The global Family Office sector has expanded significantly in recent years. Deloitte's research, The Family Office Insights Series – Global Edition estimated that there are now more than 8,000 single Family Offices worldwide, an increase of roughly one-third since 2019.

This growth is intensifying competition for the professionals capable of leading and supporting increasingly sophisticated organisations. In a CNBC article quoting J.P. Morgan's 2026 Global Family Office Report, William Sinclair, global co-head of J. P. Morgan Private Bank’s Family Office practice, shared that the competition for talent is pushing operating costs steadily higher, with the average billion-dollar-plus Family Office now spending $6.6 million each year on operating costs, up from $6.1 million just two years earlier. Expertise has become more expensive precisely because it has become essential. As Family Offices take on increasingly complex responsibilities, the quality and depth of their teams are becoming central to long-term performance and resilience.

 

The growing importance of organisational capability

Family Offices today often bear little resemblance to the small, informal structures they are sometimes assumed to be. As per the findings in our Global Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report, published in collaboration with KPMG Private Enterprise, 44% of surveyed Family Offices have two or more locations. Evidently, many now manage multi-jurisdictional structures, oversee institutional-style portfolios and perform functions once associated primarily with large asset managers, investment banks and professional advisory firms.

Subsequently, investing in people has become just as important as investing capital. The quality of the team increasingly determines whether a Family Office can navigate complexity, act on opportunities and protect the family's wealth and legacy over the long term.

This does not necessarily mean building a large internal workforce. It means making deliberate decisions about which capabilities need to sit in-house, which can be accessed externally and where specialist expertise is essential to the Family Office’s objectives.

The rise of specialist expertise

Generalist skill sets that once covered most needs are being replaced by deep expertise built around a single asset class. Much of this is driven by where Family Offices are allocating capital. Real estate remains one of the largest alternative asset classes within many portfolios and, at Agreus we have seen this reflected directly in our own mandates, with demand for dedicated real estate professionals increasingly noticeable over the past year.

The same pattern is emerging across private equity, venture capital and private credit, where portfolios have become sophisticated enough that each asset class increasingly requires its own specialist lead reporting into the CIO.

A second driver is the growing operational complexity facing Family Offices. As we explored in our Family Office Maturity Model, Regulatory and tax reporting requirements continue to expand across jurisdictions, cybersecurity has become a leadership priority rather than an IT afterthought, and as more families formalise governance and prepare for generational transition, demand is increasing for professionals who can build and run that infrastructure rather than simply advise on it from the outside.

The result is a hiring market that rewards depth of expertise. This specialist knowledge enables Family Offices to navigate market cycles, family transitions, and operational challenges with greater confidence while strengthening both long-term performance and organisational resilience.  In the same J.P. Morgan's report, nearly a third of Family Offices globally already rank overreliance on a single individual among their top risks to long-term continuity, underscoring exactly why that depth matters.

Building future-ready capability

As Family Offices continue to evolve, talent planning needs to keep pace. The expertise required today may look very different from that needed in five or ten years, as investment priorities shift and the next generation assumes greater responsibility.

Long-term capability planning means anticipating future skill requirements rather than reacting once gaps become apparent. The most successful Family Offices recognise that expertise is a strategic investment, rather than simply an operational cost.

As Family Offices evolve, so too do the capabilities required to support them. Agreus works closely with Family Offices to identify the talent they need, connecting families with the right professionals at the right time. Speak to Agreus about how we can help you identify, attract and retain the specialist expertise needed for the future.