HN- House Manager​/Family Operations- Los Altos, CA

Overview

A family in Los Altos, CA is seekig a full-time house manager/family operations professional. The role will be based in Los Altos. This role covers the household and its systems, vendors and projects (including a small renovation), family calendar and appointments, school and activity logistics, travel and visas, family-scale events, and directing the non-childcare portion of their family assistant's work. Plus the ordinary hands‑on things — mail, deliveries, errands.

The client is looking for someone with a multi‑year tenure supporting one family, who is genuinely proactive. The single most important quality is that they tell the principal what's coming rather than waiting to be asked. Someone who notices what needs doing, owns it end to end, and closes the loop without the principal tracking it. This is a normal family home, not a large estate, and the right person is comfortable both building systems and handling small things personally.

They are seeking one person to own the operating system behind their household.

Right now, their household, children’s schedules and several concurrent family projects all route through the principal. That has made her the bottleneck and leaves too little time and mental space for her work. The right person notices what needs attention, sees how the pieces connect and builds systems that make the work repeatable. They plan in anticipation rather than reacting after something becomes urgent.

This is a trusted, hands‑on individual-contributor role for someone who exercises excellent judgment, enjoys creating order and takes genuine satisfaction in making life work better.

Willingness matters more than the job description. Some days the important task is a long‑horizon application; other days it's tracking down a specific Lego piece, waiting for a delivery, or driving a child to an activity because they're in a pinch. The scale varies; the ownership doesn't. They're looking for someone who reads the small ask as normal rather than as a step down.

Schedule and location:
Monday through Friday, based in Los Altos. The role is hybrid. Administrative work can be done remotely, with regular onsite presence for oversight, vendor visits, projects and mail. There's no fixed onsite schedule; it will vary with household and project needs. Onsite time may be a brief walkthrough and check‑in, or a longer stretch with vendors. This is not a 24/7 or on‑call position.

What you’ll own
1. Looking ahead

The heart of the role:

• Knowing what’s on the horizon—deadlines, enrollment windows, renewals, appointments coming due and seasonal household needs—and surfacing it before it becomes urgent
• Bringing the principals decisions with a recommendation attached, not a pile of research
• Flagging what’s slipping before they notice it
• Building the trackers, directories and documentation that make the work repeatable, so nothing depends on anyone remembering

2. The household

• Maintaining enough regular onsite presence to notice what is drifting, determine what needs attention and make sure it is handled
• Building and maintaining a household manual: what needs doing, when, by whom and who to call
• Establishing recurring schedules for seasonal maintenance, servicing, renewals and upkeep—and making sure they happen
• Sourcing, vetting and hiring vendors using your own judgment; obtaining and comparing bids; confirming that work was completed properly and pushing back when it wasn’t
• Being onsite when needed for vendor visits and walkthroughs
• Running household projects as they come: currently, a small renovation involving the designer, architect and trades; a possible move within Los Altos; insurance, registrations, warranties and renewals; and applications and paperwork with long…