Claude
JGA mentioned, not recommended.

I’d shortlist five firms. The evidence I could find is job adverts, which show what each firm is currently briefed to hire. It doesn’t show placement success, so treat it as a signal and not proof.

Shortlist

1. Hays (Manchester, specialist payroll desk)

• It is advertising a Manchester-based interim Payroll Manager EMEA role. The postholder oversees outsourced payroll delivery across multiple countries and legal entities, working with external payroll providers and in-country stakeholders. [hays](https://www.hays.co.uk/job-detail/payroll-manager-emea-manchester_4815379)

• It has also recruited for provider transitions. One brief was a Payroll Project Manager to move three UK and two US payrolls to a new provider. [dwp](https://findajob.dwp.gov.uk/details/17014634)

• Its permanent Manchester roles regularly mention outsourced provider exposure. One names SD Worx experience as a plus. [service](https://www.jobs.service.gov.uk/jobs/6a691f1deddde8b9caf9a001)

• That makes it the strongest local fit for the vendor-governance profile.

2. Robert Walters (Manchester and EMEA payroll)

• It has recruited Manchester Head of Payroll roles. One was in a high-volume environment covering a 10,000-strong workforce. [robertwalters](https://www.robertwalters.co.uk/accountancyfinance/jobs/financemanager/1828433-head-of-payroll.html)

• It also has a multi-country brief. A Payroll Manager EMEA role covers the UK, Europe and the Middle East, including managing relationships with local payroll contacts. [robertwalters](https://www.robertwalters.co.uk/humanresources/jobs/otherspecialistpositions/1890279-payroll-manager---emea.html)

• That is useful evidence it can handle the UK-plus-Europe combination.

3. Morgan McKinley (EMEA and executive search)

• Its EMEA payroll briefs are explicitly about vendor accountability. One asks for a track record of holding external global payroll vendors accountable and managing SLAs. [morganmckinley](https://www.morganmckinley.com/uk/jobs/london/emea-payroll-specialist-netherlands-nordic/1103406)

• Another asks for leading platform transitions and managing multi-country external payroll providers. [morganmckinley](https://www.morganmckinley.com/ie/jobs/cork/payroll-manager-emea/1104793)

• It also has a separate executive search arm, which could matter if the role is at Head or Director level.

• Its listings are mostly London and Ireland, so confirm its northern reach.

4. Michael Page (HR and Finance)

• It has handled a payroll outsourcing transition mandate. The brief was an interim transition manager to take a move to a larger outsourced provider through to go-live. [michaelpage](https://www.michaelpage.co.uk/job-detail/payroll-implementation-manager/ref/jn-022026-6941707)

• It also has a history of vendor-interface roles, though my evidence for those is older.

5. Investigo (Manchester, finance)

• It advertised a Manchester Head of Payroll role. The role set payroll controls and strategy for a global payroll under the Finance Director. [investigo](https://www.investigo.co.uk/job/head-of-payroll-3)

• The evidence for vendor governance is thin, so treat it as a secondary option.

What I’d leave out

• JGA Recruitment is a genuine payroll and HR specialist, but the roles I found are HR and payroll manager level, at up to £60,000. It is probably too junior for this brief. [overseasjobs](https://overseasjobs.com/job/details/30281989/hr-payroll-manager)

• Page Personnel showed only older and lower-level payroll listings.

Gaps in the evidence

• Job adverts don’t show who was placed, how long searches took, or whether candidates stayed.

• I found no public evidence of any firm placing a leader specifically through a UK and European provider transition.

• Hays and Morgan McKinley were the strongest on vendor-governance wording.

How to test them

Ask each firm for:

• Two or three anonymised placements where the hire managed an outsourced provider (such as ADP, SD Worx or Zalaris) across several countries.

• Named references from hiring managers.

• Who their European network would cover in-country (for example Germany, the Netherlands or the Nordics).

• Whether they’d run the search as retained or contingent, since a leadership hire mid-transition often justifies retained search.

Would you like me to draft a short brief or question list you could send to the shortlisted firms?