Close protection officers, security drivers licensed to protect as well as to drive, and residential security teams, appointed permanently by principals, families and family offices.
Close protection is the appointment where fit matters most and where a mistake is least recoverable. The officer will be in the car, in the house, at the school gate and on holiday. They will know the routine, the addresses, the names of the children and a great deal else that the household would not choose to make public. Competence is the entry requirement; discretion and temperament are what actually decide the appointment.
We are instructed by principals directly, by family offices acting for them, and by corporate clients protecting their executive population. In every case the officer is engaged directly by the client, on the client’s own contract and payroll, which is what allows a household to build a relationship over years rather than receive a rota of strangers.
We do not put a curriculum vitae in front of a principal on the strength of a licence and a photograph. Every candidate presented has been met, screened and judged against the specific household or organisation in question.
Requirements at this end of the market are rarely generic, and the brief is often more particular than a job title conveys.
A principal who travels constantly needs a different officer from one who works from home and wants a presence at the gate. A family with young children needs somebody who is comfortable with a school run and a birthday party, not only with an airport arrival.
The requirement you brought us may be for an officer who speaks a particular language, who is experienced around children, who will hold a full driving brief as well as a protective one, or who is prepared to travel for extended periods at short notice. All of that is taken at the brief and searched against directly.
Where the appointment is for a full-time security driver, be clear whether the role is protective driving with a close protection licence, or driving with a protective awareness. The two attract different candidates and different remuneration, and conflating them at the brief stage costs time on both sides.
Four matters that decide whether a close protection appointment holds.
A licence issued by the Security Industry Authority establishes that an individual completed the prescribed training and satisfied the licensing criteria. It says nothing about how they will conduct themselves in a family kitchen at seven in the morning, or whether they can be relied upon to say nothing about any of it afterwards.
Every candidate we introduce for a private appointment is bound by confidentiality before any detail of the household is disclosed to them, and the client’s own terms of engagement should carry the same obligation forward for the duration and beyond it.
The value of a permanent appointment is that the officer learns the routine, the vehicles, the neighbours and the exceptions. That knowledge takes months to build and is lost entirely each time the post turns over, which is why fit is worth more than speed at the shortlist.
Principals do not want their arrangements discussed, and strong candidates in post do not want their present employer to learn they are looking. We approach candidates privately and name no client until a candidate is serious and bound.
Tell us as much as you are comfortable committing to an email and no more. We will arrange a conversation, and nothing is recorded or circulated before you are content that it should be.