We Are Barden
Founded by people passionate about talent advisory and recruitment and its impact on people’s lives, we have grown into a thriving firm who think about talent advisory and recruitment in a very different way.
Partner with Potential
Barden is a partner led talent advisory and recruitment firm consumed with supporting companies that really know the value of their people. Our expertise covers Accounting & Tax, Business Support, Financial Services, Legal, Life Sciences, Supply Chain and Technology. Our people are trained/qualified in their specialist areas. Our approach is consultative not transactional. In Barden we really know the value of people; work with us to uncover yours.
Christine McCarthy
Senior Associate | Projects, Transformation & Change | Ireland
Dan Hoctor
Business Lead | Technology & Analytics | Ireland
With over 11 years of technical recruitment experience Dan sits within our Technology Talent Advisory and Recruitment Practice as Business Lead specialising in analytics roles. Over the years Dan has helped clients from start ups, SMEs to multi-nationals, scale their teams with talent across infrastructure, software development, IT security, solutions architects, database and data analytics. Dan recruits nationally in Ireland and has experience helping local clients add talent to their teams in mainland Europe.
Catherine Drysdale FCA
Consultant | Projects, Transformation & Change | Ireland
Catherine is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, who began a career in Accounting training with Deloitte within their Auditing Practice. She spent close to 20 years working in senior finance positions across various industries including Financial Services, Distribution and Technology. Throughout her career she has led multiple finance optimisation initiatives including ERP, robotic process automation (RPA), data science & analytical tools & various revenue and billing integrations. In her latest role with Barden, Catherine advises clients and talent within the Transformation, Projects & Change domain, leveraging her expertise to drive impactful change.
Susan Greene
Associate | Business Support, HR & Operational Finance | Munster
Rachel McGuckian
Senior Associate | Software Development, QA & DevOps | Ireland
Rachel graduated from UCC in 2021 with a First-Class Honours degree in Commerce, majoring in HR & Leadership. After starting her career in Assurance with EY, Rachel transitioned into recruitment and has been working in the Technology practice in Barden since. Specialising in software development, QA, and DevOps, Rachel partners with clients to build high-performing development teams and works with talent in the market to support them in their careers.
Ornaith Giblin FCA
Consultant | Mid-Senior Accountants | Leinster
Ornaith is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland. Prior to completing her professional qualifications, she completed a degree in Accounting and Finance and a Masters in Accounting with DCU. Prior to joining Barden, Ornaith qualified with KPMG in 2006 in the financial services audit department. She moved to Ardagh Group where she worked for 4 years before moving to EY to take up the role of Senior Manager. Following this she returned to the Ardagh Group as Financial Controller and subsequently held a number of key roles with Ardagh Group, culminating in her role as Finance Director for their Irish business.
Bernie Duffy ACA
Senior Associate | Recently Qualified Accountants | Leinster
Niall O’Keeffe ACA
Senior Associate | Recently Qualified Accountants | Leinster
Jane Olden
Senior Associate | Projects, Transformation & Change | Ireland
Jane Olden completed a Bachelor of Commerce with University College Cork (UCC) in 2017. She has worked with some of Ireland's leading global recruitment firms and in 2021 joined the Barden team. In her role, Jane works to support the IT Project, Programme, Product, and Business Analyst communities in Ireland, whether that is working directly with clients enabling them to build and develop world-class teams, or directly with IT Project, Product, Programme, and Business Analyst professionals when it comes to navigating their professional careers.
Bernardo Pina LLM
Partner | Legal | Ireland
Bernardo Pina is a qualified lawyer in Portugal, having trained in a top tier Portuguese law firm. Bernardo went on to practise in-house in both Portugal and in Ireland with multinational companies in the technology and life sciences sectors. He is an expert in legal recruitment in Ireland and other international markets, focusing on opportunities for qualified lawyers, company secretarial and data protection professionals. Bernardo partners with a variety of organisations and professionals across all industries and sectors, both in private practice and in-house.
Lorraine O'Leary
Business Lead | Infrastructure & Security | Ireland
Lorraine successfully graduated from UCC in 2020, achieving a first class honours degree in Business Information Systems (BIS). Lorraine joined Barden as an Associate in February 2021 and has been an integral part of the Technology team, supporting the growth of the Technology practice within Barden. Lorraine supports IT professionals in identifying what the best next step in their career might be and in providing guidance and unbiased advice throughout their career move. In particular Lorraine works directly with Analytics and Infrastructure professionals throughout Ireland.
Tara Higgins
Partner | Business Support & Operational Finance | Munster
Tara Higgins is Partner of the Business Support & Operational Finance Practice with Barden’s talent advisory and recruitment firm in Munster. A core part of Tara’s role is working directly with professionals in the areas of Operational Finance and Business Support, helping them to identify and map out their future career path, and secure their ideal roles. Tara will also partner with clients to build world class teams in these, and other, areas of business. A UCC grad, Tara started her career in finance before moving into recruitment in 2015. She joined Barden Munster in April 2018 at a very exciting time when the Munster office was in true start-up mode. Over the past number of years, she has helped our managing partners to grow various areas of the Munster business, which she is extremely passionate about.
Siobhán Sexton ACA
Business Lead | Recently Qualified Accountants | Munster
Sarah Murphy
Director | Mid-Senior Accountants | Leinster
Trained in tax through a leading accounting practice, Sarah moved into recruitment in 2012 and has held a number of leadership roles, both locally and internationally, since. Sarah is a founding member of Barden's tax and accounting recruitment practice in Dublin, is a subject matter expert in accounting careers and plays an active role in the leadership and stewardship of Barden. Sarah is also an active member of the HR community in Ireland and is a qualified CIPD member.
Kiara Daly BCL
Managing Partner | Legal | Ireland
Kiara Daly is a founding member of Barden’s Legal Recruitment Practice. She is a qualified solicitor, having trained in a top tier Irish law firm and going on to gain post qualification experience both in private practice and in-house. Kiara has a nationwide scope, focusing on supporting organisations to build world class legal teams and working directly with professionals to identify and take the very best next steps in their legal careers.
Kate Flanagan AITI CTA
Partner | Tax, Treasury & Practice | Ireland
Trained through Big 4, Kate qualified in tax in 2006 and spent a number of years, post qualification, in both practice and industry before moving to recruitment in 2010. Kate is a founding member of Barden’s tax and accounting recruitment practice in Dublin, is a subject matter expert in tax careers, regularly contributes to publications on the tax profession, and advises CFOs and tax leadership teams in Leinster on attracting and retaining world class teams.
Jonathan Olden BCL
Managing Partner | Munster
Jonathan has an undergrad in law from UCC and qualified as a solicitor in 2006. Jonathan moved into recruitment in 2010 and has worked in leadership roles both locally and nationally since then. As a founding partner of Barden, Jonathan advises leadership teams across Munster on their talent attraction and retention strategy.
Elaine Brady
Managing Partner | Leinster
Following an undergrad in business with Trinity, Elaine joined the recruitment profession in 2004 and held a number of leadership roles with key recruitment firms before founding Barden in 2014. Elaine advises leadership teams across Leinster on their talent attraction and retention strategy and is a regular speaker at institute events.
Ed Heffernan
Managing Partner | Ireland
Ed has over 21 years’ experience in recruitment both locally and internationally. Ed is CIPD Qualified with an undergrad in Neuroscience from UCC, an MBA from Trinity and has worked in recruitment since 2001. As a founding partner of Barden, Ed looks after key executive level appointments nationally and supports our Leadership team on all operational and strategic matters.
Aideen Murphy ACA CTA
Partner | Tax & Practice | Munster
Trained through Big 4, Aideen qualified in accounting and in tax in 2012 and spent a number of years post qualification in both practice and industry before moving to recruitment in 2015. Aideen is a founding member of Barden’s tax and accounting firm recruitment practice in Cork, is a subject matter expert in tax careers, is an active member of the Women in Tax committee, regularly contributes to publications on the tax profession and advises CFOs and Tax leadership teams in Munster on attracting and retaining world class teams.
Why Barden?
For decades we have advised professionals at all levels and worked with CEOs to create world class teams. We have catered to the needs of many and it is their stories that have informed our insights, enlightened our thinking and made us the expert recruitment team we are today. We put people first, transactions second. We believe this approach paves the way for more informed decisions and happier, more fulfilled lives. That is why we do what we do. That is why we are Barden.
