minimum 5 years as a governess in a private household, or as a teacher in a private school with HNW family experience
- Native or fluent French; conversational Spanish a strong plus
- Degree or qualification in education, child development, or a related field
- Verifiable references from previous private families
- Up-to-date first aid and safeguarding certifications
- Comfortable travelling with the family for weeks at a time
Personal qualities
- Patience to teach a child who’s struggling, authority to keep them focused
- Warm but firm presence with the children
- Comfortable working alongside other household staff, especially the nanny, without being territorial
- Discretion about the family’s life
- Comfortable working with parents who are present and hands-on with the children’s education
Work conditions
- Full-time, live-in (private bedroom and bathroom in the New York home)
- Term time: typically 3pm to 7pm weekdays, with weekend activities
- School holidays: full-time, including travel
- One day off per week during term, two during holiday weeks where possible
- Salary based on experience
This job description was reviewed by Morgan Richez, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet.
Frequently asked questions
Do governesses still exist?
Yes, the governess role still exists. The role began in prestigious European houses centuries ago, and it has carried into the modern home. The modern-day governess is an educator with a qualified teaching degree, guiding the cognitive and social development of children in private homes.
What is the difference between a governess and a nanny?
A nanny is responsible for setting a routine for young children, providing warm childcare and looking after their overall well-being. The governess is responsible for the education and development of school-aged children. Most families employ both for the growth of their child. Morgan & Mallet’s recruiters can guide you on what’s the right choice for your home depending on the children’s ages and what they need.
What qualifications should a governess have?
A governess should have a teaching qualification or a subject degree, plus experience with children of your children’s ages. In the U.S., this means they must have a state teaching license or a bachelor’s degree in education. We verify every qualification with the issuing institution before you see the profile.
How much does a governess cost?
According to Morgan & Mallet’s 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report, a full-time governess in the U.S. earns between $70,000 and $130,000 gross annually. Their qualifications, language fluency, travel in the role, and number of children all determine where their salary falls. Employer costs in the form of placement fees and health insurance also add to the cost.
Can a governess travel with us?
Yes, they can travel and provide steady schooling as you move between homes and time zones. We get frequent requests for a traveling governess role. Placing these roles can take longer, so it is best to let us know your travel schedule from the first call.
Can a governess homeschool our children?
A governess-tutor or private educator can lead a complete homeschooling program for your child. They build the curriculum, conduct regular assessments, and note your child’s progress just like how it’s done in school. Homeschooling rules vary state by state in the U.S. Where we can, we will match you with a governess-tutor who has taught under your state’s requirements.
How quickly can you place a governess?
For a straightforward full-time role, a shortlist usually reaches you in one to two weeks. But hybrid roles, unusual schedules, and rare language combinations can make the search longer. Your recruiter will give you an estimated timeframe for the search from the first call.
Get in touch to hire a governess
Call Morgan & Mallet on +1 (646)965-2308 or get in touch online.
For current governess openings, visit our governess jobs page.
New York
office address
260 Madison Avenue, 8th floor, 10016, New York, NY - United States
phone
+1 (646)965-2308
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
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
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed