How PMA Consult designed the Global Mobility architecture and delivered a future-proof function — from concept to turn-key delivery.

Challenge

A leading global intralogistics and industrial engineering company with production sites and project teams across Europe, the Americas and Asia faced a critical situation:

Global Mobility had developed organically across regions, with strong local expertise but no fully centralised global operating model. As international projects, engineering deployments and leadership mobility increased, the organisation aimed to professionalise and scale its Global Mobility capabilities.

Key challenges included:

• Global Mobility responsibilities spread across local HR teams
• increasing complexity of international tax, payroll and immigration topics
• limited transparency across countries
• no unified global governance or reporting structure.

The Business Need

The company did not just need advice or strategy concepts. It needed someone to take over and lead the delivery, hands-on.

They needed:

• immediate operational stabilisation
• compliance risks under control
• and a future-ready Global Mobility function.

This is exactly where PMA Consult Interim Management comes in.

The System

PMA Consult delivered a Turn-Key Global Mobility System that combined:

• interim management
• operational delivery
• compliance stabilisation
• governance & Target Operating Model
• vendor selection
• knowledge transfer
• and talent placement.

The goal was not a report but a fully functioning Global Mobility organisation.

Actors

• A global industrial manufacturing group with over 70 legal entities
• HR, Payroll, Corporate Tax and Business Leaders
• PMA Consult Interim Global Mobility Lead
• External tax and mobility providers

Goal

To transform Global Mobility from a high-risk operational bottleneck into a compliant, structured and future-proof business function while keeping daily operations running.

Preconditions

Before PMA entered:

• a key Global Mobility employee had left
• HR Admin had taken over complex GM and tax cases
• backlogs existed for prior-year taxation
• employees were waiting for answers
• external tax providers worked without coordination
• no central policy or governance existed.

The organisation was exposed to:

• compliance risks
• employee dissatisfaction
• financial and reputational damage.

The Use Case: How PMA Consult Solved It

PMA has developed a structured approach. The project was setup in three execution phases over 18 months.

Phase 1: Compliance Stabilisation

Role: Interim Global Mobility Manager

PMA immediately took over operational ownership of Global Mobility tax and compliance.

We:

• took responsibility for open tax and mobility cases
• communicated directly with employees
• coordinated payroll and external tax advisors
• processed prior-year cases
• structured inboxes and workflows
• created templates, checklists and standard communications
• built a documented tax equalisation process
• established digital knowledge management.

This phase was about risk removal. The organisation moved from firefighting to controlled operations.

Phase 2: Building the Global Mobility Function

Role: Transformation Consultant

Once stability was achieved, PMA designed the future Global Mobility organisation.

We delivered:

• a Target Operating Model (TOM) for Global Mobility
• governance & ownership structures
• global policy framework
• RACI between HR, Tax and GM
• reporting & compliance setup
• definition of internal vs. external service split
• benchmark against peer organisations
• vendor selection & implementation of a global GM provider.

The result: Global Mobility became a managed business function, not an HR side task.

Phase 3: Talent Placement & Long-Term Sustainability

Role: Mentor & Connector

PMA then ensured sustainability by:

• sourcing and placing the new permanent Global Mobility Lead
• using PMA’s Transfermarket community of GM professionals
• providing ongoing sparring and mentoring
• ensuring handover, knowledge retention and continuity.

This closed the loop from crisis → structure → ownership.

How PMA Academy Added Value

Alongside the transformation, the team was supported through PMA Academy — including the Vendor Selection course — ensuring:

• internal stakeholders understood how to manage providers
• GM was not outsourced blindly
• and the organisation kept strategic control.

Postconditions (What Changed)

After the 18-month engagement:

• compliance risks were stabilised
• tax and payroll processes were structured
• global Mobility had clear governance
• policies and responsibilities were defined
• external providers were professionally managed
• a permanent GM Lead was in place
• knowledge stayed in the organisation.

Global Mobility went from  intransparency and risk exposure to controlled, scalable and future-ready.

Why This Works

This model works because PMA Consult:

• does not only advise — we take responsibility
• does not only design — we operate
• does not only transform — we deliver
• does not leave — we hand over sustainably.

This is Interim Management for Global Mobility.

Results for our client

After the 18-month PMA Consult engagement, the organisation achieved:

• 100% stabilisation of Global Mobility compliance across multiple jurisdictions
• elimination of tax and payroll backlogs
• clear ownership and governance for Global Mobility
• a fully operational Target Operating Model (TOM)
• professionalised vendor landscape with structured management
• a permanent Global Mobility Lead successfully placed
• knowledge, documentation and processes retained in-house.

Why This Matters for Your Organisation

If your company is facing:

• compliance backlogs
• no GM ownership
• fragmented vendor setups
• HR overload
• or rapid international growth.

Then you don’t need another PowerPoint. You need Turn-Key Global Mobility Delivery.

How PMA Consult Can Help

Through:

• interim Global Mobility Managers
• compliance & operations take-over
• function build-up (TOM & governance)
• vendor selection & implementation
• talent placement via PMA Transfermarket.

We turn Global Mobility from a risk into a strategic asset.

Explore how we can stabilise, rebuild and future-proof your Global Mobility function.