Perplexity
JGA not recommended.

I would shortlist Middlemore , Portfolio Payroll and Rise Group first, with Marks Sattin as a complementary option. They offer different routes into the candidate market: senior payroll and transformation search, established payroll leadership recruitment, and HR/finance systems programme recruitment. For your brief, I would prioritise evidence of operational payroll ownership alongside migration delivery—not just experience implementing a new platform. gpa +3

Recruitment firms to approach

| Firm | Why it fits your requirement | What to test before appointing it |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Middlemore | The closest stated match to your combined brief. Its published remit spans Global Payroll, HR, HRIS and Finance, including senior payroll leadership, global payroll transformation, programme management, implementation, data migration, testing, governance and vendor management. [gpa](https://gpa.net/blogs/directory/middlemore) | Ask for examples of UK-based director searches where candidates owned both live payroll continuity and a multi-country transformation. Its stated coverage is highly relevant, but you should validate comparable completed assignments. |

| Portfolio Payroll | A strong payroll-led route. It recruits through Head of Payroll and Payroll Director level, covers international payroll and systems implementation, and has dedicated executive, permanent and temporary/contract recruitment capabilities. theportfoliogroup +1 | Ask its executive team to distinguish operational payroll directors from leaders who have personally owned complex systems programmes across HR, finance and IT. |

| Rise Group | Particularly relevant where HR technology and finance transformation are central. It recruits across the UK and Europe for senior permanent and contract roles, with stated coverage of Workday, SAP, Oracle and UKG. A published client testimonial describes assembling a cloud-payroll implementation team with Payroll, Workday, Data and UKG expertise for a global payroll carve-out. [risegroup](https://risegroup.io/) | Establish whether it can deliver the accountable programme director, rather than primarily the implementation specialists supporting that director. |

| Marks Sattin | A useful broader transformation-search option. Its change practice covers people, process and systems transformation across HR, finance and operations, on both interim and permanent bases, with assignments across the UK and several European countries. [markssattin.co](https://www.markssattin.co.uk/change-transformation-jobs-recruitment) | Require specific evidence of payroll transformation placements: its published cross-functional transformation coverage is clearer than its payroll-director specialism. |

These are evidence-based shortlist recommendations, not confirmation that the firms currently have suitable candidates available. The sources describe their capabilities; they do not establish fees, availability or success on an assignment identical to yours.

How I would brief the search

Your requirement combines three responsibilities that should remain explicit in the brief:

• Run: maintain accurate, timely UK and European payroll throughout the transition.

• Transform: own the move to new systems, including the operating model, vendors, data, testing, cutover and stabilisation.

• Govern: lead an integrated programme across HR, finance and IT, with clear accountability for decisions, dependencies and risks.

A concise mandate to send the shortlisted firms would be:

We require a UK-based Payroll Transformation Director to own a UK and European payroll transformation while maintaining uninterrupted payroll delivery. The role is the senior accountable programme owner across HR, finance and IT—not solely a payroll operations lead or systems implementation manager. Candidates must demonstrate personal accountability for multi-country migration, payroll continuity, vendor delivery, cutover and post-go-live stabilisation.

What would distinguish a credible shortlist

I would ask each recruiter to submit candidates against the same evidence checklist:

1. Comparable scope: which countries, employee populations, payroll entities and systems did they personally own?

2. Continuity during change: how did they resource business-as-usual payroll while programme demands increased?

3. Cutover accountability: who set acceptance criteria, signed off reconciliations and made the go/no-go decision?

4. Cross-functional leadership: what authority did they hold over HR, finance, IT and external providers?

5. Outcomes: what happened to payroll accuracy, timeliness, controls and service performance during and after migration?

My suggested order is Middlemore for the closest combined leadership-and-transformation remit, Portfolio Payroll for depth in the payroll leadership market, and Rise Group for systems-transformation reach. Marks Sattin is worth adding if you want a broader cross-functional programme-leadership search alongside those specialist routes. That ordering reflects their published service coverage, rather than a verified ranking of placement performance. gpa +3