A personal assistant in a private household has very little in common with a PA in a corporate office. The job title is the same. The reality is not.
In a private home, the PA is closer to a chief of staff. They manage calendars, travel, household staff, and personal errands. Nothing reaches the principal without going through them first. The people who do this well are organized, discreet, and happy making decisions on their own.
What Does a Private Personal Assistant Actually Do?
Keep the principal’s life running so they don’t have to think about the details.
That starts with the calendar. In most households, it changes by the hour. Meetings move, flights get rebooked, dinners get added. The PA keeps all of it straight and makes sure nothing clashes. Travel is a big part of it too. Flights, hotels, transfers, restaurants, all across different time zones.
Morgan Richez, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet: “You need someone who can handle your bookings, hotels, restaurants, and travel. Our clients are very busy. They need someone who keeps everything running.”
Everyone who needs the principal goes through the PA. Household staff, vendors, the family office, lawyers, accountants. The PA decides what’s worth the principal’s time and what isn’t.
In a lot of homes, the PA also handles hiring. They look through applicants and only send the best ones on to the family office director or the principal. Budgets and expenses usually end up with the PA too.
And events. Private dinners, charity fundraisers, house guests. The PA pulls it all together.
A Private PA Role in Practice
When Morgan Richez worked as a chauffeur-butler for a well-known Italian fashion designer in London, the household had a private chef, three butlers, and a domestic couple. Big team. But it was the PA who made everything work.
She planned staff schedules weeks ahead. When the principal was in Paris, the domestic couple kept the London property ticking over. The moment he was back, every detail went through her. Calendar, itineraries, which staff were on site, how the day was going to run.
Without her, the rest of the team would have been guessing.
What It Takes to Be a Good Private PA
Laurine Mallet, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet, says personality comes first. Then discretion. Then skills. She’ll place someone with the right instincts and strong judgment over a candidate with a perfect CV who can’t read a room.
You can’t train discretion. A private PA sees bank statements, personal letters, things that aren’t their business. They need to act like they didn’t. If a candidate talks too freely about a previous employer in our interview, we know they’ll do the same in your home.
Ellie Littlechild, recruiter at Morgan & Mallet: “Last-minute travel changes, vendor issues before guests arrive, expense approvals under pressure. These moments show you how someone really works.”
Some principals want a PA who can come to events with them. That means someone who’s comfortable at a black-tie dinner and can hold a conversation with anyone in the room.
Morgan Richez flags a growing problem with applications: “When there are so many spelling mistakes or AI-written CVs from candidates applying for communication-heavy roles like personal assistant, it shows a lack of care.”
Education, Training, and Skills
No single qualification is required. But some training helps.
In the UK and Europe, the Institute of Executive Assistants and Administrators is the main accredited body. Global Assistant Online and IAP Career College both run PA courses. Coursera has the Certified Administrative Professional program through IAAP.
On the tech side, Google Suite and Apple certifications are useful. When a household has properties in three countries and staff in different time zones, the PA needs to know their way around shared calendars, cloud documents, and tools like Trello or Asana for managing tasks across a team.
Experience counts for more though. Strong references from former employers are what really matter.
Every candidate we place does a 90-minute interview with us. We call their former employers directly, go through the last five to seven years of work history, and run criminal background checks.
Work Conditions
Most private PA roles are full time. Some are live-in. Others are live-out with regular hours on paper, but those hours stretch when the principal needs something at 9pm on a Saturday.
Morgan Richez: “For personal assistants today, you need to offer at least one or two days of home office. If you present a role as Monday to Friday in the office, people won’t take it anymore.”
Employers don’t always like hearing that. Trusting someone to work from home when you don’t know them yet is hard. But the best candidates expect it. If you don’t offer it, they’ll find someone who does.
Salary
From the Morgan & Mallet 2025/26 Household Staff Annual Report:
| Country | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| USA | $90,000 to $180,000 |
| UAE | AED 120,000 to AED 200,000 |
| UK | £50,000 to £100,000 |
| France | €45,000 to €60,000 |
| Monaco | €90,000 to €120,000 |
| Belgium | €50,000 to €80,000 |
| Switzerland | CHF 90,000 to CHF 130,000 |
Types of Personal Assistant Roles
Administrative PA: Office-based. Schedules, meetings, correspondence. Less personal life management than other PA roles and the most common type outside private households.
Celebrity PA: NDAs are standard here. The line between personal and professional doesn’t exist. The calendar changes hourly and the PA is on call at all times. Our Los Angeles office places many of these. About 84% of those candidates have worked for families worth over $30 million.
Family PA: This one is about the whole household, not just the principal. Staff schedules, children’s schools and activities, household finances sometimes. It often overlaps with what a house manager does.
Executive PA: Finance companies, private equity firms, and hedge funds come to us for these. Morgan Richez: “The executive assistant is more for corporate, but sometimes they manage the personal side as well. We place two or three a month in New York and three to five in Dubai.
Sample Job Description for a Private Household PA
This is based on real roles we fill. Adapt it to your household.
Job title: Personal Assistant to Principal
Location: [City. State whether travel to other properties is required.]
Hours: Full time. Flexibility required for evenings and weekends when the principal’s schedule changes. [State whether home office days are offered.]
Live-in / live-out: [Specify. If live-in, describe the accommodation.]
Salary: [Range. Include whether an NDA premium applies.]
The role:
You will manage the principal’s calendar, travel, and day-to-day logistics. This includes booking flights, hotels, restaurants, and transport across multiple time zones. You will coordinate with household staff, outside vendors, and the family office. You will handle household budgets, expenses, and personal errands.
You may also manage the early stages of hiring for other household positions, coordinate private events and dinners, and oversee schedules for other staff.
Discretion is essential. You will have access to personal and financial information that stays between you and the principal.
What we’re looking for:
- At least three years of experience in a private household or similar PA role
- Strong references from former employers
- Comfortable managing a calendar that changes daily
- Confident with travel booking across time zones
- Able to work with household staff, family offices, and external contacts
- Clean criminal background check
- [Add any language, driving, or location-specific requirements]
What we offer:
- [Salary range]
- [Benefits: health insurance, paid time off, travel expenses]
- [If live-in: accommodation details, meals, utilities]
- Three-month supported onboarding with regular check-ins
This is a template. Every household is different. If you need help writing a job description for your specific situation, call us and we’ll do it with you.
For Candidates
Morgan & Mallet places personal assistants with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families and executives worldwide. Our database holds over 56,300 vetted candidates. We have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, and Dubai.
Submit your CV through our website and browse open positions.
For Employers
Call us on +1 (917) 843-5691 (US) or +44 20 4578 6249 (UK), or email contact@morganmallet.agency.
We reply within 24 hours.