Hourly or sessional cover for after-school pickup, homework, dinner, or weekend windows. 2026 band ¥ 50–120/hour, with multi-role stacking for families who need broader coverage.
Roughly 20% of expat families in Shanghai don't need a full-time nanny. They need someone for 15–25 hours a week — typically the international-school after-school window from 15:00 to 19:00, sometimes with a Saturday morning layered on. Part-time ayi placements solve this cleanly when they are scoped properly. Done poorly, they produce a different failure pattern than full-time placements: not a slow erosion over 90 days, but a no-show or a botched school pickup on day 12 that nobody can recover from in real time. The trick with part-time placements is that the lower hour count does not mean lower scoping rigor. The reverse, in fact — because the role exists in a narrow window, missing the window is the failure mode. This page covers when part-time fits, what 2026 hourly rates actually look like, how international-school pickup logistics shape the contract, and how multi-role stacking works when you need broader coverage without committing to a full-time hire.
Three common patterns cover most part-time placements:
15:00–19:00 Monday-Friday. Ayi picks up children at school (international school, typically Pudong, Minhang, or Hongqiao); brings them home; supervises homework and Mandarin practice; prepares dinner; hands off to parents at 19:00. About 20 hours/week, ¥ 50–100/hour rate band.09:00–13:00 Saturday and/or Sunday. Ayi handles morning routine, breakfast, playground, lunch. Allows parents a weekend morning window. About 4–8 hours/week, ¥ 60–120/hour rate band — weekend hours run higher than weekday.25 hours/week. Used by families who want flexibility without one full-time commitment.All three structures work; which one fits depends on your school schedule, your working hours, and whether you value continuity-of-caregiver more than flexibility.
Part-time rates in 2026 Shanghai range from ¥ 50/hour at the bottom (Mandarin-only, simple cover, outer district) to ¥ 120/hour+ at the top (bilingual, complex homework supervision, FFC). Drivers:
+¥ 15–25/hour; true bilingual fluency +¥ 25–40/hour.+10–15% over citywide median; Pudong and Hongqiao at median; Minhang slightly below.¥ 10–20/hour higher than weekday.¥ 100/visit even for short windows. Booking 90 minutes still costs you the equivalent of two hours.A monthly equivalent: a 20-hour week at ¥ 80/hour lands at ¥ 6,400/month plus golden-week treatment. Compared against the live-out band, part-time is rarely cheaper per hour — but the total monthly outlay is lower because the hours are lower.
If you're stacking three part-time roles to cover what feels like full-time hours, run the total monthly number against a live-out single-nanny quote. Sometimes part-time stacking ends up more expensive than a single full-time hire — the trade-off is flexibility, not cost. Make that trade-off knowingly.
Chart renders 2026 hourly rate bands by neighborhood and role complexity.
International-school pickup is the structural constraint that shapes after-school ayi contracts. The pickup window at most Shanghai international schools is narrow — 15:30–16:00 for primary, 15:45–16:15 for upper primary, varying by campus. Miss the window and you're paying late-pickup fees or making the children wait with the school office until you arrive.
Three logistical patterns to scope for:
10–20 minutes. Used by families living within 1.5 km of the school. Works at every school we deal with.5–10 minutes, picks up, returns home by metro or e-bike. Common in Jing'an, FFC, central Pudong. Add 30–45 minutes round trip to the role hours.What to scope into the contract: which pattern, which campus(es), what happens during exam weeks when pickup time shifts, what happens during school events that delay dismissal by 15–30 minutes. The day-12 failure pattern is almost always a pickup-window mismatch that wasn't surfaced during scoping.
If your child is at one international school and a sibling at another with different pickup windows, the ayi role is at least 50% harder. Either pick a single ayi who can do both with a driver, or split into two part-time roles. Trying to cover both campuses with one transit-using ayi rarely works past month two.
Homework supervision is one of the most variable parts of a part-time role. "Ayi who supervises homework" can mean anything from "sits next to the child and makes sure she does it" to "actively coaches reading comprehension, math problem-solving, and Mandarin character practice in two languages."
Four homework-supervision tiers, with rate implications:
¥ 50–70/hour band. Sufficient for 5–7-year-olds with simple homework.¥ 70–90/hour band. Standard for families with bilingual goals.¥ 90–110/hour band.¥ 110/hour+ band.Scope the tier upfront. Hiring at the presence-only band and then expecting full-tutoring delivery is the most common dissatisfaction pattern in part-time placements.
Three weekend/holiday situations to scope:
09:00–13:00 Saturday or Sunday, ¥ 60–120/hour. Predictable, paid weekly or monthly, easy to maintain.19:00–23:00 Saturday for parents going out. ¥ 100–150/hour plus Didi home. Book 1–2 weeks in advance with a regular ayi or use a partner-agency vetted occasional.7–14 days around these holidays. Plan cover well in advance — either accept the gap (most expat families do for Chinese New Year), retain a part-time backup who stays in Shanghai during the holiday, or book an apartment-share short-term role through the partner agency.Golden-week ayi cover at peak demand runs ¥ 150/hour+ and books out 60 days in advance. Plan for it during the September scoping conversation, not the day before October 1st.
Part-time contracts are simpler than full-time but still need clauses. Five-clause minimum:
<24 hours notice — does the ayi still get paid? Standard: yes, half-rate. Ayi cancels — what happens?5–7 days paid annual leave plus golden-week and Chinese New Year off (unpaid is standard for the holiday period unless retained as cover).14-day notice from either side. No severance scale at part-time-only roles unless the contract has been continuous for 12+ months.Full contract clause language in the Hiring Playbook PDF. Part-time contracts are shorter than live-in but should still be bilingual and signed.
Four part-time-specific contract elements. Card grid renders below.
Some families end up with two or three part-time ayi covering different windows. The arithmetic is straightforward; the operational complexity is real.
A worked example from the Pudong after-school playbook:
15:00–19:00 Mon-Fri, ¥ 80/hour, school pickup + homework + dinner — ~¥ 6,400/month.09:00–13:00 Saturday, ¥ 110/hour, weekend morning cover — ~¥ 1,760/month.19:00–23:00 Saturday date-night, ¥ 130/hour, called as needed — ~¥ 1,000/month average.Total: ~¥ 9,200/month across three roles. Comparable to a mid-band live-out nanny, with the trade-off of three contracts, three communication channels, and three sets of expectations to maintain.
When this works: when each role has its own clear window, the children adapt to multiple caregivers, and the parents are comfortable with the coordination overhead. When it fails: when any one role becomes unreliable and the others can't absorb the gap. Plan substitution structure into the contract from the start.
| Neighborhood | Entry (¥) | Mid (¥) | Senior / bilingual (¥) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former French Concession | 65–85 | 85–105 | 105–130 |
| Xintiandi | 65–80 | 80–100 | 100–125 |
| Jing'an | 60–80 | 80–100 | 100–120 |
| Pudong (Jinqiao/Lujiazui) | 55–75 | 75–95 | 95–115 |
| Hongqiao | 55–75 | 75–90 | 90–110 |
| Minhang | 50–70 | 70–85 | 85–105 |
State hourly rate, whether gross or net, and the minimum-visit floor (typically ¥ 100/visit). State the homework-supervision tier explicitly: presence-only, Mandarin-side, cross-language, or full tutoring. Misalignment on tier is the top dissatisfaction pattern.
Specific days and windows. Rules for add-on hours and how they bill. Cancellation policy on both sides: family cancels under 24 hrs typically pays half-rate; ayi cancels triggers backup. State golden-week and Chinese New Year treatment explicitly — these are the high-friction windows.
Which campus(es), which pickup window, which transit pattern (walking, metro, driver-assisted). Exam-week and school-event variation. Multi-campus families need explicit second-pickup structure or a second ayi; do not assume one ayi can cover two campuses with overlapping windows.
When the ayi is unavailable: who covers? Pre-vetted partner-agency backup at ¥ 150-250/half-day, or another part-time ayi in the stack who picks up additional hours, or accept the gap. State the answer in the contract so neither party is surprised at month 3.
In plain English:a Shanghai part-time ayi covers about 15-25 hours a week at ¥ 50-120/hour — perfect for the international-school after-school window or a weekend-morning slot, and stackable into broader coverage if you need it.
Twenty minutes, free. We walk through your school pickup window, the homework tier, and whether one or multiple part-time roles fits before any agency is briefed.
Tell us about your family and what you're looking for. We reply within one business day, with practical next steps — not a sales pitch.