A housekeeper keeps a private home clean, organized, and running smoothly day to day. The role covers cleaning, laundry, groceries and household supplies, and often light meal prep and errands.
This page gives you a full example job description to use as a template when hiring. For everything else, see our guide to hiring a housekeeper. It covers what housekeepers do every day, salaries by country, how the role compares to a house manager, and how to hire one.
Example of a housekeeper job description
Here’s an example job description for a full-time, live-out housekeeper in a family home. The duties are what you would normally see in a private household housekeeper role. Visa and work permit rules change country to country.
Job description
A private family is looking for an experienced housekeeper to take care of the day-to-day running of their Manhattan townhouse. The home has five bedrooms across four floors, and the family entertains regularly.
The housekeeper will look after the cleaning and upkeep of the home, alongside laundry, ironing, and the grocery and pantry side. They’ll work closely with the family and any other household staff, and welcome vendors into the home when the family is out.
The role is full-time and live-out. Occasional travel to the family’s weekend property comes with extra pay.
Responsibilities
- Full housekeeping of a five-bedroom residence, including daily cleaning and regular deep cleaning
- Laundry, ironing, and wardrobe care, including shirts, suits, and delicate fabrics
- Keep living areas, bedrooms, and bathrooms tidy day to day
- Grocery shopping and pantry management, including stock rotation and restocking
- Light meal prep for the family when asked
- Welcome and coordinate with external vendors, florists, and delivery staff
- Keep the home guest-ready
Requirements
Essential experience
- Minimum 5 years as a housekeeper in a private household or high-end hospitality
- Verifiable references from HNW or UHNW private employers
- Strong with laundry, ironing, and fabric care
- Comfortable using the right cleaning products for delicate surfaces and finishes
Personal qualities
- Absolute discretion and respect for the family’s privacy
- Strong attention to detail and high personal standards
- Organised, reliable, and able to work independently
- Flexible and happy to adjust to the family’s routines
- Fluent English; a second language is a plus
Work conditions
- Full-time, live-out
- Five to six days per week, typically 8 to 10 hours per day
- Occasional travel to the family’s weekend property, with extra pay for those days
- Salary based on experience
How to adapt the job description for different homes
A housekeeper in a 1,500 square foot Manhattan apartment is doing a very different job from a housekeeper in a 10,000 square foot Greenwich estate, and the job description should reflect that.
Laurine Mallet, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet: “When a housekeeper is going to work for an individual in Belgium or France, it can be for a 500 square meter property. While in the US, it can go straight to 800 square meters or 1,000. Usually they are going to work in a team with staff. While in Europe, they can work alone.”
For a smaller home with no other staff, write the role as an all-rounder. Someone who does cleaning, laundry, light cooking, errands, and occasional pet care. For a larger home with a team, the responsibilities can be a bit narrower. The housekeeper shouldn’t be doing groceries if you also have a personal assistant, or doing the heavy laundry if you have a dedicated laundress. The clearer all sides are about the role and what’s expected, the easier the role is to fill and the longer the placement lasts.
Using this job description
Change the responsibilities and requirements sections to match your brief, this is just a template for guidance. The details that change things most are the size of the home, whether the role is live-in or live-out, and whether laundry and ironing sit inside the role or with a separate laundress.
Morgan & Mallet places housekeepers in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Geneva, and Dubai. If you’d like us to refine a job description for your housekeeper recruitment, or help you hire, get in touch online or call us on +1(646)965-2308.
Looking for a position as a housekeeper? Have a look at our latest vacancies on the Morgan & Mallet job board.