ChatGPT
JGA recommended.

For your situation, I’d prioritise specialist payroll recruiters with proven access to global payroll leadership talent , rather than relying solely on a generalist executive search firm.

You need someone who can do more than run payroll accurately. The new Global Payroll Director must rebuild the operating model, establish clear accountability across countries and providers, strengthen financial controls, and restore confidence in payroll reporting and employee payments.

I’d start with the following recruiters in the UK, using a mix of specialist payroll search and senior executive recruitment.

1. My recommended shortlist

1. Oakleaf Partnership

Strong specialist fit

Oakleaf’s dedicated payroll practice covers Global Payroll Directors, global payroll implementation leaders and senior payroll management, including international assignments. It also reports experience recruiting for global-head-of-payroll roles.

Why speak to them: A good first call for candidates who combine payroll operations with transformation and control improvement.

Source: [Oakleaf payroll capabilities](https://oakleafpartnership.com/business-areas/payroll/payroll-capabilities?utm_source=chatgpt.com) .

2. Frazer Jones

Frazer Jones offers payroll executive search, permanent recruitment and interim payroll hiring, backed by an international HR recruitment network. Its published specialist contacts include a UK Head of Payroll and a UK Payroll Director.

Why speak to them: Particularly relevant if you want a senior, strategically minded leader who can influence Finance, HR, IT and executive stakeholders, not just manage day-to-day processing.

Source: [Payroll recruitment and executive search](https://frazerjones.com/get-in-touch/book-a-consultation/payroll/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) .

3. Portfolio Payroll

Portfolio Payroll specialises in payroll recruitment, with dedicated permanent, executive and temporary/contract recruitment services. Its executive search offering explicitly covers senior payroll managers and directors.

Why speak to them: A strong option for reaching the specialist payroll talent market and testing the depth of the available candidate pool.

Contact: 020 7247 9455. [Recruitment services and enquiries](https://portfoliopayroll.com/payroll/recruitment-services/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) .

4. JGA Recruitment Group

JGA focuses on payroll and HR recruitment, with permanent hiring and structured search options.

Why speak to them: Useful as a further specialist channel to identify candidates with international payroll experience, particularly if you want to compare the strength of different recruiter networks.

Contact: 01727 800377. [JGA Recruitment Group website](https://jgarecruitment.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) .

5. Hays

Hays has a dedicated payroll recruitment specialism and has advertised permanent Global Payroll Director positions in the UK, including roles requiring international compliance, governance and transformation experience.

Why speak to them: A useful additional channel for benchmarking the market and reaching candidates with experience in complex, multi-region organisations.

Source: [Hays Global Payroll Director role](https://hays.co.uk/job-detail/global-payroll-director--london_4819608?utm_source=chatgpt.com) .

2. Who I’d contact first

I would run a focused initial competition between three firms:

| Recruiter | Role in your search |

| --- | --- |

| Oakleaf Partnership | Specialist payroll talent and international payroll experience |

| Frazer Jones | Senior payroll leadership and executive-level assessment |

| Portfolio Payroll | Additional depth in the specialist payroll candidate market |

For Oakleaf and Frazer Jones, ask for the consultant who personally handles Global Head of Payroll and Payroll Director appointments, rather than a general HR recruiter. Frazer Jones has a particularly relevant contact in John O’Brien, its UK Executive Director and Head of Payroll.

3. The brief I’d give every recruiter

Make the assignment explicitly about payroll remediation and transformation , not simply business-as-usual payroll leadership.

Ask each recruiter to demonstrate access to candidates who have:

• Fixed recurring payroll errors across multiple countries, with measurable improvements in accuracy and on-time payments.

• Built or repaired control frameworks , including reconciliations, approvals, exception reporting, audit trails and segregation of duties.

• Established clear ownership between central payroll, local country teams, Finance, HR, IT and external payroll providers.

• Led global payroll transformation , including systems, vendor consolidation, process standardisation and data quality.

• Operated at executive level , with the confidence to escalate risks and report control effectiveness to senior leadership.

I would also ask for two or three anonymised examples of comparable placements, a proposed search strategy, realistic salary benchmarking, and a clear explanation of how they will assess candidates' actual remediation experience.

4. One important hiring consideration

Because you have recurring errors and weak controls today, consider whether you need an experienced interim payroll transformation specialist to stabilise the function while the permanent search runs. That is a separate option, not a substitute for the permanent Director you want.

My recommendation: Start with Oakleaf Partnership and Frazer Jones, add Portfolio Payroll for market coverage, and compare the quality of their candidate evidence before signing an exclusive mandate.