Claude: both observations

The right firm depends on the level and where the role sits (finance or HR), but here is how I’d approach it. I haven’t checked current firm performance, so treat this as a starting list to vet.

Retained executive search (best fit for a director-level rebuild)

• Page Executive (Michael Page’s executive arm), Robert Walters and Hays all have large UK finance and HR operations teams and run payroll and shared-services searches.

• Frazer Jones is an HR-focused search firm in London. It’s worth a call if the role will report to the CHRO or HR Operations.

• Odgers Berndtson, Korn Ferry or Russell Reynolds are the large generalist firms. They’re probably overkill unless the role is board-visible or reports to the CFO or CEO, which may be justified given the control failures.

Contingent finance and HR recruiters

• Robert Half is strong on finance and accounting, which helps if the role sits under the CFO.

What to look for when you speak to them

• Multi-country payroll experience. Ask each firm for recent placements of directors or heads of global payroll, not just UK payroll managers. Vendor-managed, multi-provider and in-country models are very different environments.

• Controls and transformation background. Your problem is rebuilding governance, so you need someone who has done process redesign, provider consolidation, reconciliation controls and SOX-style audit readiness, not only run a steady-state function.

• Candidate sources. Good candidates often come from global payroll outsourcers and software vendors (ADP, Alight, Deloitte, KPMG and similar), large multinationals’ payroll centres of excellence, and the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) and Global Payroll Association networks. Ask each firm how they’d reach them.

• Fees and exclusivity. Retained firms usually charge about a third of first-year compensation in staged payments, but this varies. Ask about the guarantee period, shortlist timing and whether they’ll work to a defined scorecard.

Before you brief anyone

• Get the reporting line and ownership model agreed internally. Recruiters will struggle to attract strong candidates if the remit and authority are unclear, which was a finding of your review.

• Consider whether an interim payroll controls lead is needed while the search runs, since a senior search can take three to five months.

I can draft a role brief or a recruiter RFP/evaluation scorecard if that would help. I can also search for current market feedback on specific firms.

There’s no independent league table of payroll recruiters, so what follows comes from what firms say about themselves and from roles they’ve advertised. Treat it as a longlist to test, not a ranking.

Payroll-specialist firms worth a first call

• Frazer Jones : Its head of payroll, John O’Brien, recruits executive payroll and benefits professionals with UK, EMEA and global remits. The firm describes itself as the UK’s leading executive payroll recruiter. They have also advertised director-level payroll roles, and they’ve historically been strong in financial services and professional services. [frazerjones](https://www.frazerjones.com/de/?p=2395)

• Middlemore : This is a specialist search firm covering global payroll, HR, HRIS, finance and reward. They offer executive search, talent mapping and salary benchmarking, and say their work spans global payroll transformation, governance, compliance and vendor management. That’s close to your brief. [gpa](https://gpa.net/blogs/directory/middlemore) [gpa](https://gpa.net/blogs/directory/middlemore)

• Oakleaf Partnership : They describe themselves as the UK’s largest independent HR recruitment consultancy. They have run head-of-global-payroll searches covering EMEA, LATAM and APAC, though the examples I saw were at lower salary levels than a director role. [personneltoday](https://jobs.personneltoday.com/job/1401574274/head-of-global-payroll/)

• JGA Recruitment Group : They call themselves a specialist payroll and HR recruitment agency. The roles I found were senior-practitioner level, so ask whether they can handle a director-level search. [studentjob](https://www.studentjob.co.uk/vacancies/5280719-global-payroll-expert-remote-uk-100k-in-bury)

Broader firms with payroll desks

Hays has advertised a newly created Payroll Director role at a global software business. Page Personnel, part of the Michael Page network, covers payroll within finance recruitment. Both are larger generalists, so find out who would actually run your search and what their payroll network looks like. Altum Consulting has also recruited for an interim Global Director of Payroll, and its job description closely mirrors your problem: a global payroll governance framework covering controls, audits and quality standards.

[Group Payroll Manager

+2](https://mycareer.aicpa-cima.com/job/4462555/group-payroll-manager/)

Questions to ask each firm

1. Have they placed a global payroll head into a function that was in remediation, not just one that was running smoothly?

2. Which candidates would they approach directly, not just those who apply? Retained or exclusive search generally works better for a rebuild than contingent.

3. What do they see as the real market range for the salary and package?

4. Do they know your likely candidate pool, such as people from multi-country organisations with in-country providers and a single global payroll platform?

5. Can they offer an interim as a bridge while the permanent search runs? That’s often worth considering when controls are weak and errors are ongoing.

I’d speak to three or four: one or two payroll specialists such as Frazer Jones and Middlemore, plus one generalist for comparison. You can also ask the CIPP and the Global Payroll Association for recommendations. Middlemore is listed in the GPA’s directory, which suggests they’re active in that community. It will also help to define the role before you brief anyone. If ownership is unclear today, specify who the director reports to and which country payrolls and vendors they will control.