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Barden have been exclusively retained by Cairn – a public limited company and Ireland’s largest home builder, ranked 3rd in Ireland’s Best Workplaces 2025 within the Large Organisations category -, to appoint a new leadership position as Head of Legal.
A full job spec is available but below are a few highlights and key information:
- The position will report into C-Suite.
- This will initially be a standalone role, quite functional, transactional and “business as usual” hands on. There is significant potential for this to become General Counsel position in time, with a more strategic focus, as the structure and the legal function evolves.
- You will bring a strategic, commercially minded approach to legal leadership, enabling better decisions, protecting value, and ensuring the company operates with integrity, transparency and discipline. This role requires a leader capable of influencing at Board level, partnering across functions, and building a best-practice legal operating model that supports Cairn’s growth and long-term ambitions.
- While the organisation operates a flexible hybrid working model, there is an expectation for someone at this level to be very embedded in the business and to develop strong relationships with multiple stakeholders in different functions. As such, although there isn’t a prescribed number of days onsite, the role would suit someone Dublin based or within easily commutable distance.
THE PERSON
- Proven senior leadership legal experience in-house, ideally a PLC, large corporate or regulated environment.
- Strong exposure to construction, real estate, infrastructure or development contracts and/or matters.
- Strong technical expertise across corporate, commercial, regulatory, governance and risk domains with the ability to translate complexity into clear, actionable advice.
- Ambition and capability to grow into a future General Counsel role over time, however it is critical that the successful candidate is someone with such room for development and who is genuinely happy to do the day-to-day hands on work in the meantime.
