Private Physician — Private Family, Mediterranean (Private Yacht)

Medical Staff Talent is appointing an experienced UK & European-trained Private Doctor to a full-time, permanent mandate in the Mediterranean, delivering patient-centred care to a VIP Principal within a stable, high-trust environment.

Unlike rotational locum roles, this position demands total clinical continuity. The physician leads clinical assessment, optimises chronic conditions and handles acute presentations across the Principal’s private residence and during international travel aboard a private yacht.

The Mandate

• Clinical leadership. Ongoing medical management of the Principal, including the optimisation of chronic conditions and immediate response to acute presentations, with critical clinical decisions taken autonomously.
• Care coordination. Central point of contact for all medical needs, coordinating diagnostics and sub-specialty input with premium private hospitals and clinics in Dubai, London or Zurich so that the patient journey is seamless.
• Remote and yacht medicine. Precise standards of care during international travel, with the confidence to manage medical logistics and emergencies in remote aviation and maritime environments with limited resources.
• Multidisciplinary collaboration. Close work with a standards-first private team — Private Nurse, Physiotherapist and Security detail — and clear, discreet communication with the family office.

Candidate Requirements

• UK and European training: medical degree (MD or MBBS) from a recognised institution in the UK, Ireland or an accepted European jurisdiction.
• Experience: minimum five years post-specialisation; Family Medicine, Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine preferred.
• Language: fluency in English.
• Discretion: a proven history of protocol-led practice within private family settings.
• Flexibility: willingness to undertake international travel, specifically yacht itineraries, with all logistics handled by the household.

Package

• £240,000 per year, tax-free.
• High-quality private housing provided.
• 30 days of paid annual leave.
• All work-related international travel fully covered — business class or private aviation.
• Permanent, full-time appointment; not rotational.

What this appointment asks of you

The Principal is the entire practice. Ashore, the work is that of a personal physician — assessment, chronic disease optimisation, screening and the coordination of sub-specialty input from premium centres in Dubai, London or Zurich; at sea, it becomes remote medicine, with the physician responsible for stabilising and, if necessary, evacuating an acute presentation from a vessel that may be hours from a tertiary hospital. The team around you — a private nurse, a physiotherapist, a security detail and the family office — is small and standards-first, and the household selects for a physician who leads it quietly, plans every itinerary’s medical logistics in advance and communicates with the family office in a way that is clear, brief and discreet. Family, internal or emergency medicine backgrounds fit naturally; the deciding qualities are judgement, self-sufficiency and protocol-led composure.

Registration and sea-readiness

There is no Gulf licence to obtain for time at sea; the vessel’s flag state and management company look to your home registration and to standard maritime certification. The sequence is:

• Home registration in good standing (GMC, NMC, HCPC or your European regulator) with a current certificate of good standing, verified through DataFlow so the file is portable.
• STCW basic safety training and a seafarer medical certificate (ENG1 or the national equivalent), which most management companies require before embarkation; maritime medical training is valued.
• Where the household winters in the Gulf, activation of a DHA, DOH or SCFHS registration for the shore season — we sequence the DataFlow stage early and brief you on what it will need, so it does not delay the first winter.
• Onboarding with the household and the captain: NDA execution, cabin allocation, medical locker and inventory handover, and the evacuation protocols for the season’s itinerary.

Our notes on maritime governance for onboard clinicians, superyacht medical staffing and how Gulf households staff their vessels explain what to prepare before the season. Physicians should also read yacht doctor appointments in the Mediterranean.

Reading the package

Remuneration from £240,000 per annum is quoted net, with accommodation and travel provided by the household; living costs at sea are close to nil, which is why onboard appointments build savings faster than the headline figure suggests.

Onboard remuneration is only as tax-efficient as your residence planning allows: day-counts, flag state and where you spend the winter all matter, and we introduce every candidate to a cross-border adviser before contract. Cost of living and net position and wealth preservation for Gulf clinicians cover the planning points.

Insurance is the other line to read carefully — the vessel’s policy, your own indemnity and repatriation cover — and our insurance and liability resources list what to ask the management company for.

Life on board and between charters

The Mediterranean season runs from late spring to early autumn, port to port, with the vessel as home and the anchorage as the view. Clinicians who thrive on board are those who enjoy a compact, well-run community, who can work to an itinerary that changes with the weather and the family’s plans, and who value the flights home between charters as genuine leave. Where the household winters in the Gulf, the shore months are spent in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Riyadh with accommodation provided.

Read our overview of yacht appointments in the Mediterranean for the shape of a season, superyacht medical staffing for how vessels are equipped, and the Gulf family relocation brief for the shore season.

What happens when you apply

The household has retained us exclusively, which shapes how the search runs: there is no agency panel and no CV database. Vanessa, our Executive Search Lead, holds a confidential briefing call with every candidate we take forward — the appointment in detail, the household’s expectations, the licensing route and the life around the post — before anything is committed to paper.

From there the sequence is fixed: dossier and licensing check, an anonymised profile to the family office with your written authorisation, video interviews, an in-person meeting arranged by the household, then offer, NDA and contract before licensing fees are incurred. The time-to-hire estimator shows what each stage takes for a physician appointment; confidential hiring process and confidentiality, NDA and vetting explain the household’s side.

Related mandates and resources

• Doctors practice: how we appoint physicians to Private Families
• Private doctor for a private family
• Ongoing physician opportunities in the Mediterranean — register
• The private concierge physician retainer for private families
• GCC physician salary trends 2026
• Questions that protect your career when a family office hires you
• Live GCC mandates by specialty

Confidential Application

The household is never identified until mutual interest is established and confidentiality documentation is in place. See our Doctors practice.

Submit a confidential profile through the Candidate Portal, or contact us directly.