ChatGPT: both observations

For this hire, I’d prioritise specialist payroll recruiters first, then an executive-search firm to widen the shortlist . Your brief is more specialised than a conventional Head of Payroll appointment: you need someone who can govern outsourced suppliers, lead a UK-to-Europe payroll transition, manage risk and controls, and operate credibly with Finance, HR, procurement and senior leadership.

I would start with three firms, then add one or two broader search partners depending on the seniority and salary package.

1. Recruitment firms I’d approach first

1. Portfolio Payroll

First call

The strongest starting point. Portfolio has dedicated permanent, executive and contract payroll recruitment teams, plus a Manchester office and experience recruiting senior payroll leaders. It has advertised a Manchester-based Payroll Director role requiring governance, compliance and transformation expertise. The Portfolio Group +2

Ask them to find: Heads of Payroll, Payroll Directors and international payroll leaders who have managed outsourced providers and delivered migrations.

Contact: [PortfolioPayroll—employer recruitment ](https://portfoliopayroll.com/payroll/register-a-vacancy/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Manchester office: 0161 523 5585

2. Pro-Finance

A particularly relevant option for the cross-border element. Pro-Finance has advertised a permanent Manchester-based EMEA Payroll Manager role covering 15 countries, outsourced-provider relationships, payroll controls and European compliance. That is unusually close to your operational requirements. EMEA +1

Ask them to find: Candidates with multi-country payroll ownership, ADP or comparable global payroll platforms, provider oversight and reconciliation experience.

Contact: [Pro-Finance ](https://pro-recruitment.co.uk/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Best fit if you want an operationally strong international payroll leader.

3. Hays

Worth approaching because Hays has recruited for a Manchester-based EMEA payroll leadership assignment involving outsourced suppliers, multiple legal entities, compliance, controls and process improvement. The specific advertised assignment was interim, so ask its team to confirm permanent-search capability for your brief. Hays UK

Ask them to find: Permanent candidates from complex multinational employers and shared-services environments, rather than payroll processing managers alone.

Contact: [Hays UK ](https://hays.co.uk/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Useful for a broader candidate pool across multinational employers.

2. Add these firms for senior search and transformation experience

4. Robert Walters

Best for broadening the search to senior finance, operations and transformation professionals in multinational organisations. Its Manchester team covers finance, technology, transformation and executive search, and the firm has advertised Manchester-based roles overseeing payroll across multiple European countries. google.com +1

Website: [RobertWalters UK ](https://robertwalters.co.uk/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

5. SF Partners

Worth approaching if the transition is a major business-change programme and you want someone with programme leadership, finance transformation and stakeholder-management capability alongside payroll expertise. SF Partners has dedicated transformation, finance and executive-search practices. Transformation +2

Website: [SF Partners ](https://sfpartners.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

6. Berwick Partners

Consider this firm if the position reports to the CFO or CHRO, has substantial budget and supplier accountability, or is effectively a functional-director appointment. It offers retained senior-management search from its Manchester office. Its suitability for payroll specifically should be tested at the initial briefing.

Website: [Berwick Partners ](https://berwickpartners.co.uk/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

3. How I would run the search

I’d appoint Portfolio Payroll as the lead specialist , ask Pro-Finance for a competing shortlist, and use either Robert Walters or SF Partners to access adjacent transformation talent.

Give each firm the same brief and ask for evidence of these five capabilities:

• International scope: direct accountability for UK payroll plus multiple European countries and legal entities.

• Supplier governance: experience managing outsourced payroll providers, SLAs, KPIs, escalations, service reviews and contractual performance.

• Transition delivery: ownership of discovery, data migration, parallel runs, reconciliations, cutover and post-go-live stabilisation.

• Risk and controls: payroll accuracy, statutory compliance, audit evidence, data protection and business continuity.

• Leadership: influence across Finance, HR, IT, procurement and country-level stakeholders, with the ability to challenge suppliers constructively.

I would specifically screen out candidates whose experience is limited to running an established in-house payroll team without owning a supplier transition.

4. What to send recruiters

Use this as your initial search brief.

Email

Subject

Search brief: Head of Payroll — Manchester, UK & Europe

Hello,

We are seeking recruitment partners to support a permanent Head of Payroll appointment, based in Manchester on a hybrid-working basis.

The successful candidate will own payroll supplier governance and lead a transition to a new payroll provider across the UK and Europe.

We are looking for a senior payroll leader with demonstrable experience in:

◦ Multi-country payroll operations and outsourced supplier management.

◦ Payroll transformation, provider migration and implementation governance.

◦ SLAs, KPIs, service reviews, risk management and payroll controls.

◦ Parallel running, reconciliation, cutover and post-implementation stabilisation.

◦ Senior stakeholder management across Finance, HR, IT and procurement.

Please let us know:

1. How many candidates you have placed in comparable permanent roles.

2. Your access to Manchester-based and hybrid candidates with UK and European payroll experience.

3. Examples of candidates who have personally led outsourced payroll transitions.

4. Your proposed search approach, expected timescales and fee structure.

We would welcome an initial discussion and an indicative shortlist profile.

Kind regards,

[Your name]

One final point: I would keep the job title as Head of Payroll , but position it as a payroll transformation and supplier-governance leadership role , not simply an operational payroll vacancy. That should help attract candidates who can both stabilise the service and deliver the change.

For this hire, I’d prioritise recruitment firms with a track record in senior payroll leadership, multi-country payroll outsourcing, supplier governance and complex payroll transitions — rather than relying solely on general HR recruitment agencies.

Your brief is more specialised than a conventional Head of Payroll vacancy. The person needs to own the relationship with payroll providers, manage transition risk across the UK and Europe, establish service-level and control frameworks, and lead an effective payroll operating model. They also need to be comfortable working in a hybrid Manchester-based role.

I’d run a focused search across three channels: payroll and reward specialists, senior finance and transformation recruiters, and executive search firms capable of finding candidates from large multi-country employers or payroll outsourcing providers.

Recruitment firms I would approach

1. Middlemore

Best match for global payroll

Why approach them: Middlemore explicitly specialises in global payroll recruitment across the UK, EMEA and US, including senior leadership, payroll transformation, vendor management, governance, data migration and implementation. That is an unusually close match to your brief. Middlemore

Ask them for: Permanent Global Payroll Managers, Payroll Directors and Heads of Payroll who have led outsourced-provider transitions across multiple European countries.

[Visit Middlemore's payroll search practice](https://middlemore.co.uk/payroll-search/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

2. Portfolio Payroll

Best Manchester specialist

Why approach them: An established payroll recruitment specialist with a Manchester team, dedicated permanent and executive recruitment, and experience hiring at Head of Payroll and Payroll Director level. Portfolio Payroll +1

Ask them for: Senior UK payroll leaders who combine operational credibility with outsourced-bureau management, control frameworks and transition delivery.

Contact: 0161 523 5585.

[Visit Portfolio Payroll](https://www.portfoliopayroll.com/payroll/recruitment-services/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

3. The Leppington Group

Why approach them: Its TLG Talent service focuses on payroll and payroll technology talent, including senior leadership, vendor-side and client-side experience, global HR/payroll technology and governance. The Leppington Group

Ask them for: Candidates who have managed the client side of an outsourced payroll relationship and understand provider implementation, service quality and escalation.

[Visit TLG Talent](https://www.theleppingtongroup.com/payroll-talent?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

4. Pro Recruitment

Why approach them: Its published Manchester EMEA payroll recruitment work specifically references outsourced providers, multi-country compliance, payroll controls and international stakeholder management. This is relevant evidence of access to the candidate pool you need, although the example is a Payroll Manager rather than a permanent Head of Payroll. EMEA

Ask them for: Permanent candidates ready to step up from EMEA Payroll Manager or Global Payroll Lead into functional ownership.

[View Pro Recruitment's EMEA payroll vacancy example](https://www.pro-recruitment.co.uk/role-details/payroll-manager---emea-2?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

5. Forge Talent

Why approach them: Forge Talent has advertised a Manchester Head of Payroll role involving outsourced-provider relationships, payroll integration and process standardisation. That suggests relevant regional candidate-market exposure. LinkedIn

Ask them for: Manchester-commutable candidates who have led payroll integration or a bureau transition, while testing carefully for genuine European multi-country experience.

[View the relevant Head of Payroll search example](https://uk.linkedin.com/jobs/view/head-of-payroll-at-forge-talent-4342957857?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

6. Robert Walters

Why approach them: A broader Manchester recruitment option spanning finance, HR, operations, transformation and executive search. I would use them as an additional route to candidates from large international employers, rather than as the primary payroll specialist. google.com

Ask them for: Senior finance or HR operations leaders with demonstrable global payroll accountability, supplier governance and change-delivery experience.

[Visit Robert Walters](https://www.robertwalters.co.uk/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

My recommended shortlist strategy

I would start with the first three firms and add Pro Recruitment as a fourth. That gives you specialist payroll expertise, global candidate reach and a complementary route into the EMEA payroll market.

| Priority | Firm | Primary reason |

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

| 1 | Middlemore | Global payroll, vendor governance and transition |

| 2 | Portfolio Payroll | Manchester presence and senior payroll recruitment |

| 3 | The Leppington Group | Payroll technology and client/vendor-side talent |

| 4 | Pro Recruitment | EMEA payroll and outsourced-provider experience |

| 5 | Forge Talent | Local senior payroll and integration talent |

| 6 | Robert Walters | Broader international leadership candidate pool |

These are recommendations based on their publicly described specialisms and relevant recruitment examples, not a verified assessment of their current candidate databases.

How to brief them so you get the right candidates

The biggest risk is receiving CVs from excellent UK payroll operations managers who have never owned a European transition. I'd make the following requirements explicit in your agency brief.

Multi-country payroll ownership

Evidence of responsibility for UK payroll and payroll delivery across multiple European jurisdictions, including local compliance and in-country stakeholders.

Supplier governance

Experience owning outsourced-provider performance, SLAs, KPIs, escalations, service reviews, controls and remediation.

Proven transition delivery

Personally accountable for a payroll provider change, country migration, parallel runs, reconciliation, cutover and post-go-live stabilisation.

Senior stakeholder management

Able to work across HR, Finance, IT, procurement and external providers, with clear accountability for payroll risk and employee pay accuracy.

Practical location fit

Willing and able to work hybrid from Manchester, with travel requirements across the UK and Europe clearly established.

Ask every agency to provide three things before signing terms: two anonymised examples of comparable placements, evidence of how they will source passive candidates, and a sample shortlist showing each candidate's country coverage, provider-transition experience and supplier-governance responsibilities.

One further consideration: if this is a particularly high-stakes transition, assess candidates on a short case study about moving payroll across several European countries while maintaining uninterrupted pay and statutory compliance.

One question that would refine my recommendation

How many European countries will the new Head of Payroll cover?

That will help determine whether to prioritise global-payroll specialists such as Middlemore and The Leppington Group, or a more Manchester-centred search through Portfolio Payroll and Forge Talent.