Certino names Tom Martin-Lockyer as new Chief Executive

Certino has appointed Tom Martin-Lockyer as Chief Executive Officer. Founder Richard McBride will move into a non-executive board role as the business prepares for its next stage of expansion in global mobility tax and shadow payroll services.

Martin-Lockyer has spent six years at Certino, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Product. McBride will remain involved in long-term strategy and governance, rather than day-to-day management.

The London-based firm describes the change as a shift from a build phase to a scale phase, citing rising demand for systems that manage cross-border tax calculations and shadow payroll requirements within global mobility programmes.

Leadership shift

Martin-Lockyer has led delivery, systems and governance across the business, while helping to expand its international client base. As CEO, he will focus on strengthening executive accountability and tightening operational discipline as client volumes grow.

Certino is planning a 12 to 18 month push to build a scalable operating model and more consistent delivery. It also cited governance, execution discipline and operational infrastructure as priorities to support commercial growth.

Global mobility teams and payroll functions have faced increased scrutiny as organisations send more staff across borders and work to comply with local tax and reporting rules. In many mobility programmes, shadow payroll runs alongside host-country payroll. It allows companies to account for payroll obligations without paying staff through a local payroll in the same way as domestic employees.

Certino operates in this segment with software that calculates expatriate tax and supports shadow payroll workflows. It positions itself as a specialist platform for global mobility tax calculation and shadow payroll, delivering audit-ready expatriate tax calculations across multiple jurisdictions.

Product focus

Its platform standardises tax equalisation and gross-up processes. These methods are used in international assignments to manage how tax burdens are shared between employee and employer, and to adjust pay for tax differences across countries. Certino said standardisation improves cost predictability and reduces pricing variability.

Certino also sells through partner channels, working with accountancy, relocation and payroll firms. It plans to expand through these routes as it deepens its position in the global mobility and shadow payroll ecosystem.

Clients and partners named by the company include Deloitte, Siemens and Cartus. Certino said these relationships support its role as an infrastructure layer in global mobility programmes, where employers and service providers integrate multiple systems and advisory services to manage assignments.

Operational emphasis

In a statement, Martin-Lockyer said the next phase will focus on scaling operations while maintaining consistency for larger clients and more complex programmes.

"Certino has built a strong reputation as a specialist partner in an increasingly complex global mobility and shadow payroll environment. As our clients scale internationally, they need infrastructure that is robust, predictable and capable of supporting enterprise requirements."

"My focus will be on ensuring we scale with discipline. That means investing in operational systems, leadership capability and governance so that growth is sustainable and repeatable. We are not changing direction. We are strengthening execution so we can support larger volumes, deeper partnerships and more ambitious client programmes over the coming years," said Tom Martin-Lockyer, Chief Executive Officer, Certino.

McBride said the change reflects the maturity of the business and the systems built over the past six years, while keeping him engaged at board level.

"I am immensely proud of what we have built at Certino. From the early days of identifying a gap in the market to supporting some of the world's most recognised organisations, the journey has been one of steady, disciplined progress.

"Tom has been instrumental in shaping the operational backbone of the business over the last six years. His leadership, execution capability and focus on delivery consistency have already strengthened our platform. I have complete confidence in his ability to lead Certino through its next stage of growth," said Richard McBride, Founder and Non-Executive Board Member, Certino.

Certino said it will continue to expand its offering through established accountancy, relocation and payroll partner channels as it targets larger deployments within global mobility programmes.