Associate Partner — Strategy & Advisory to Private Families

Associate Partner Level and Title - Chief of Staff — Private Family Advisory

London · Full-time · Retained and confidential search

Luxury Executive is retained on this appointment. Our client is not accepting direct applications.

The opportunity

Our client is an advisory firm working with a small number of international families of significant wealth. The firm advises on the decisions that shape a family over time — education, health and longevity, relocation, the professional teams around them, governance and succession.

Families at this level are well served by specialists in every individual field. What is rare is a single relationship that holds the whole picture, thinks across it, and makes sure the right people are brought together and the work is done properly. That is the firm's purpose.

The firm is at an early stage and building carefully. This is a senior appointment into a small, established team.

The role

You will work alongside a Partner who holds the client relationship, and you will be responsible for making sure the work behind it happens to an exceptional standard.

In practice, that means shaping how a complex situation should be approached, identifying what matters most at any given moment, commissioning and managing the specialists who deliver, and holding several live engagements together across more than one family. Priorities change frequently and situations rarely follow a precedent. The role suits someone who brings structure to unclear problems and is comfortable forming a recommendation rather than waiting for direction.

You will attend client meetings with the Partner and, over time, become a trusted presence in your own right.

Responsibilities

• Lead client engagements from initial priority through to completed outcome
• Assess and prioritise across a Partner's portfolio and advise on what needs attention
• Shape the approach to situations where no established process exists
• Act as a sounding board to the Partner, testing thinking and offering an independent view
• Identify, brief and manage external specialists and providers, holding them to the firm's standard
• Prepare briefing material and recommendations for senior audiences
• Anticipate difficulties early and maintain progress when circumstances change
• Hold continuity of relationships, commitments and information across the portfolio
• Improve how the work is done, including through AI and other tools, so that the team's time is spent where it matters most
• Support and develop colleagues working on your engagements

Experience

We expect candidates to demonstrate:

• Substantial experience in a senior support, delivery or advisory role, working closely with a principal, founder, family or senior executive
• A track record of running several complex workstreams simultaneously and maintaining standards when priorities shift
• Confidence to form and present a clear recommendation
• Experience managing external advisers, suppliers or specialists
• The judgement to navigate the competing relationships and frictions that arise among the various people and advisers who serve a single family
• The ability to build close, trusted relationships while retaining independence of judgement, perspective and identity — understanding people deeply without being influenced by status, wealth or lifestyle
• Excellent written communication, including the ability to reduce complexity to concise decision material
• Composure in sensitive, personal or fast-moving situations
• Absolute discretion in handling confidential information
• Comfort operating in an organisation where processes are still being established

Backgrounds we would expect to see include chief of staff, private office or family office roles; senior programme or engagement delivery; private client advisory, legal or banking; or senior support to a public figure or institution.

A strong undergraduate degree is expected. Postgraduate qualifications are welcome but not required.

This role is not

• A concierge, lifestyle or household management position
• An executive assistant or diary management role
• A sales, business development or relationship origination role
• A process-led project management role within an existing framework

What success looks like

Success in this role is felt as confidence. Clients, providers and colleagues trust that whatever you are holding will be handled, that complex engagements are orchestrated without anything being dropped, and that the standard holds however demanding the work. You become a steadying presence in client situations without needing to own them.

Compensation and practicalities

Base salary of approximately £100,000, plus discretionary bonus. The package will be structured around the successful candidate.

The role is based in London and is office-based. Applicants must hold the existing right to work in the United Kingdom.

Progression is assessed on demonstrated capability rather than length of service, and there is a defined route to a more senior appointment for the right individual.

Application

Please apply through LinkedIn, or send your CV to [email protected].

We would ask that you include a short note, no more than half a page, describing one occasion on which you managed a complex situation with incomplete information, coordinated several senior or specialist parties, and made a recommendation in another person's interests.

All applications are treated in the strictest confidence. The client is identified during the first conversation.