From hiring people to taste their food to paying someone to organize their sock drawers, the ultra-wealthy have birthed an entire ecosystem of strange, specific, and highly-paid roles most of us have never heard of.
Here are seven fascinating jobs that exist almost entirely because of billionaires—and the mind-blowing reasons why they’re in such high demand.
1. Private Island Manager
When billionaires need a break from their mansions and superyachts, they escape to private islands. But maintaining a luxury island paradise takes more than a part-time handyman. Enter the private island manager.
This person is responsible for overseeing the entire island’s operations, including:
- Staff hiring and supervision
- Guest services and event planning
- Property maintenance and upgrades
- Environmental conservation and legal compliance
Private island managers must be part concierge, part CEO, and part survivalist. They often live on the island year-round, ensuring everything is perfect whenever the owner decides to visit—whether that’s once a year or every other weekend.
Estimated Salary: $100,000–$250,000/year, often with free housing
2. Luxury Submarine Pilot
Yes, billionaires have submarines now. Not the kind used by the military—but ultra-luxurious, personal subs built for undersea exploration in style. Companies like Triton and U-Boat Worx manufacture these multi-million-dollar machines, and guess what? Someone has to drive them.
A luxury submarine pilot is trained to:
- Navigate underwater terrain safely
- Operate complex navigation and life support systems
- Entertain and educate guests on marine life
- Coordinate dives with yacht staff and external crews
These pilots often work in tandem with a superyacht crew and may travel around the world. It’s a dream job—if you’re into confined spaces and billionaires with expensive taste.
Estimated Salary: $75,000–$150,000/year, often plus travel perks
3. Art Security Consultant
When your living room artwork is worth more than a museum, you don’t hire a regular security team—you bring in an art security consultant.
This job involves designing, auditing, and managing high-level security systems for priceless collections. They work with motion sensors, reinforced vaults, surveillance tech, and sometimes even AI-powered facial recognition tools to prevent theft or damage.
These consultants also advise on:
- Transportation of artwork between properties
- Custom insurance policies
- Climate and humidity controls
- Anti-forgery documentation and monitoring
In a world where a single painting can cost $100 million, these consultants are worth every penny.
Estimated Salary: $120,000–$300,000/year depending on experience
4. Chief Wellness Officer (for a Household)
This isn’t the kind of Chief Wellness Officer you’d find at a tech startup. Some billionaires employ private health experts to manage their entire physical, emotional, and even spiritual well-being.
The job can include:
- Creating personalized workout and nutrition plans
- Booking appointments with elite medical specialists
- Overseeing staff wellness programs and retreats
- Sourcing supplements, trainers, therapists, and chefs
- Traveling globally to maintain wellness routines on the go
They’re expected to be experts in biohacking, longevity science, stress reduction, and functional medicine. It’s like being a life coach, nutritionist, therapist, and personal assistant—rolled into one very well-compensated position.
Estimated Salary: $150,000–$500,000/year
5. Luxury Lifestyle Curator
Billionaires don’t want to plan their own lives—so they hire someone to do it for them. A luxury lifestyle curator manages every detail of their client’s personal world, from sourcing ultra-rare watches to booking last-minute private jets to organizing a surprise trip to Antarctica with gourmet chefs on standby.
This job requires:
- Extreme attention to detail
- Elite global contacts
- 24/7 availability
- Knowledge of high-end brands, trends, and VIP access points
They’re part fixer, part tastemaker, and part personal genie. Their clients expect luxury—and they deliver it, often before the client even asks.
Estimated Salary: $200,000+/year plus bonuses
6. Private Space Consultant
As billionaires look beyond Earth, the job market follows. Private space consultants are hired by ultra-wealthy individuals to plan future space travel, design space tourism packages, or even help build personal spacecraft concepts.
With companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin opening the door to civilian space travel, consultants help clients:
- Understand training requirements
- Coordinate with private aerospace firms
- Design custom flight experiences
- Navigate legal and insurance complexities
Some even help billionaire clients design “space legacy” plans—like launching their ashes into orbit or building star-named endowments. It’s weird, futuristic, and real.
Estimated Salary: $120,000–$250,000/year or project-based
7. Yacht DJ / Entertainment Director
Why settle for a Spotify playlist when you can hire a live DJ for your private yacht? Billionaires do just that. These aren’t regular DJs—they’re entertainment directors, vibe curators, and sometimes full-on party planners who travel with the yacht crew.
They work with lighting specialists, audio engineers, and event staff to deliver unforgettable experiences—at sea. Their job includes:
- Building themed party experiences
- Hiring performers and managing entertainment schedules
- Creating high-end playlists for different times of day or events
- Running AV systems on board
It’s a music job, sure, but it also involves hospitality, luxury branding, and reading the energy of some of the world’s most powerful people. And if they do it well? They’ll be invited on the next yacht trip around the Mediterranean.
Estimated Salary: $80,000–$150,000/year + travel + tips
How These Jobs Came to Be
The ultra-rich live on a different timeline. When money is no object, they don’t hesitate to outsource the parts of life they don’t enjoy—or to invent jobs that allow them to live more extravagantly, more efficiently, or more luxuriously.
In some cases, these roles began as informal favors or one-off gigs. A billionaire might hire a friend to help with party planning, only to eventually turn it into a six-figure job. Over time, an entirely new market of “billionaire support careers” has developed—where the job title might be absurd, but the pay is very real.
What It Takes to Land One of These Jobs
If you’re thinking about breaking into this world, you’ll need more than a resume. These positions often require:
- Impeccable discretion
- Elite-level problem solving
- High emotional intelligence
- Willingness to travel constantly
- Availability at all hours
- Zero tolerance for drama or ego
Referrals matter more than job applications. People in these roles are typically found through high-end staffing agencies, luxury concierge firms, or personal connections.
Final Thoughts
While most of us are trying to negotiate a flexible work-from-home schedule, billionaires are out here creating new jobs that seem plucked straight from a sci-fi novel or a Bond movie. But these careers are real, and they reflect just how drastically wealth reshapes the idea of what work even is.
Whether you find them fascinating, ridiculous, or inspiring, one thing’s for sure: These are jobs that wouldn’t—and couldn’t—exist without billionaires.
So next time someone tells you there are no interesting careers left, remember—some people get paid six figures just to help a billionaire stay chill in their infinity pool. Anything is possible.
