Junior Personal Assistant & Accessibility Companion

Junior Personal Assistant & Accessibility Companion

Location: Upper East Side, New York City Schedule: FridaySunday, 7:00 AM7:00 PM (TBC) Compensation: Up to $40/hour dependent on experience, with overtime as applicable and healthcare stipend

This is a highly personal, unusually varied role for someone who genuinely enjoys being useful. Our wonderful client is a busy Manhattan-based attorney, wife, and mother of two boys, ages 10 and 6. She has used a power wheelchair throughout her life and is looking for a warm, capable, and grounded person to support her through the rhythm of her weekends while also becoming a comfortable presence within an active family household.

She has hired people to assist her for many years and knows that the strongest working relationships cannot be reduced to a checklist of technical experience. Trust, judgment, and chemistry all matter. The right person will understand that real support means paying attention, learning someone well, anticipating appropriately, and knowing when to step in and when to give space. There is an intimacy to the workparticularly the personal accessibility supportand rapport matters enormously.

The goal is to provide very personal assistance without making it feel clinical; to help with the children without needing to become their nanny; to notice what needs doing around the home without waiting to be asked; and to move comfortably between accessibility support, family life, practical tasks, and the occasional PA project. This could be a great opportunity for someone with a natural service instinct, strong common sense, positive energy, and a desire for work that feels tangible and worthwhile.

You may come from personal assisting, caregiving, hospitality, childcare, family assisting, or another service-oriented background. You may also have arrived here by a less traditional route. Previous professional caregiving experience is not necessarily the deciding factor; comfort, maturity, character, and willingness to learn are.

The family is looking for someone who can become part of the weekend flow without becoming the center of it: someone pleasant to have around for long stretches of time, genuinely helpful, discreet, emotionally intelligent, and able to shift gears without drama while maintaining excellent professional boundaries. For the right person, there is real satisfaction in this job. It is a role for someone who recognizes that being of service is a skill in itselfand takes genuine pride in doing it exceptionally well.

The Schedule Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 7:00 AM7:00 PM Approximately 36 guaranteed hours per week Flexibility is important. There will occasionally be later evenings, schedule changes, family outings, weekends away, or additional hours depending on plans. Additional hours and legally applicable overtime will be paid accordingly. Friday is generally a work-from-home day for the Principal, while Saturday and Sunday are family days. As the family begins spending more time at their future Upstate getaway, the position will also include weekends away from Manhattan. Duties will also include accompanying the principal on short professional travel trips, which can come up on short notice at times.

Supporting the Principal A central responsibility of this role is providing hands-on accessibility assistance with activities of daily living. The principal directs her own care and knows exactly what works for her. She is not seeking a nurse or someone to approach the role from a clinical perspective. She is looking for a capable person who can learn her routines, become comfortable with the physical aspects of assisting her, and provide that help matter-of-factly and respectfully. Personal support will include assistance with:

• Getting out of bed and beginning the morning routine
• Showering, dressing, grooming, and getting ready for the day
• Transfers, positioning, and practical physical assistance
• Preparing clothing, belongings, mobility-related items, and anything needed for the day
• Navigating outings, appointments, restaurants, family activities, and travel
• Driving when needed, including rental cars while traveling
• Helping make the practical logistics of the day easier and more seamless

Candidates must be entirely comfortable with the personal nature of this work. Someone who is squeamish, overly self-conscious, or inclined to treat physical assistance as something awkward will not be the right fit. At the same time, this is not a medical caregiver position.

Being Part of the Family Weekend Weekends are active and informal. Both parents are generally around, and the goal is not to hire a traditional weekend nanny. Rather, the Junior PA & Accessibility Companion should be someone who is comfortable moving naturally between supporting the principal and helping the household function. The children are 10 and 6: creative, energetic, curious, and increasingly capable of doing things for themselves. The family wants to encourage that independence. At different points in the day, you might:

• Spend time with the boys so their parents can have some uninterrupted time
• Take the children to an activity or engage them at home
• Pull out art supplies and happily spend an hour making something with them
• Help keep the children moving through what they are supposed to be doing rather than doing everything for them
• Prepare a straightforward breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack
• Stay with the children if the parents go out for dinner
• Help gather everyone and everything needed for an outing
• Reset the kitchen or common area after the family has used it
• Notice that something needs doing and simply handle it
• The kids are artistic and someone who genuinely enjoys creative activities with children would be particularly an added bonus!

Formal nanny credentials are not required. What matters is being genuinely good with children and capable of establishing an easy rapport within healthy boundaries.

Junior Personal Assistant Support There will also be opportunities to take things off the principal's plate beyond physical accessibility support. This is intentionally a junior PA component. The family does not need a career executive assistant managing a complex office operation. They would, however, love someone organized and resourceful who can gradually take ownership of straightforward personal and household tasks. Depending on the person and the needs of the week, this might include:

• Running errands and making returns
• Ordering or picking up household and personal items
• Keeping track of small to-dos
• Researching straightforward purchases or services
• Helping organize belongings for weekends away or travel
• Making simple reservations or arrangements
• Managing miscellaneous personal projects
• Keeping useful information organized
• Helping the principal stay one step ahead of practical details

A candidate who enjoys creating order, figuring things out, and closing loops will have plenty of opportunity to make the role their own.

Household Contribution A housekeeper handles deep cleaning, but this is a family home and pitching in should feel natural. The ideal candidate is comfortable helping with everyday reset tasksdishes, counters, tidying common areas, putting things away, and cleaning up after meals or activities. You are not the housekeeper, but you should be someone who notices what needs doing and helps keep things moving.

Simple Meal Preparation The family does not need a chef. They do need someone who is comfortable in a kitchen and able to prepare good, straightforward food for the children and occasionally for the principal. Someone who can open the refrigerator, assess what is available, and confidently put together a sensible meal will be more valuable than someone who needs detailed instructions every time.

Travel & Driving A valid driver's license/history and confident driving ability are essential. Although the family lives in Manhattan and does not necessarily drive every day, driving becomes important outside the city and during travel. The principal may need the assistant to drive rental cars or otherwise help with transportation logistics. The family is also in the process of establishing a weekend home in the Woodstock area. Over time, weekends upstate are expected to become a regular part of the position. The ideal candidate sees this as one of the appealing aspects of the job: a role that sometimes gets out of the city and changes scenery rather than following exactly the same routine every weekend.

Who Will Thrive Here There is no single perfect rsum for this position. The right candidate may have experience as a personal assistant, family assistant, caregiver, nanny, hospitality professional, household assistant, companion, or in another high-touch service position. Just as importantly, they may have gained relevant experience outside of formal employment. The family is especially interested in someone who is:

• Warm and enjoyable to be around. Chemistry matters in a role this personal.
• High-EQ and socially perceptive. You read a room, pick up cues, and adjust without needing everything explained.
• Naturally helpful. You take satisfaction in making another person's life easier.
• Comfortable with intimate personal assistance. You can approach physical care with confidence, dignity, and normalcy.
• Flexible. You understand that family life does not always run precisely