A Head of Family Office is a leadership position that holds everything together within the family office. For many, the role is the most important hire they will make. It sits closely to the Principal, carriers a broad level of responsibilities – from investment, operations, governance to managing relationships, and demands the widest range of capability. It is also the least precisely defined, and the ambiguity of the role is itself part of the challenge; getting the right person for the role, sets the tone for everything that follows.
A Role Defined by the Family
Unlike the CFO or COO, whose mandates have a degree of institutional definition, the Head of Family Office role is almost entirely shaped by the specific needs of the Principals in the family. In some offices, it is essentially a general management role: overseeing the team, coordinating advisers, and ensuring the operational and investment functions run smoothly. In others, it carries significant investment responsibility, family governance accountability, or direct involvement in operating businesses.
The first task of any search at this level is to understand precisely what the role is, not purely how it appears on paper.
The Breadth of the Brief
The role of Head of Family Office demands breadth and depth in equal measure. They need to know enough about investing, accounting, and people management, without being defined by any one of them. And above all, they must navigate the complexity of family itself: competing interests, generational tensions, and shifting priorities, with intelligence, patience and political skill.
That breadth of capability is rare. The candidates who possess it are not always visible and are rarely actively looking.
The Trust Dimension
More than any other role in a family office, the Head of Family Office is defined by trust. The Principal must be willing to delegate to this person. That requires a degree of personal alignment that goes beyond professional competence. Values, communication style, working rhythms and long-term outlook must all be compatible.
The assessment process when conducting a Head of Family Office search must go deeper than a standard executive search.
When the Appointment Is Right
The right Head of Family Office transforms the experience of running a family office. The Principal gains a trusted partner who can be relied upon to act in the family’s interests with sound judgement and complete discretion. The office gains coherence — the various functions of investment, operations, reporting, and governance are held together rather than managed in parallel.
Over time, this appointment builds something more valuable still: institutional resilience. An office that does not depend entirely on the Principal for its day-to-day functioning. A structure that can absorb change, in the family, portfolio and across generations, without losing its integrity.
Our Approach at Eagle Private
We have placed Heads of Family Office across single-family offices at a range of scales and at various stages of organisational development. Each search begins with the same process: a thorough understanding of the office as it operates, the Principal’s expectations of the role and the specific profile of candidate most likely to succeed in that environment.
We present a small number of candidates. We believe in precision, and in the quality of assessment that makes precision possible. Our searches at this level are conducted on a retained basis.
Taking the Next Step
Contact our team at Eagle Private about your Head of Family Office requirements, confidentially and without obligation. All enquiries are treated in the strictest confidence.