What should family offices look for when hiring their first CEO or CIO?

As they grow, many successful family offices reach a point where the informal management structures they have traditionally relied on start to feel the strain. When that moment arrives, appointing a dedicated CEO or CIO is one of the most important decisions a family can make. 

The stakes are high. CEOs and CIOs have a huge impact on professionalism, culture, and governance – and getting it wrong can be costly and highly disruptive. In a small, tightly knit environment where relationships carry enormous weight, the impact of a single senior hire is amplified far beyond what you’d see in a larger corporate setting.

Hiring for a senior role in a family office? Download our Family Office Remuneration Guide

Getting the timing right

Timing is important: hiring for senior positions can take months to secure the right fit, so acting early once a need is identified is crucial. In our experience, there are a few common triggers that prompt families to take this step, most often: 

• The portfolio has expanded into asset classes that demand specialist oversight, such as private equity, venture capital, or direct real estate.
• A generational transition is underway or on the immediate horizon, with the next generation seeking more structured reporting and governance than their predecessors required.
• The office is establishing a presence in a new jurisdiction with regulatory and operational demands that stretch beyond the family’s internal capabilities.

The skills that matter

Technical competence is a given at this level. Any serious candidate for a family office CEO or CIO role will bring strong credentials and a credible track record. What separates the right candidate from a merely qualified one is a subtler blend of qualities: emotional intelligence, discretion, adaptability, and the ability to navigate complex family dynamics with patience and diplomacy.

A CEO appointment typically calls for someone with strength in governance, operations, and stakeholder management who can professionalise the office without alienating the family. A CIO, on the other hand, needs deep investment expertise, experience in portfolio construction, and the confidence to present and defend an investment strategy to family members who may hold strong views of their own.

In either case, though, the foundational requirements are similar: the incoming executive has to be comfortable operating with a lean team and wearing multiple “hats”. This is something that candidates coming from large institutions sometimes struggle to adjust to.

Cultural fit and building trust

If there is one factor that consistently determines whether a first CEO or CIO appointment succeeds, it’s cultural fit. A candidate may have an impeccable CV, but if they cannot build genuine trust with the family, the relationship will fail sooner or later. Many families appointing a senior executive for the first time are not accustomed to formal reporting lines or delegated authority: the new executive has to adapt to this pace and style, earning credibility over time rather than attempting to force their own “best practice” from day one.

That’s not to say that the right individual is someone who passively slots into the family way of doing things. Families hiring at this level want someone who will bring fresh thinking and challenge assumptions. But the skill is in how a CEO or CIO manages this while navigating established values, working practices, and interpersonal dynamics.

Where do the best candidates come from?

Family offices often start their search by looking at talent from private equity firms and single or multi-family office environments. These professionals are accustomed to managing complex portfolios while maintaining close client relationships – although the total talent pool is limited.

In our experience, widening the scope is a strategic move. Strong candidates for family office CEO/CIO positions frequently emerge from private banking, wealth management, fund administration, or legal and fiduciary backgrounds – although there may be a wider culture gap to bridge.

Ultimately, it’s about finding talented individuals who are capable of transitioning from an institutional environment to embrace the fluid, agile nature of family office operations. It’s less about where they’ve come from, more about how well they can adapt. 

How Victus can help

At Victus, we’ve developed long-term relationships with family offices across the UK, Channel Islands, Europe, the US and Asia. As a result, we’re able to combine a deep understanding of family office operations and business culture with a global, trusted network of active and passive talent across the full span of professional services backgrounds. And in addition to introducing our family office clients to highly qualified professionals, we can assist in structuring the most attractive package, blending competitive remuneration with long-term incentives.

If you’re representing a family office looking to fill a key C-suite role, contact us to discuss your requirements in confidence. You may also find it useful to review our recent publication: the Family Office Remuneration Guide (UK and Crown Dependencies).