A discreet family are hiring a director of household operations to build and run the systems behind a New York-based household. This is a full-time role with real ownership. The right person will bring structure, follow-through, and clear standards across the home, staff, vendors, and recurring family logistics.

This is not a role for someone who wants to personally handle every recurring task. The job is to build the operating structure, make ownership clear, and keep the household running at a high level without constant principal involvement.

The family is in a building phase and the household needs to support work, health, children, travel, and day-to-day execution. The family value reliability, judgment, pace, and low-drama operations over ceremony or formality for its own sake.

1. Household operating cadence

Build and maintain the master operating calendar for recurring family and household responsibilities across annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily rhythms. This includes maintenance, renewals, child and school logistics, appointments, supplies, travel readiness, seasonal preparation, and administrative deadlines.

2. Clear ownership and standards

Assign a clear owner to each recurring responsibility across staff and vendors. Define what good looks like, how work is checked, and what should be escalated.

3. Household playbook

Create and maintain a practical house manual covering standards, onboarding, handover, guest readiness, communication norms, emergency basics, and core role-specific procedures.

4. Team leadership

Lead a small, high-caliber household team. Set expectations, run regular check-ins, solve issues early, and build a stable operating rhythm. We prefer a small, strong team over unnecessary headcount growth.

5. Vendor management

Own the vendor roster across maintenance and household services. Keep standards high, pricing clear, renewals in view, and backup options available when needed.

6. Systems and tools

Own rollout and day-to-day use of the household management platform (currently Nines, or another tool if a better fit is identified early). The platform should hold the operating calendar, ownership map, key procedures, and core records.

Best-fit backgrounds include:

• operations lead or chief of staff in a founder-led or premium service business
• senior hotel or residence operations professional from a high-standards environment
• household or estate manager who has built systems, manuals, staffing structure, and vendor process

Titles matter less than proof of building order in a demanding environment. 

What Success Looks Like

This role is successful when the household runs in a predictable, well-organized way; staff and vendors know what they own; routine issues are handled without noise; and the family is not pulled into avoidable scheduling, staffing, vendor, or maintenance decisions.

Team Scope

Current operating scope includes:

• rotating childcare team
• private chef
• cleaning / housekeeping support
• outside vendors across maintenance, landscaping / gardening, pest control, handyman, and related services

The role may also hire and manage a personal assistant as the structure evolves. Finance, education, and other outside specialists are key interfaces, but not core direct reports.

Reporting Line and Authority

This role reports directly to the husband / primary principal. The wife will be an important partner in onboarding, family context, and standards, but this role has one day-to-day manager. This role has broad operating authority within the agreed scope and budget. Escalation is for true exceptions, judgment calls, or decisions that materially affect the family.

First 90 Days

By day 90, this person should have:

• built a version-one operating calendar
• assigned clear ownership across staff and vendors
• documented core standards and the main recurring processes
• reviewed the current vendor setup and fixed obvious gaps
• launched the household platform as the source of record
• established a simple reporting and escalation rhythm

Must-Haves:

• clear record of building systems, SOPs, checklists, manuals, or operating routines
• experience managing a small team and outside vendors
• strong judgment and discretion
• excellent English, written and spoken
• comfort with modern tools and household / project management platforms
• calm, direct, accountable working style
• New York-based, or able to work on site in New York with flexibility for travel as needed
• excellent references and ability to pass a standard background check
• Valid US Passport, Green Card, or EAC

• $170,000+ base DOE, up to $50,000 performance bonus, plus benefits