Job Details

Title: Full-time Estate Manager

Web Job #: 11029

Salary

$170,000.00

Job Date

6/1/2026

Location

Montecito, California

Schedule

Full-time with the ability to travel to Kauai and Colorado as needed. All travel-related costs are paid for by the clients.

Children

Four school aged children.

Duties

The Estate Manager is responsible for ensuring seamless continuity, consistency, and high standards across all three properties, serving as the central point of oversight rather than duplicating on-site management. This includes maintaining a clear, real-time understanding of operations, open items, and upcoming needs at each property, ensuring homes are fully prepared for family arrivals, and upholding established standards through strong relationships with on-site managers and vendors. The Estate Manager will oversee capital projects and renovations from start to finish, maintain household manuals and vendor networks, and provide the principals with concise, actionable updates that keep them informed without requiring follow-up.

In addition to property oversight, the Estate Manager leads the household team with clarity, warmth, and accountability. This includes directly managing the Kauai and Colorado property managers, overseeing ranch staff in coordination with leadership on-site, and maintaining a strong working relationship with the Montecito property management firm. The role also involves recruiting and onboarding new staff as needed, fostering a collaborative and professional culture, and handling personnel matters with sound judgment and discretion.

The Estate Manager also manages HR administration for both household staff and the family's investment company team, ensuring all employee processes are organized, compliant, and well-executed. Responsibilities include overseeing onboarding, documentation, benefits coordination, performance tracking, payroll coordination, and maintaining up-to-date employment records, while supporting annual reviews and PTO tracking in partnership with internal stakeholders. This aspect of the role is administrative in nature, focused on execution rather than business strategy.

Event coordination and entertaining are another key component, with the Estate Manager overseeing logistics for private gatherings and larger events across properties. This includes managing vendors such as catering, rentals, and floral, ensuring each home is properly prepared and staffed, and collaborating closely with the principals and their Executive Assistant to align schedules and details. Building and maintaining strong vendor relationships in each location is essential to executing events smoothly and to a high standard.

Finally, the Estate Manager is responsible for financial oversight across the properties, including building and managing annual operating budgets, tracking expenses, reviewing invoices, and coordinating accounts payable. They provide clear, streamlined reporting to the principals, flag any out-of-cycle expenses, and approach financial management with both discipline and practicality. Above all, this role requires a proactive, ownership-driven mindset, stepping in wherever needed to ensure the household and properties operate smoothly, regardless of the task at hand.

Requirements

The ideal candidate will bring 8 to 12 or more years of experience in estate management, house management, or other senior private household roles, with multi-property experience strongly preferred. They will have a proven ability to manage and develop teams across multiple locations, along with a strong project management track record, demonstrating the ability to take on renovations, transitions, or complex events from start to finish with full ownership. Financial fluency is essential, including experience with budgeting, expense tracking, vendor negotiations, and clear reporting, as well as familiarity with HR administration such as onboarding, employment documentation, review cycles, and basic compliance. The candidate should possess strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to correspond professionally on behalf of the family with contractors, attorneys, and vendors. A valid driver's license, an insurable driving record, and the ability to travel periodically to Colorado and Hawaii are required.

Equally important, this person is genuinely warm and enjoys being around people, whether interacting with vendors, staff, or family members. They are present, not just available, showing up consistently in the home with a clear understanding of day-to-day operations and serving as a familiar, trusted presence. They are a natural leader who supports those around them rather than directing from above, and they are highly organized without being rigid, using systems and checklists as tools rather than ends in themselves. They remain calm when challenges arise, are resourceful when situations are unclear, and instinctively move toward problems to solve them. They take ownership across all aspects of the role and approach the work with a mindset that no task is beneath them, contributing wherever needed to ensure the household runs smoothly.

Preferred qualifications include familiarity with the Montecito or Santa Barbara community and established local relationships, experience working on ranches or large rural properties, and a background in event coordination or private hospitality. Comfort with smart home technology, property management software, and project management platforms is also highly desirable.

Benefits

This position is year round and offers health, dental, and vision insurance, paid time off, paid holidays, all property-related travel covered, and an annual performance bonus.

Pet Details

A friendly Golden Doodle.

Only candidates based in the Santa Barbara area will be considered.