Talent Acquisition | EOR Software | Global Payroll

Turn expansion plans into headcount, fast.

Emerald combines specialist talent acquisition with fully managed Employer of Record software and global payroll through one accountable team. The result is accelerated hiring, lower operational drag, tighter control of cash burn, and reduced compliance risk.

Start with talent
or
Start with EOR
OverviewTeamDocumentsEmployment toolsExpensesTime off
Onboarding7 employees
Onboarded5 employees
Global payroll32 countries
Contract details Document upload Payroll setup
Awaiting verification Verified
Action itemUpload document
Document namePassport – Robert Fox
Signatures (0/2) (1/2)
Administrator
Sign the document
|
Employ

Companies growing with Emerald

Palo Alto Networks Egnyte Proofpoint CloudHealth BlueCat Palo Alto Networks Egnyte Proofpoint CloudHealth BlueCat

The measurable impact
of using one vendor.

What it means for your timelines, your reach and your bottom line

when talent acquisition, EOR and payroll run as one.

10x

Faster to employ

In a new territory, versus setting up a legal entity

48hrs

Contract turnaround

Contract to employed vs. the 14-day industry standard.

150+

Countries covered

With full compliance, from day one.

100k

Average saving

Versus setting up a single legal entity.

HIRE GLOBALLY. START IMMEDIATELY


One accountable team,
end to end

Speed to headcount

Plan to employed in 2-6 weeks, not 12-20+. Contracts in 48 hours.

The liability sits with us

We are the employer of record, the compliance risk is ours, not your team’s.

Protects your cash

£100k+ saved per market, no entity, no hidden drag.

Want to explore how the Emerald way can support your expansion plans?

Talk to us

CUSTOMER STORIES

The preferred choice for over 500 leading organisations

Stratus HR company logo

Carlos Bolaños Testimonial

Watch
Stratus HR company logo
Watch
Stratus HR company logo
Stratus HR company logo
Founders Law company logo

Founders Law

Watch
Founders Law company logo
Watch
Founders Law company logo
Founders Law company logo
Fingerprint Cards company logo

Fingerprint Cards

Watch
Fingerprint Cards company logo
Watch
Fingerprint Cards company logo
Fingerprint Cards company logo
Read customer story
HUMAN Security company logo (formerly White Ops)

Human Security

Watch
HUMAN Security company logo (formerly White Ops)
Watch
HUMAN Security company logo (formerly White Ops)
HUMAN Security company logo (formerly White Ops)
Read customer story
G2 Reviews Badge
G2 Easiest To Do Business With award, Winter 2025
G2 Mid-Market High Performer Europe award, Fall 2024
G2 Easiest To Do Business With award, Fall 2024

Launching in a new market?
Let's turn ambition into action

One accountable team for talent acquisition, Employer of Record, and global payroll giving you a faster route from hiring plan to employed headcount. Let’s talk.

Start with talent
or
Start with EOR

POWERFUL SOFTWARE + EXPERT ADVICE

Three capabilities. One team. One vendor

Specialist talent acquisition, fully managed EOR and global payroll
one team that handles all three, so you can focus on growth.

•  25+ years placing talent

Find the right hire. Employ them anywhere. In weeks, not months.

Our specialist team have been placing talent in growth-stage technology businesses for 25+ years. We don’t just fill roles we find the people who drive the next phase of your company. Learn more →

Illustration of a recruiter searching a connected global network of candidate profiles on a world map

Stage intelligent hiring

We advise who to hire, what their profile looks like, and how it aligns to your growth stage and market entry plan not just who's available.

Specialist tech sector knowledge

Deep expertise across talent pools, compensation benchmarks and the signals of a great candidate at every level from individual contributor to C-suite.

Global reach, local intelligence

Active talent networks across the US, UK, Europe and APAC. We already know who matches your brief before you've finished writing it.

Recruitment paired with EOR

Place a hire and employ them compliantly in the same motion no handover, no gap, through one vendor.

• 150+ countries covered

Hire globally. Stay compliant. In days, not weeks.

Powerful EOR software that handles the complexity of international employment so you don’t have to. Contracts, payroll, compliance and benefits managed in one centralised platform. Learn more →

Compliant contracts in 48 hours

Country-specific employment contracts generated and issued within 48 hours of offer acceptance. Correct salary, benefits and local compliance built in from day one.

Continuous compliance management

Employment law changes constantly. Our team tracks every update managing local regulations, tax obligations and statutory requirements across every country, ongoing.

One platform for everything

Contracts, payroll cycles, expenses and HR documents in one centralised workspace across every country. Every employee visible in one place.

• One platform. Full visibility

Manage your global team
with real-time control.

International payroll that runs on time, in the right currency, with the right benefits and full financial visibility across every market so you always know exactly what your headcount costs. Learn more >

Illustration of a recruiter searching a connected global network of candidate profiles on a world map

Real-time headcount visibility

Live view of headcount cost, compliance status, contract renewals and payroll runs across every market in one place, updated in real time.

Right currency. Right benefits.

Payroll processed in local currency with country-specific benefits configured correctly. No manual corrections. No payroll errors.

Named contact for every account and employee

Every account and employee has a named Emerald account contact who knows their file. Pay queries, expenses, benefits any question answered fast, by a real person.

YOUR TRUSTED PARTNER

Supporting your complete employee lifecycle.
From first search to final payslip.

Most vendors own one moment. Emerald is your trusted partner
across every stage the same team, the same relationship, start to finish.

THE EMERALD DIFFERENCE

We don't just give you a platform. We run it with you.

Most EOR providers hand you a portal and step back. We assign
you a dedicated team that handles the complexity so all you
need to do is tell us what you need, and consider it done.

OTHER PLATFORMS

Self-serve portal, figure it out

Ticket queues, weeks of waiting

Infrastructure only

Vs

EMERALD

Named point of contact, always reachable

We action it on your behalf

White-glove from day one, ongoing

Overlay+Border

White glove onboarding

Employees added for you. Docs collected. Intro calls arranged. Zero admin burden.

tick list

Local compliance

Country-specific contracts issued. Partners & own entities across Europe and Americas.

currency symbol

Payroll cost & clarity

Payslips, employer costs, billing reports. Full financial visibility by employee or project.

people star

People & rewards

Employees added for you. Docs collected. Intro calls arranged. Zero admin burden.

people team

Human support

A real person who knows your account. Clients and employees both have direct access.

“Add employees in a new territory”

“Benefits setup (meal vouchers, insurance”

“Billing & payroll reports”

“Employer cost breakdowns”

“Invoice, expenses & pay queries”

“WFH allowance taxable?”

“Termination advice & support calls”

“Maternity & paternity leave by country”

“PTO queries & entitlements”

“Improvement plan (PIP) guidance”

Build your business case
in under 5 minutes.

Model your return across four value levers revenue acceleration, exit cost savings, compliance risk and entity setup avoidance. Get a summary you can share with your finance team.

Revenue at risk

Exit cost savings

Compliance risk

Entity setup avoidance

FAQ's

Common questions

No. An Employer of Record (EOR) is a company that becomes the legal employer of staff on your behalf in a country where you have no local entity, taking on registration, payroll, tax, and compliance obligations. Setting up your own legal entity typically take months and costs tens of thousands per country before you make a single hire. Emerald’s EOR solution removes that step entirely, so you can employ someone compliantly in any of 150+ countries without opening a local branch or subsidiary. If you’re weighing entity setup against EOR as a broader strategy question, our guide on what UK startup founders need to prove before expanding internationally walks through the trade-offs in more detail.

A self-serve EOR platform gives you software and leaves you to run it yourself. Emerald pairs its platform with a dedicated team managing compliance, talent acquisition, and in-country legal risk, so onboarding, contracts, and payroll are handled by people who know your account, not just a dashboard. This matters most at the point of failure for most tools: local employment law changes, edge-case compliance questions, and the moments a candidate needs a fast answer. You can see how this plays out in practice in our background and security check process, where a named team, not just an integration, manages the handoff.

A standard recruitment agency finds candidates and hands them off. Emerald’s talent acquisition approach starts with your company’s stage and funding position, matching hiring shape and seniority to what a business at that stage actually needs, not just a job title – we call this Stage Intelligent Hiring. Combined with Employer of Record services, it means the same team can find a candidate and employ them compliantly, without a handover between recruiter and employer.

Your talent acquisition team can find candidates, but they cannot legally employ them in a country where you have no entity. Emerald combines talent acquisition with Employer of Record services, so sourcing and compliant employment happen through a single provider instead of being split across a recruiting partner and a separate EOR tool. Explore our talent acquisition solution to see how the two functions connect, or read about outsourcing your recruitment if you’re comparing models.

Emerald works with companies from early funding stages, venture-backed and PE-backed technology businesses as well as pre and post IPO. The right hiring approach differs by stage. An early-stage business typically needs a single generalist hire, while a scaling business needs a fuller team structure. Emerald adjusts its approach accordingly rather than applying one model to every client, EOR scales in line with your needs whether that’s a single IC or standing up an entire team.

Timelines vary by role and country, but Emerald issues compliant contracts within 48 hours of candidate selection, and specialist placements typically complete in two to six weeks, well ahead of the months a local entity setup requires. Speed depends partly on country-specific requirements such as notice periods and probation rules, which you can check in our country hiring guides before you start the process.

Emerald charges a single monthly fee per employee, with three plans: Entry at £500 per month, Growth at £750 per month, and custom Enterprise pricing for larger organisations. The payroll breakdown analytics dashboard shows the full cost per employee, per country, and per category each month, reconciled directly against your invoice, so there’s no guessing where the fee is going. See our pricing page for further information.

Many EOR providers add separate charges for onboarding, offboarding, FX conversion, and benefits administration on top of the headline fee (many don’t disclose this either so you tend to find out after you have signed). Emerald’s monthly fee is the price you pay. Want to find out about the hidden costs other EOR providers charge download our ebook.

That’s a natural next step for many clients as headcount in a market grows. Emerald supports a smooth transition, transferring employees from our EOR model to your own entity without disrupting their employment or benefits. We have numerous partners who can help with setting up Entities if you need support.

As the Employer of Record, Emerald holds the legal employment relationship and carries the associated compliance. This protects your company from local labour law exposure across misclassification, termination, and tax obligations that vary by jurisdiction. Our compliance solution covers how this is documented and audit-ready in practice.

Some EOR providers have a default severance term of 12 months which an employee claims in full and the EOR passes the full invoice to you, with no ability to dispute it. If that’s a senior hire that can be serious exposure running into 100K+ and more! Unlike other Employer of Record platforms. Emerald manages termination in line with local law and keeps you informed throughout, rather than surprising you with an uncontrolled bill, our aim is to negotiate the fairest settlement for both parties. Curious to see what your finance risk associated with termination looks like? Check out our business case builder.

Yes all people are informed that Emerald is their legal employer while working exclusively for your business day to day. Emerald manages contracts, payroll, and benefits, so from the employee’s side the experience stays seamless and professional. 

Emerald syncs with your HR system, so employee data, payments, and reporting stay consistent across platforms instead of living in two places. Emerald’s team manages the local compliance layer while you retain full visibility through your own system.

Many providers lead with AI-first support and route real questions through layers of low-level ticketing, leaving you waiting days or weeks for an answer. Emerald takes the opposite approach: every account has a dedicated, knowledgeable contact reachable by email, Slack, or phone, and queries are resolved quickly (94% are answered same day) rather than sitting in a queue waiting escalation. That matters because when you’re in the middle of finding, hiring, and employing someone, a slow answer can stall the whole process. Employees get the same dedicated contact listed in their own account, so they can get a query answered directly rather than searching for who to ask.

Ready to accelerate your
international expansion?

Tell us which markets you’re expanding into and which roles you need. One conversation. One team. Faster than you thought possible.

Start with talent
or
Start with EOR