Roles we place
Estate security
The best estate security is felt rather than seen: a gate that is always answered, a drive that is always watched and a family that never has to think about either.
| Usually engaged by | Estates with a gatehouse, and families with a public profile |
|---|---|
| Live-in | Rarely; shift work |
| Our search | Retained, about eight weeks |
| Placed in 2025 | Nine |
The roles we place
Martin Hendry places three kinds of estate security staff:
- Residential security officers, who staff a gatehouse or patrol an estate on a rota, manage its systems and keep its visitor log.
- Heads of security for private estates, who run the team, the systems and the household’s security arrangements at home and away, in close partnership with the house manager.
- Protective drivers, trained in defensive and evasive driving, who drive the family and know when not to take the usual road.
We do not place armed staff, and we do not place staff to provide close protection outside the household. Families who need either are introduced to firms that do.
Who we look for
Most of the officers we place have served in law enforcement or the military and have since worked in private security. We look for judgment, courtesy and a temperament that finds long quiet hours restful. We look in particular for people who understand that they work in a home, where the children will come to know them by name and the family’s guests will not want to know them at all.
Security and the rest of the household
The household’s security staff and its domestic staff must work as one. Under the Residence Code, the head of security and the house manager agree together the household’s arrangements for keys, codes, visitors, deliveries and the movements of staff, and review them each quarter. Martin will, if a household asks, review those arrangements himself before a placement begins.