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HR Operations Recruiter for the Problems You Need Solved

HR Operations rarely needs a new leader because everything is running beautifully. Maybe the technology isn't delivering what it should or HRBPs are still picking up operational work that was supposed to have moved elsewhere.

As a specialist HR Operations recruiter, Carter Morris searches from the Senior Manager and Director level through to Global Director, VP and SVP appointments. And when the remit starts stretching beyond HR Operations, we know when the conversation should include HRBPs, CPOs or CHROs too. HR is all we recruit for, so you don't need to spend half the briefing explaining how the function fits together. Tell us what's working, what isn't and what you need the next person to change — we'll start from there.

TALK TO CARTER MORRIS ABOUT YOUR HR OPERATIONS SEARCH
 
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When the Business Has Outgrown HR Operations

Growth has a way of exposing processes that worked perfectly well at a smaller scale. What was manageable at 2,000 employees across three countries can get a lot harder at 8,000 across twelve, with more systems, stakeholders, regulations and regional differences to account for.

Processes get patched rather than redesigned. Teams create workarounds. The HR system everyone invested in isn't being used quite as intended. And suddenly the next HR Operations hire has a very different job from the person who built the function.

That's what we'd want to understand — what has the business outgrown, and does your next leader know how to take it from here?

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 What Does HR Operations Actually Own Here?

Before looking at candidates, we'd want to draw the lines around the function.

HR technology

Might sit inside HR Operations or with a separate HRIS leader.

Payroll

Could be part of the remit, shared with Finance or completely separate.

Data, services and processes

Data, employee services and process ownership can move around too.

That changes the hire. If you've already got brilliant specialists leading systems and data, you probably don't need another technical expert sitting above them. You may need someone who knows enough to challenge them and make good decisions across the whole operation. 

We'd rather work that out at the beginning than build a wish list for someone who's somehow spent twenty years specialising in everything.

Which HR Leaders Could Fit the Brief?

The right person may already be an HR Operations Director or VP. Or they might be a Global Director with a much bigger remit than their title suggests, an HRBP who's taken on serious operational responsibility or even a CPO or CHRO.

We'd look at what they've actually been running — then worry about the title.

HR Role Where They May Fit What We’d Want to Understand
Senior HR Operations Manager A senior operational role requiring someone close enough to the detail to know what’s happening, but ready for greater leadership responsibility What do they already own, and where are they still relying on somebody above them?
HR Operations Director Owning how HR Operations runs — from the systems and data behind it to the processes and services people actually use What have they personally led, changed and improved?
Global HR Operations Director Keeping HR Operations working across countries or regions without assuming everything needs to work exactly the same way everywhere Where have they had to balance a global approach with what genuinely needed to stay local?
VP or SVP of HR Operations Taking the bigger calls on how HR Operations should run, where it needs to change and what the business needs from it next Have they really shaped the function, or mainly inherited something that was already working?
HR Business Partner or HRBP Leader When they’ve moved beyond partnering and taken real responsibility for how HR actually runs What have they genuinely owned rather than simply worked alongside?
CPO When HR Operations is one part of a much bigger people remit they’re already leading Have they stayed close enough to the operation to know what needs changing?
CHRO When the HR Operations challenge is tied into bigger decisions about the whole HR function Are you really hiring an HR Operations leader, or does the job now need someone accountable for all of HR?

Titles are useful. We just wouldn't let one rule somebody in or out before looking at the job behind it. For example, if the remit has moved beyond HR Operations into overall HR leadership, our CPO and CHRO recruiting work covers that market.

 Global HR Operations Gets Complicated Fast

Say you've acquired a business in Germany and inherited a local HR process that doesn't match the global model. The obvious answer is to standardise it. But first, someone needs to work out why it's different.

Is there a genuine local requirement?

Is the old process compensating for something the global system can’t do?

Or has nobody questioned it since the acquisition?

That's the kind of judgement we'd look for in a Global HR Operations leader. The best answer isn't always “make everything consistent” — sometimes it's knowing which inconsistency is actually worth fixing.

 How We Approached a Global VP of HR Operations Search

A multinational business came to us for a Global VP of HR Operations at a point when the function needed to work differently.

The central HR operation covered first-line queries, case management and reporting, but HRBPs were still holding onto work themselves. The new VP needed to understand why, improve the policies and processes behind the service and bring substantial HRIS experience to the role.

There was another important part to the brief: a newly appointed CHRO was leading significant organisational change. They needed someone who could work closely with them while building confidence in HR Operations across the business.

The search was confidential, budgets were tight and there were some sceptical stakeholders to bring along with us. We recommended five HR professionals within three weeks, and the successful candidate went on to take on additional responsibilities within six months.

For us, the interesting part of the brief was finding someone who could improve the operation without assuming the operation itself was the whole problem. The relationship with HRBPs, the technology and confidence in the service all mattered too.

The Questions We Dig Into With Senior HR Operations Candidates

A senior candidate should be able to explain the size of their team, the countries they've covered and the systems they've worked with. We'd expect that. We're more interested in what happened while they were responsible for them.

What Did People Stop Working Around?

If employees, managers or HRBPs routinely bypass a process, there’s usually a reason.

Perhaps the process takes too long. Maybe nobody trusts the answer they get. Or people have simply become used to doing things themselves.

If a candidate says they improved HR Operations, we’d want to know whether those workarounds actually disappeared. A new process being launched tells us very little on its own. People choosing to use it tells us considerably more.

What Kept Coming Back?

Recurring problems are useful. If the same data needs correcting every month or the same employee issue keeps being escalated, fixing each individual occurrence isn’t really solving it.

We’d want to hear about the candidate who spotted the pattern and went back far enough to find the cause.

What was creating the repeat problem — the process, the system or the way people were using it? And six months later, was the team still fixing the same thing?

Where Did They Push Back?

Senior HR Operations leaders aren’t there simply to say yes to every request from the business.

Sometimes a senior stakeholder wants an exception that creates a problem elsewhere. Sometimes a local team wants to keep a process because that’s how they’ve always done it.

We’d want to know when the candidate has challenged that — and how. Equally, we’d want an example of when somebody challenged them and turned out to be right.

Both tell us something about how they’ll operate at a senior level.

 Why Use Carter Morris as Your HR Operations Recruiter?

HR is the only profession Carter Morris recruits for.

Our network has been built through years of searches, introductions and conversations with HR professionals across 94 countries. That means when an HR Operations brief comes in, we're already operating in the market around it rather than spending the first part of the search learning who's who.

More importantly, we know enough about HR to challenge the brief when something doesn't quite add up.


We'll Tell You When the Brief Is Asking for Too Much

HR Operations roles can grow quickly on paper.

You want someone strong on HR systems. They should understand data. Global experience would be useful. Transformation too. And perhaps deep HRBP experience because stakeholder management matters.

Individually, perfectly reasonable.

Then everything becomes essential.

At that point, we'd rather have a conversation than pretend the market will conveniently produce exactly what has been written down.

What does this person genuinely need to know themselves? What do they need enough experience to lead? And where will good specialists already exist around them?

Getting that right usually gives you a much stronger candidate market.


We Know When the Problem Isn't Just HR Operations

Sometimes you can hire a very good HR Operations leader and still leave them with a problem they can't solve alone.

If HRBPs keep handling work that should have moved into a central service, why? Maybe they don't trust the service yet. Maybe the handoffs are poor. Or perhaps HR Operations has never actually made it easier for them to let go.

The same goes for technology. A new leader can improve how an HRIS is used, but they can't fix a system that's fundamentally wrong for the business simply by managing it harder.

Because we only recruit HR, we know to get into those dependencies before deciding what the new leader needs to be brilliant at. 

It makes for a better brief — and a much fairer assessment of who can actually succeed in the job.


We Can Have a Proper Conversation With People Who Aren't Looking

Many of the senior HR professionals worth considering aren't applying for jobs. They're already doing well, which means the opportunity needs to be strong enough to make a conversation worth their time.

We spend every day in the HR market and maintain relationships with professionals who aren't necessarily planning their next move. That gives us somewhere meaningful to start when the strongest person for your HR Operations role isn't sitting in an applicant pool.

It also means we need to understand your opportunity properly.

A passive candidate is quite reasonably going to ask why this role, why this business and why now. We'd like to have better answers than what's written in the vacancy advert or brief.

 What Customers Say About Working With Carter Morris

“...they came up with 3 exceptional people, fully screened and qualified, in just 14 days from taking the brief...proved to be a brilliant hire.”
CEO, Europe
Manufacturing
“I don’t know how they did it, but they gave me a shortlist of 4 exceptional people in under 10 days from taking the brief.”
SVP for HR
Latin America, Global Pharma
“On the rare occasions we have needed to conduct package negotiations.......I never feel like I’m being held to ransom....”
SVP Compensation & Benefits
Global Consumer Goods

 Tell Us What HR Operations Looks Like When Nobody Is Presenting It

You probably already have the organisation chart and job description. Tell us the bit behind them.

Where is the function getting stuck? What does the CHRO want to stop dealing with? Which processes look fine until you speak to the HRBPs? And what responsibility has quietly accumulated around the person who's leaving?

That's the information that changes a search.

Tell us what your next HR Operations leader is really walking into — we'll tell you what we'd look for and who is worth speaking to.

TALK TO CARTER MORRIS

 Frequently Asked Questions About Finding an HR Operations Recruiter

  • An HR Operations recruiter helps businesses find people with the experience to lead the operational side of HR.

    For Carter Morris, that starts with understanding what the role actually owns and why you're hiring. A Director brought in to run an established function is a different search from one expected to fix systems, processes and operating problems that have built up over several years.

  • Carter Morris recruits senior HR professionals at Manager, Director, Global Director, VP and SVP level.

    Depending on the scope of the appointment, relevant candidates may also come from HRBP leadership or broader CPO and CHRO backgrounds. We look at what somebody has actually owned instead of assuming the title gives us the answer.

  • Yes. Carter Morris has completed a Global VP for HR Operations search for a multinational business in the USA.

    The role required substantial HRIS expertise, senior HR Operations leadership and somebody capable of working through organisational change with sceptical stakeholders. Five HR professionals were recommended within three weeks.

  • Start with what needs to be different after they arrive.

    If the function already works well, you may need somebody with the judgement and leadership to take it forward. If systems, data or processes need substantial work, we'd look much more closely at what the candidate has personally improved rather than simply where they've worked.

  • Yes. HR titles aren't consistent enough between organisations to make that decision for us. 

    A Global Director may already lead a larger team, cover more countries and hold greater functional responsibility than a VP somewhere else.

    We'd compare scope before titles.

  • Potentially, if their experience goes beyond working with HR Operations.

    We'd like to understand what they've really owned and started — whether that's operational processes, systems, service delivery or a significant part of the HR operating model. Being a senior stakeholder of the function isn't the same as having led it.

  • That depends on the location, seniority and combination of experience required.

    In the example we provided about one of our Global VP for HR Operations searches, five candidates were recommended within three weeks. 

    That's a real result from that assignment, instead of a timeframe we'd automatically promise for every search. The timeframe really depends on the brief, your business and how the market is currently moving for an operational role in HR.

  • Look at where the accountability ends. If the new hire will own HR Operations but report into somebody responsible for the wider people function, you're probably still describing a specialist functional leader. 

    If they'll own the overall HR strategy and multiple HR disciplines at executive level, the search may really be for a CPO or CHRO.

    It's worth settling that before going to market — otherwise you can end up searching for the right person under the wrong title.