• Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Accommodation: Private master bedroom with separate bathroom offering excellent privacy
• Salary: £80,000–£90,000 gross per annum for the right candidate
• Start: Mid March or April (one to two week trial prior to start)
• Commitment: Long term preferred

A highly experienced, emotionally intelligent and psychology informed Governess is required to support a lovely family based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The role centres around three children aged 7, 9 and 11 and comes at an important transitional period for the family.

The family are seeking a true Governess who brings natural authority, emotional steadiness and exceptional capability, and who genuinely thrives on coming into a household to create structure, consistency, boundaries and calm leadership. This role is pivotal to the family’s wellbeing and is designed to significantly support and relieve the mother, who is currently carrying much of the responsibility for household organisation, routines and staff coordination.

The successful candidate will embody the traditional governess remit, including encouraging independence, teaching manners, supporting emotional regulation, instilling confidence and helping the children develop responsibility, independence and self discipline. Alongside this, the Governess will provide strong academic support in Maths and English and ensure the children’s educational needs are met in a structured yet nurturing way. A calm, authoritative and emotionally attuned presence is essential, particularly someone unfazed by boundary testing and able to hold firm, fair limits in a loving and respectful way.

This is a fully staffed household with nannies, housekeepers and drivers in place. The Governess will take a lead role in overseeing the children’s routines, schedules, education and overall structure, while also acting as a key support to the mother. The role requires someone highly trustworthy, organised and proactive, who is comfortable taking ownership, making decisions and working in close collaboration with the mother to ensure the smooth running of the household.

A psychology background, or a strong psychology informed approach, is essential. The family are seeking someone who understands how emotional and behavioural challenges can surface during times of change and who can provide steady guidance, emotional containment and reassurance. While this is not a counselling role, the Governess must be naturally supportive, perceptive and capable of gently guiding the children through this period.

Importantly, the family are not looking for someone who arrives imposing structure immediately. The initial phase of the role will focus on building trust, connection and emotional safety, with academic support and firmer structure introduced gradually once strong relationships are established.

The role will initially be six days per week, with Thursday as the day off, and significant downtime during school hours.

Once the household is settled, routines are well established and the children are thriving, the mother is very open to transitioning the role to a five day per week position, reflecting the family’s genuine commitment to sustainability and long term success.

Frequent travel is required, approximately four times per year, including extended summer travel of up to two months. Primary destinations include London and Cannes, with travel predominantly within Europe.

Some proxy parenting will be required once trust has been fully established.

• Teaching degree and strong academic background
• Minimum 5 years experience in fully staffed households
• Psychology background or psychology informed approach essential
• Strong behaviour management skills with calm authority
• Emotionally intelligent, perceptive and highly trustworthy
• Confident supporting Maths and English
• Highly organised, proactive and tech savvy
• Comfortable overseeing staff and household structure
• Playful, warm and kind while maintaining firm boundaries
• Unfazed by children testing limits
• Arabic language or cultural background highly desirable but not required

• Salary £80,000–£90,000 gross per annum
• 28 days holiday per year
• One return flight home per year
• Private accommodation with excellent privacy
• All food and drink provided

To apply, please send your CV and a brief covering note to: enquiries@quintessentialgoverness.com quoting Governess Jeddah.