The Director of Residences
Domestic Services
What is a Director of Residences?
A Director of Residences is the senior operational authority inside a private estate or multi property portfolio. This is not a traditional Estate Manager role. It is executive level leadership embedded at the highest level of private residential management.
Where an Estate Manager oversees daily function - a Director of Residences designs and governs the entire operating structure. They establish household systems, policies, and reporting frameworks; lead and manage senior staff such as Estate Managers, House Managers, Executive Personal Assistants, security teams, and key vendors; and oversee complex property operations across multiple residences.
They are responsible for substantial budget oversight, approving expenditures, coordinating renovations and capital projects, and guiding long term property planning. Just as importantly, they mitigate risk through compliance, documentation, and employment best practices while serving as a strategic liaison between principals, family offices, legal counsel, and operational teams.
This role exists in sophisticated environments; layered staffing structures, multiple estates, high asset value, frequent travel, elevated security considerations, or intergenerational households with shifting needs. A Director of Residences ensures a private residence operates like a well run enterprise, with defined authority, financial discipline, and accountable leadership.
Those with more hospitality driven needs, may also consider a Lifestyle Manager.
To learn more about working with a Director of Residences, or to begin the placement process, we invite you to connect for a consultation.
Operational Scope & Structural Authority
A Director of Residence works at the highest level of the estate, defining how the portfolio of properties is organized, governed, and sustained over time.
Their authority often includes:
Designing and implementing household systems, policies, and reporting structures
Overseeing senior staff leadership and layered management teams
Establishing budget controls and financial tracking processes
Creating compliance protocols to reduce employment and liability risk
Supervising capital improvements, renovations, and property infrastructure projects
Coordinating cross property operations for multi estate portfolios
Aligning residential operations with family office, legal, and security frameworks
This is a role grounded in governance, continuity, and operational discipline; ensuring the residence runs with clarity, accountability, and strategic oversight.
What Background Does a Director of Residence Typically Have?
Most Directors of Residence have formal education in hospitality management, business, finance, architecture, or real estate. Many hold advanced degrees or executive level training and bring years of senior leadership experience within complex operational environments.
Some come from military, law enforcement, aviation, or logistics backgrounds, where structure, discretion, and disciplined oversight are foundational. Others rise through private estate leadership roles, developing deep financial fluency and operational command over time.
What unites them is not simply service experience, but leadership grounded in systems thinking, accountability, and long term stewardship.
Questions and Answers
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The Director of Residences becomes appropriate when residential operations reach a level of complexity that requires executive oversight - multiple estates, layered staffing structures, substantial annual budgets, active capital projects, heightened security considerations, or coordination with a family office.
This role addresses complexity, not scale alone. The Director provides structure, governance, and continuity across environments that demand more than day to day supervision.
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Not typically. Instead, it strengthens them. A Director of Residence provides alignment and oversight for senior staff, ensuring roles are clearly defined and systems function cohesively.
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It replaces informal or personality driven management with structure.
When expectations, budgets, and reporting are clearly defined, the residence runs more smoothly, and with far less friction over time.
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Both, though, primarily strategic. A Director of Residence builds the structure others operate within. They may step in when needed, but their value lies in creating clarity, accountability, and continuity across the whole portfolio of properties.
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An Estate Manager is responsible for operating the estate efficiently. A Director of Residence is responsible for how the estate is structured and governed.
An Estate Manager focuses on execution; staffing, maintenance, service delivery, vendor coordination, and the daily operational standard.
A Director of Residence focuses on architecture; defining reporting lines, approving budgets, implementing compliance frameworks, aligning leadership, and building the systems that guide how the estate runs.
Both are senior roles. The difference is orientation: one manages operations; the other establishes the operational framework and oversight that sustains them long term.
How to Hire a Director of Residences.
At The Grocery Store, The Anti-Agency, the process begins with a thoughtful conversation about the leadership your estate requires. From there, the role is carefully defined and a discreet, highly selective search is conducted to identify candidates with the experience, judgment, and operational depth appropriate to the position.
The Grocery Store places Directors of Residences across major residential, metropolitan, and resort destinations:
Southern California, Los Angeles, Malibu, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, and surrounding communities
Northern California, San Francisco, Atherton, Palo Alto, Woodside, and the greater Bay Area
Florida, Miami, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and neighboring coastal areas
New York City and New York State, the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, SoHo, TriBeCa, Chelsea, Brooklyn, the Hamptons, and the greater Tri-State area
Connecticut and nearby regions, Greenwich, Stamford, Westchester, and surrounding communities
New England, Boston and surrounding areas of Massachusetts, as well as Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard
The Midwest, Chicago and surrounding areas
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Maryland and Virginia
Texas, Houston, Austin, Dallas, and other major cities
The Pacific Northwest, Seattle and Portland
Resort destinations, Aspen, Colorado, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming
The Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu, Maui, and the North Shore
Nationwide, with select international placements
