To meet growing and increasingly complex demands, family offices are seeking to strengthen their expertise. This need is resulting in a wave of recruitment, primarily benefiting experienced professionals.

A "career of the future." This is how the French Family Office Association (AFFO) described the profession of family officer in a recent statement. It's true that this profession, still relatively unknown at the beginning of the century, has become indispensable to a growing number of families with substantial assets. "We are also seeing a better understanding and recognition of the added value brought by family offices," explains Christophe Achard, president of the multi-family office Intuitae and a board member of the AFFO. "As proof, we are increasingly being consulted in the context of calls for tenders."

This trend stems from a combination of factors. “Businesses are currently growing and being sold at an increasingly rapid pace, thus inflating family fortunes,” observes Jean-Marie Paluel Marmont, president of the AFFO (French Association of Family Offices). “Furthermore, we are witnessing a surge in the transfer of family businesses and a strong desire to ensure the long-term viability of these assets. Family offices are specifically designed to support these processes.” Indeed, the role of the family officer is intrinsically linked to a family business, which is confronted both with managing its assets and with governance challenges.

“The entrepreneur then needs a conductor who has a global and transgenerational vision of the family's assets,” adds Jean-Marie Paluel Marmont. “To this end, the family office coordinates different professions (financial experts, tax specialists, lawyers, real estate specialists, legal professionals) with whom it will identify and analyze the family's needs, advise them on the management of their financial assets, investments, succession plans, governance, or philanthropy, and then ensure their follow-up.”

Evolving needs

To meet these needs, family offices are increasingly developing and expanding their expertise. “Some single-family offices (which only handle one family) are turning to multi-family offices as external partners in areas where they lack in-house expertise, while others are transforming directly into multi-family offices,” observes Christophe Achard. “Many of them are readily recruiting new specialists to complement their teams.” These decisions are all the more crucial given the evolving nature of some families’ assets and investment strategies. “For example, we are currently seeing an internationalization of families, their assets, and even some of their members moving abroad for personal or professional reasons,” notes Thierry de Poncheville, head of a single-family office and vice-president of the AFFO (French Association of Family Offices). “We must adapt to this context of internationalization to best advise them on marriage contracts, inheritance matters, or even real estate investments abroad.”

Among the skills that have become key today are expertise in private equity, real estate engineering, and family governance . “We are increasingly called upon to help families share the same values, a common project and vision, a family bond, but also to train and inform the new generations,” continues Christophe Achard. This leads family offices to focus on very specific profiles. “They primarily recruit three main types of profiles: financial profiles in wealth engineering, internationally agile legal profiles, and profiles with in-depth knowledge of the real estate investment sector ,” explains Harold Valat , Partner at Vauban Executive Search .

Multifaceted expertise

As such, a family officer must meet several criteria. While there is no specific training program for this profession, certain master's degrees in wealth management are recognized within the industry, such as those offered by the universities of Bordeaux, Paris Dauphine, Clermont-Ferrand, and ESSEC. More than formal training, it is primarily the candidate's expertise that will make the difference. "Moreover, the family office sector is very closed and often recruits from among its service providers ," observes Martin Louvet , partner at Yourway Human Resources. Many employees have previously worked in the banking sector or have held positions in financial management, M&A, or law. Furthermore, recruiters also pay close attention to candidates' commitment to transparency, integrity, and confidentiality. "Trust and discretion are essential qualities for anyone working within a family office team," maintains Martin Louvet. Finally, they must have a keen sense of listening. "Whatever their area of ​​expertise, all must have an affinity for the management characteristics specific to a family environment and a keen sense of human relations ," insists Jean-Marie Paluel Marmont.

While these prerequisites naturally limit the pool of potential candidates, the proposed compensation levels, identical to those traditionally applied in the asset management sector, are quite appealing. "They range from €38,000 per year for a junior to €120,000 for a director, with €70,000 for a manager," adds Harold Valat . These fixed salaries are generally supplemented by variable bonuses, mostly discretionary, to ensure the most objective advice possible.

https://www.optionfinance.fr/communautes/carrieres/family-officer-une-profession-en-devenir.html#:~:text=%C2%ABD'ailleurs%2C%20le%20family,associ%C3%A9%20chez%20Yourway%20Human%20Resources.&text=%C2%ABLa%20confiance%20et%20la%20discr%C3%A9tion,office%C2%BB%2C%20soutient%20Martin%20Louvet.