Assistant Household Manager

We are currently helping our client, a high net-worth family office, with their search for an Assistant Household Manager for a private residence located in Washington, DC.

The position of Assistant Household Manager reports to the Household Operations Manager and is responsible for providing exquisite service to the principal, family, and guests in a private residence. The primary duties include both Household and Event/Meal service support.

Private Party/Events Service duties include formal table setting, dinner service, greet and accommodate guests, cocktail service, dinner clean up, event-assistance, occasional errands, assist with inventory and checklists and any additional daily duties assigned by their manager. The candidate must have experience working for a private client with expert knowledge and a proven track record of service etiquette, discernment, and discretion. Additionally, the candidate must be able to work independently and cohesively integrate as an interdependent team member with excellent interpersonal skills.

Hospitality duties include maintaining, improving, and creating programs supporting the clients’ preferences for household cleaning, linen and laundry services, and food and beverage inventory at the residence and executive offices. This person also provides feedback to the Household Operations Manager regarding the housekeeping contract, provides a variety of household and personal services requiring highly efficient cross-organization communication, oversees quality control, and uses project management and problem-solving skills to retain and apply knowledge of principal housekeeping preferences.

Within the realm of Hospitality, and in support of the Personal Services Manager, this position will help oversee the principal’s wardrobe, including procurement, staging, caring for, and packing of all clothing items.

Core Responsibilities:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the core responsibilities.

Private Party and Event Responsibilities

• Hospitality mindset, responsible for crafting and executing the highest standards of meal and beverage table service for family and guests.
• Ensures service is consistent and aligned with family and guest preferences with direction from the Household Operations Manager and Head of Culinary Services.
• Partners with the culinary and household team along with other business partners to plan and curate exceptional dining and entertainment experiences.
• Confidently answers questions about the menu and address any guest concerns or requests.
• Practices at and strives to gain additional knowledge of cuisine, spirits, wine, and food pairings.
• Organizes, transports, and leads the setup of glassware, dinnerware and other associated side work for meal and beverage services.
• Support Hospitality and Culinary Teams, not limited to the setup and breakdown of various sized events and dinner parties.
• Practices positive personal hygiene and cleanliness for exceptional presentations.
• Effectively communicates with regular, accurate, and timely information flow to the management team, staff, and other departments as necessary.
• Assists the culinary team with oversight of catering teams during large events.
• Event floral coordination and ordering.
• Performs post-meal/event staging and clean up.
• Follow defined guidelines, practices, and SOP’s.
• Demonstrates the ability to effectively work as a team player focused on common goals and positive outcomes.
• Willingness to assist other departments to meet daily demands while ensuring continued hospitality and service.

Housekeeping Responsibilities:

• Oversee housecleaning services, providing daily guidance for cleaning and principal preferences.
• Overall responsibility for daily cleanliness and organization of Principals’ main residence and offsite office, professional culinary kitchen, and staff office spaces by directing the cleaning services vendor and providing direction and feedback in-line with client and staff preferences.
• Establishes, distributes, improves, and monitors processes for cleaning. Including but not limited to:
• Daily work assignments are tasked appropriately.
• General cleaning standards are followed with attention to specialty décor and furniture items.
• Equipment and supplies are appropriate and sufficient to perform high quality service.
• Staff training is consistent with established processes.
• Shared responsibility for daily opening of main residence, clearing out personal items prior to work being done, to maintain client privacy.
• Shared responsibility for overseeing household and facility vendors.
• Shared responsibility for collecting documents and communicating client requests in a timely manner to ensure coordination among stakeholders, including executive offices, hospitality, cleaning staff, facilities, culinary, security, creative services, landscapers, and vendors.
• Adjusts swiftly to in-the-moment changes and evolving preferences of the clients.
• Reviews daily access and long-term schedules for changes and conflicts.
• Extrapolates how changes affect daily cleaning, laundry, and food stock services and communicates changes in a timely manner to maintain service continuity in the most efficient and effective manner.
• Manages and tracks periodic cleaning tasks that occur monthly, quarterly, and annually.
• Conducts routine inspections of local properties to monitor cleaning, maintenance, and inventories.
• Oversees daily collection and return of laundry; processes clothing, household linens and towels returned from cleaning.
• Serves as backup for laundry services, wardrobe packing & staging in the event of illness or vacation.
• Oversees procurement, organization, and tracking of staff break room items at office.

Wardrobe Responsibilities:

• In collaboration with the Wardrobe team, oversees the care, procurement, presentation, and packing of the Principal’s personal wardrobe. Wardrobe Packing for Personal and Business Travel
• Wardrobe is right-sized for trip – no excess.
• Wardrobe is consistently packed to exacting preferences.
• Checklists are utilized and consistently updated.
• Suitcases and garment bags are maintained to exact standards.
• Collaborate with Principal Support and Household teams to ensure adherence to deadlines.
• Create and maintain a wardrobe experience in keeping with exacting preferences.
• Innovate solutions to enhance wardrobe storage, including the development of custom solutions.
• Maintain inventories of stock items and replenish, as needed.
• Provide direction to Remote Estate teams for wardrobe refresh pre/post Principal visits.
• Travel to local and out-of-state properties for maintenance of wardrobe and restock.
• Liaison with Laundress, Tailor, Cobbler, Jeweler and external vendors
• Travel to remote estates & other destinations to support principal needs ? Wardrobe & room preferences
• Food & beverage provisioning
• Procurement of activity equipment and vendors
• Event set up and service assistance

Supervisory Responsibilities: May oversee daily work activities of employees, contract staff and/or vendors but does not directly manage employees.

Education and Experience:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent combination of experience and education.

Experience:

• 5 years of experience in a hospitality or service environment.
• Experience working in a private estate, private yacht, or other hospitality environment.
• Proficient using MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel) and familiarity with the internet.

Skills and Abilities:

• Extensive knowledge of food, wine, and spirits.
• Ability to seamlessly shift and balance between Household and Culinary responsibilities.
• Must be able to perform a variety of duties, often changing from one task to another with frequent distractions.
• Must be able to adjust priorities quickly as circumstances dictate.
• Ability to interact appropriately with colleagues for different purposes in different contexts.
• Ability to synthesize information from multiple sources.
• Ability to interpret and present clear, accurate, and concise written and verbal communications and presentations.
• Ability to constantly strive for improvements in work processes and outcomes to better meet client's defined expectations.
• Ability to solve problems and/or escalate issues that require higher level approval and intervention.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and privacy.
• Confidence to handle any situation with grace and professionalism.

Travel Requirements:

• Domestic or International travel may be required but limited to 20% of the total work time.

Expected Hours of Work:

• This position requires the availability to work some evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Background Check Requirements:

• Must be able to satisfy background check and related requirements.
• Must have a valid driver’s license with a responsible driving record and insurance. Must be willing to drive in the greater DC area as needed.

Location: Onsite in Washington DC

Full Benefits: Medical/dental/vision benefits, 401K match, sick leave, PTO, more!

Compensation Range: $90,000-$110,000 annual salary depending on experience (Salary exempt)

Eligibility: US citizens and those authorized to work in the US are encouraged to apply. Work sponsorship is not available at this time.

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