The Calendar Group

Hiring guide

Majordomo

The head of your household — a senior figure who directs staff and service with the polish of a butler and the authority of a manager.

Begin a search for this role(877) 404-5290

Compensation

$150,000–$250,000 base

Typical base compensation, major U.S. markets, 2026. Scope, travel, and household complexity move the range.

We advise on offer structure — schedule, housing, benefits, bonus — before every search. The right package is how great people stay.

Majordomo is the oldest title in private service, and in the right household it is still the truest one: the head of the house. The majordomo directs the staff, sets the tone of service, stands at the door when guests arrive, and carries the standards of the household in their person. Part butler, part manager, entirely accountable.

The role suits formal households — homes that entertain seriously, keep a full staff, and want service led from the front rather than administered from an office. Where an estate manager works from a desk and a punch list, the majordomo works from the floor: tasting the menu with the chef, walking the table before guests sit, correcting a footman's placement with a glance.

It is a senior hire, typically someone with decades in service, and the presence is part of what you are paying for. When the majordomo is good, everyone in the house — staff and guest alike — quietly raises their game.

What the role owns

  • Lead and direct all household staff and daily service
  • Set and enforce standards of service, etiquette, and presentation
  • Orchestrate dinners, receptions, and formal entertaining
  • Manage the household calendar and the principals' domestic needs
  • Oversee the wine cellar, silver, and household collections
  • Coordinate between chef, housekeeping, and front-of-house staff
  • Receive guests and manage arrivals, departures, and visits
  • Handle staff scheduling, training, and day-to-day discipline

What great looks like

A great majordomo commands a room without raising their voice; staff read a look the way musicians read a conductor.

They can serve the table themselves, flawlessly, which is precisely why the staff never lets it come to that.

They hold the institutional memory of the house — every guest's preferences, every anniversary, every seat at every dinner for years.

They train constantly and informally, so the standard survives any single resignation.

They manage upward with candor: when a plan will not serve you well, you hear it privately, once, and early.

Interview questions worth asking

  1. 01

    Describe the most formal household you have led — staff size, entertaining schedule, and how service was structured.

  2. 02

    How do you train a mixed staff — some formally trained, some not — to a single standard?

  3. 03

    Walk me through the forty-eight hours before a seated dinner for twenty-four. What do you personally check?

  4. 04

    Tell me about a time you had to correct a senior staff member. How did you do it, and what happened after?

  5. 05

    What traditions of service do you insist on keeping, and which have you let go as the world changed?

Questions

Hiring a majordomo, answered.

How is a majordomo different from a butler?
Authority. The butler serves; the majordomo leads. A majordomo directs the full staff, owns the standard of the house, and typically has butlers, housemen, and housekeepers reporting to them. Most majordomos rose through butling and can still out-serve anyone on their team — but you are hiring them to run the household, not to pour the wine.
How does a majordomo differ from an estate manager?
Orientation. The estate manager's world is operational — budgets, vendors, systems, projects. The majordomo's world is service — staff, guests, table, tone. Formal households with significant property often employ both, working as partners. If you had to caricature it: the estate manager knows when the boiler was serviced; the majordomo knows which guest cannot sit next to which.
Is the role too formal for a modern household?
The title is traditional; the work adapts. Plenty of contemporary households want exactly this — service led in person, a house that runs on standards rather than reminders — without any of the theater. Candidates today range from classically trained Europeans to hotel-bred Americans. If your instinct says the word feels heavy, the role may still fit; we can talk through what to call it.
What experience should we require?
Look for a long arc: formal service training or a serious hotel foundation, then years as a butler, then leadership of a staffed household. References should include principals and the staff who worked under them — how the team speaks about a former majordomo tells you nearly everything. Be wary of impressive titles from households too small to have tested them.

Begin

Looking for a majordomo?

Tell us about the household and the role. A senior advisor — not a coordinator — will come back to you within one business day.

Held in confidence. No obligation.