A private nanny looks after children in a private household. The role covers everything from morning waking and feeding to bedtime, with playtime, outings, and rest in between.
This page gives you a full example job description to use as a template when hiring. We cover lots more information about recruitment for the role on our hire a nanny page.
Example of a private nanny job description
Here’s an example brief for a full-time, live-in private nanny working with two children in a London family home, with travel to a holiday property in the Caribbean during family trips. This works for HNW families with younger children. It’s live-in, sole charge for parts of the day, and travel as part of the role.
About the family
A high-net-worth family is hiring a private nanny for their two children, aged 2 and 5. The five-year-old started reception this year, so the role covers the school day for the older child and full-time care for the younger one. Both parents work, and the nanny will often be sole charge during weekdays.
The family travels regularly, with short trips around the UK and Europe, and longer stays at their holiday home in the Caribbean over Christmas and Easter. The nanny will travel with them on most trips.
The role is full-time and live-in. The household has a housekeeper but no other childcare staff.
Responsibilities
Daily care and routine
- Run the children’s daily care, including feeding, dressing, bathing, and bedtime
- Handle the school run for the older child and plan the day at home for the younger one
- Plan and lead age-appropriate play, learning activities, and outings
- Keep the children’s rooms tidy and their clothes washed and put away
- Cook healthy meals and snacks following the parents’ dietary preferences
Health, safety, and development
- Watch for changes in mood, behaviour, sleep, or eating, and flag them to the parents early
- Manage doctor and dentist appointments and follow through on any medical advice
- Hold the boundaries and routines the parents have set
- Keep the children safe at home, on outings, and around water (the family’s holiday home has a pool)
Family coordination
- Work alongside the housekeeper without being territorial
- Talk to both parents about the day’s events, the children’s mood, and anything worth knowing
- Support the family during travel: packing for the children, helping them adjust to time zones, keeping routines as consistent as possible
Requirements
Essential
- Minimum 5 years as a private nanny in HNW households, or equivalent experience in early years education with private families
- Verifiable references from previous private families
- Up-to-date paediatric first aid and CPR
- Background check and DBS clearance (or local equivalent)
- Strong swimmer and comfortable around water
- Comfortable traveling internationally with the family for several weeks at a time
Personal qualities
- Warm, patient, and genuinely good with young children
- Discreet about what happens inside the family: what the children say, what the parents discuss, anything seen at home stays at home
- Energetic enough to keep up with a 2-year-old, calm enough to settle a 5-year-old at bedtime
- Comfortable with sole charge and able to make confident decisions when the parents aren’t around
- Fluent English; a second language a strong plus, particularly French or Spanish
Work conditions
- Full-time, live-in (private bedroom and bathroom in both the London and Caribbean homes)
- Five and a half days per week, with one full weekend off per month
- Travel with the family on most trips, with travel pay during overseas stays
- Health insurance, paid holiday, and use of a family vehicle for school runs
- Salary based on experience
Common variations on this brief
Most private nanny briefs we work on look broadly like the example above, but two come up often enough that they’re worth flagging:
- Traveling nanny. The nanny goes wherever the family goes, often spending months at a time abroad and returning to the family’s main home only between trips. Salaries are higher than for a stay-put nanny role, given the lifestyle the role asks for. This brief needs a candidate who’s free to be away from home for long stretches and happy living out of a suitcase.
- Nanny-housekeeper. Common in smaller HNW households where the family doesn’t need full-time childcare and full-time housekeeping separately. The candidate does light housework alongside the children’s care. Worth being specific in the brief about which parts of housekeeping fall inside the role and which don’t, because this is where most disappointment starts.
If the role is sole-charge for any meaningful part of the day, say that clearly in the brief. Sole-charge roles need a more experienced candidate with stronger references and clearer judgment than a role where a parent is always there.
Using this job description
Use this description as a guide to match your brief with. The details that change things most are the children’s ages, whether the role is live-in or live-out, how much travel is involved, and whether the nanny will have sole charge.
Laurine Mallet, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet, worked as a nanny before starting the agency, and is direct about the kind of discretion the role asks for, “It’s harder to say ‘it’s none of my business’ the longer you stay with a principal. You probably know more than the other person who’s trying to brag. But you need to maintain that line.”
That’s the kind of personality worth describing in the brief, even if it’s not framed as a duty.
Morgan & Mallet places nannies with HNW and UHNW families across the US, Europe, the Middle East and globally.. If you’d like us to refine a job description for your household, or help you hire, get in touch with one of our offices or call +1(646)965-2308.
Looking for a position as a nanny? Browse our current vacancies on the Morgan & Mallet nanny job board.
This job description was reviewed by Laurine Mallet, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet, who worked as a private nanny before founding the agency.