ROLE:                                       Director Business Systems and AI Enablement

LOCATION:                              Dublin

REPORTING TO:                     Chief Operating Officer

ABOUT THE ROLE:

Barden is delighted to partner with a fast-growing international investment business as they look to appoint a Director of Business Systems and AI Enablement in Dublin. The business is lean and flat, with a strong platform in place and ambitious plans to keep growing.

The goal is efficiency and automation. You will be a visible, trusted partner to senior leadership and the executive team and the various functions across the business, and you will build solutions securely within the business’s own Microsoft environment.

“The groundwork is done: the business has mapped a long pipeline of AI and automation ideas across functions including finance, operations and the investment team. An AI strategy partner and an implementation partner are engaged, and the first projects are under way. What it needs now is a dedicated, hands-on leader to own that pipeline, drive delivery inside the Microsoft environment, and keep it moving as new ideas are added to the pipeline” – Chief Operating Officer

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee day-to-day IT through a well-established managed service provider, keeping support in balance with transformation delivery.
• Own the AI and automation pipeline end to end, from prioritising use cases to delivery and adoption.
• Work with functions and stakeholders across the business including finance, operations, and the investment team to turn ideas into working solutions.
• Lead the AI strategy and implementation partners, and build proprietary solutions hands-on using for example Microsoft Copilot and Foundry.
• Connect systems to automate and combine reporting from multiple platforms, replacing manual processes.
• Shape the data architecture, models, and governance so colleagues can trust the data across systems.
• Get more from Oracle Fusion and a Salesforce-based asset management system through continuous enhancement.
• Set the systems and technology strategy, manage the project budget, and own governance and risk.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

This is a strategic role that also needs a hands-on mentality. Transformation and delivery carry the heavier weighting, so we are looking for a senior leader who is as comfortable in the detail as they are in the boardroom.

Required Skills and Competencies:

• 10+ years in systems architecture, data, and IT, including senior hands-on leadership.
• Strong Microsoft background, including Copilot and Foundry or comparable AI tooling, as the business will keep building within its Microsoft environment.
• Experience starting to deliver AI and automation initiatives, and a real interest in AI as the direction of your career.
• Strong data mining, data governance, and data architecture experience, including consolidating reporting across multiple systems.
• Proven systems integration and deployment experience, with solid knowledge of cloud, cybersecurity, and data management.
• Confident managing consultants, implementation partners, and managed service providers.
• Credibility with senior leadership and executive stakeholders, and a collaborative, self-starting approach.
• Private equity or financial services experience would be a plus, particularly investment management. Industry knowledge can be learned.

OTHER DETAILS:

• This is a permanent role based in Dublin, operating five days a week in office.
• Competitive salary plus bonus

If you are excited by the chance to lead AI and automation in a business that wants to make colleagues’ working lives easier, apply through the link or contact Catherine Drysdale (catherine.drysdale@barden.ie) for a confidential conversat

ROLE:                 Finance Systems Manager                                     

LOCATION:        Dublin or Kilkenny

Barden is delighted to partner with a large, established Irish organisation as they look to appoint a Finance Systems Manager to oversee and optimise our finance-related IT landscape.  As the business builds out its own in-house IT capability, this role will lead the finance applications estate and the team behind it. Finance transformation and project delivery will form a significant part of this role.

You will lead the suite of SAP finance applications, including SAP FICO, BlackLine and Concur, and lead a small team across Ireland and remote location. You will work closely with Finance, Technology, and a managed service partner to build the strategic roadmap and to target optimising functionality and capability from the systems already in place. You will also explore how SAP’s AI tools can automate routine finance work.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

This role will span across management of the finance system landscape, managing project delivery and system transformation.

• Shape the finance systems roadmap and contribute to the wider IT strategy as the business builds its own IT capability.
• Own the SAP finance estate, including FICO, consolidation, treasury, BlackLine and Concur.
• Unlock more value from existing systems, including SAP’s AI tools to automate routine finance work.
• Lead a team of five, including managed capacity resources based offshore, and set clear priorities – Supervise the daily activities, set priorities for the team, ensures quality and timely completion of tasks and coordinates work activities with other managers/team leads.
• Collaborate with Finance and other CoE teams, ensuring data, integration and reporting alignment.
• Drive the implementation of new features, upgrades, and enhancements in alignment with business needs and compliance standards.

• Keep systems running through month-end, year-end, budgeting, and forecasting, escalating quickly when needed.
• Deliver key projects, including a new group reporting solution and the annual SAP upgrade.
• Manage vendors and partners on performance and delivery and challenge them on direction.
• Strengthen controls, data integrity, security, and access across all finance platforms.
• Own a multi-million euro CapEx budget alongside the finance business partners.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

• +5 years managing SAP finance systems, including FICO, consolidation, and treasury.
• A background weighted towards IT or finance systems, with a solid grasp of finance processes.
• Experience in system integration, process automation, and change management.
• Proven team leadership, ideally including offshore or managed service resources.
• Strong vendor management, with experience negotiating contracts and holding partners to account.
• Confident communicating with stakeholders at all levels; a qualified accountant would be ideal but is not essential.

OTHER DETAILS:

• Hybrid working, two to three days a week, in Kilkenny or Dublin.

ROLE:                 Programme Lead – 6 month FTC                          

LOCATION:        Dublin 

ABOUT THE ROLE:

Barden is delighted to be partnering with a fast-growing, entrepreneurial Irish business as they look to appoint a Programme Lead on a 6-month FTC contract (4 days a week). As the business scales, they need someone to bring structure to a growing portfolio of strategic initiatives and shape how projects are delivered across the organisation.

You’ll lead key projects hands-on, oversee the wider portfolio, and work closely with senior leadership. You’ll also run the governance forums where the big decisions get made.

“We’re scaling quickly and have a lot of strategic work in flight. We want someone who’ll get stuck in on key projects and build the governance that helps leadership make good decisions, fast.”

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead live projects directly across enterprise and Tech and coordinate wider workstreams.
• Bring structure to how projects are scoped, set up and delivered.
• Put in place right-sized governance, including RAID, delivery controls, and reporting.
• Give leadership clear sight of progress, risks, and dependencies.
• Run steering forums, owning agendas, materials, and follow-through.
• Partner with senior leaders and subject-matter experts on strategy and new initiatives.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

Required Skills and Competencies:

• 8+ years delivering projects and programmes end to end, often several at once.
• Recognised programme or project management certification.
• A hands-on generalist and an assertive doer and comfortable working as a standalone resource.
• Confident influencing and supporting decision-making at C-suite level.
• Strong grip on risks, dependencies, change control, and benefits tracking.
• SME or lean-environment experience is a strong advantage.

OTHER DETAILS:

• Role based in Dublin and will operate 3 days on site

If you enjoy bringing PM structure to ambitious organisations and want real influence with leadership, apply through the link or contact Catherine Drysdale (catherine.drysdale@barden.ie) for a confidential conversation.

ROLE:                 Finance Transformation Manager                       

LOCATION:        Dublin (Hybrid)

ABOUT THE ROLE:

Barden is delighted to partner with a large, international business headquartered in Dublin as they look to appoint a Finance Transformation Manager. The business has a major digital transformation programme underway to support its next phase of growth. This role puts you at the centre of it, leading the finance workstream from design through to adoption.

You’ll be Finance’s voice on the programme, working with senior leaders across Finance, Technology, and the wider business to turn strategy into practical, well-controlled processes. It’s a chance to shape how a large finance function works for years to come.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the finance workstream on a business-wide digital transformation programme, owning its delivery end to end.
• Represent Finance alongside workstream leads from Technology and the wider business.
• Run workshops with SMEs and process owners to gather and define finance requirements.
• Translate strategic goals into clear finance processes, controls, and data requirements.
• Redesign end-to-end finance processes, building in automation where it adds value.
• Review finance policies and processes and document them against the control environment.
• Manage delivery risks, issues, and dependencies within programme governance.
• Own the change, communication, training, and adoption plans to make the change stick.
• Support wider Finance Transformation projects as priorities evolve.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

Required Skills and Competencies:

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA, or equivalent).
• Track record delivering finance change, ideally digital, system, or automation-led.
• Strong process design and documentation experience.
• Exposure to RPA, BI, or data analytics is a plus.
• Confident challenging and advising senior stakeholders.
• PMI, APMG, Lean Six Sigma, or Agile credentials are an advantage.

If you’re a qualified accountant who wants to lead Finance’s part in a major transformation, apply through the link or contact Catherine Drysdale (catherine.drysdale@barden.ie) for a confidential conversation.

ROLE:                 Business Excellence & Transformation Manager            

LOCATION:        Dublin (Hybrid – 3 days on site) 

CONTRACT:       12 month contract

ABOUT THE ROLE:

We are currently supporting a leading global organisation within the life sciences sector in the appointment of a Manager, Business Excellence & Transformation. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Business Excellence, Operational Excellence or Transformation professional to take a leading role in driving continuous improvement, operational performance, digital transformation and end-to-end process optimisation within a complex, highly regulated environment.

Key Responsibilities:

The role will be responsible for leading strategic initiatives that enhance operational capabilities, improve processes and embed a sustainable culture of continuous improvement. Working across multiple functions and levels of the organisation, you will act as a key change agent, helping teams adopt new ways of working, leverage data and digital tools, and deliver measurable improvements in performance and efficiency. You will combine strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, working closely with stakeholders to identify opportunities, develop solutions and ensure improvements are successfully implemented and sustained.

• Lead Business Excellence and Operational Improvement initiatives, aligned with wider organisational strategy and objectives.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement, utilising Lean, Six Sigma and structured problem-solving methodologies.
• Identify and deliver opportunities to improve end-to-end processes, operational efficiency and supply performance, including value stream mapping and standardised ways of working.
• Develop and utilise performance metrics and data-driven insights to identify improvement opportunities and support business decision-making.
• Lead and support digital transformation initiatives, leveraging technology to streamline processes, improve visibility and enhance decision-making.
• Lead strategic improvement programmes, including maturity assessments, governance and strategy deployment, while providing coaching and training to embed sustainable change.
• Build strong relationships with senior and cross-functional stakeholders, influencing effectively and ensuring best practices and global standards are successfully implemented.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

Required Skills and Competencies:

• Bachelor’s degree in Science, Engineering, Business or a related discipline, with a Master’s degree or equivalent experience advantageous.
• 5+ years’ experience in Business Excellence, Operational Excellence, Transformation, Strategy Deployment or a similar role within a complex, matrixed organisation.
• Experience working in a regulated GxP environment, such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices or healthcare, with an understanding of compliance, quality and controlled processes.
• Strong knowledge of Lean, Continuous Improvement and structured problem-solving methodologies; Lean Six Sigma Black Belt is highly desirable.
• Experience in project management, change management and organisational transformation, with a track record of delivering measurable improvements.
• Strong analytical, communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and work effectively at all levels.
• Experience with Power BI, performance metrics and data-driven decision-making, combined with strong coaching and mentoring capabilities.

ROLE:                 PMO Lead                        

LOCATION:        Dublin (Hybrid – 3 days on site) 

CONTRACT:       12 month contract

ABOUT THE ROLE:

Barden is delighted to partner with a global organisation as they establish a Programme Management Office (PMO) function across their operations network. This is a newly created role, built from the ground up, with the mandate to bring order, visibility, and consistency to a portfolio of strategic, business-critical projects spanning multiple sites and functions.

You’ll be the central point of coordination for how projects are tracked, reported, and prioritised; designing the governance, tools, and reporting cadences from scratch, and working directly with senior operations leadership to give them a clear, decision-ready view of performance and risk. It’s a highly visible role with genuine influence, ideal for someone who wants to shape a function rather than inherit one.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and stand up the PMO operating model, including governance, reporting cadence, and escalation pathways.
• Select and implement the tools (Smartsheet, Power BI, or similar) to track and report portfolio performance.
• Build a single source of truth for project status, milestones, risks, and dependencies across the network.
• Turn complex project data into clear, decision-ready reporting for senior leadership.
• Run structured prioritisation reviews and demand planning to keep the portfolio aligned to strategic need.
• Champion AI-enabled tools for status reporting and portfolio health analysis.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

Required Skills and Competencies:

• Significant experience (7+ years) in programme or portfolio management, ideally within pharma, biotech, or complex manufacturing.
• A proven track record of building or significantly maturing a PMO function from scratch.
• Strong portfolio reporting and analytics skills, translating complex data into clear insight.
• Comfortable working cross-functionally across multiple sites, functions, and seniority levels.
• Confident engaging and influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority.
• A self-starter who thrives building structure in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment.

Barden is working with a well established retail business to hire a hands on IT Manager. With a nationwide store estate, a busy eCommerce operation, and plans to double in size over five years, this is a chance for real ownership of a retail IT environment.

Reporting to the CFO with one direct report, you’ll cover everything from day to day store and online support to bigger projects – new store openings, and POS/network upgrades.

ABOUT THE ROLE

• The role starts out weighted toward hands on work, at roughly 70% hands on and 30% strategic.
• Own IT across stores, support office, warehouse, and eCommerce – POS, network, infrastructure, and application stack.
• Lead day to day operations and incident response, working alongside one IT Support direct report.
• Manage external vendors/MSPs on service, cost, and delivery.
• Keep the environment secure and compliant (GDPR, PCI-DSS).

ABOUT THE PERSON

• Strong IT operations background in retail or multi-site environments – hands-on retail experience is what sets you apart.
• Genuinely hands on, not someone who stays above the detail.
• Solid infrastructure skills: networks, firewalls/VPNs, Wi-Fi, Windows endpoints/servers, M365/Azure AD.
• Practical experience with retail platforms (POS, Business Central, Power BI, Shopify or similar).
• Vendor management track record across multiple sites.

OTHER DETAILS

Full time, Permanent, Dublin, four days onsite.

Travel to stores nationwide is a key part of the role.

No on-call – overnight/out of hours cover is handled by external vendors.

ROLE:                 Project Manager                          

LOCATION:        Dublin (Hybrid – 3 days on site) 

ABOUT THE ROLE:

Barden is partnering with a highly innovative, entrepreneurial Irish business to appoint a permanent Project Manager to support the delivery of a growing number of strategic initiatives. This is a hands-on generalist role: you’ll run projects end to end while coordinating a number of live workstreams across different teams.

This is a standalone role within an SME environment, so it will suit someone happy to build and shape as they go rather than plug into an existing PMO structure. You’ll work closely with senior leadership and have real scope to influence how projects are delivered, with the emphasis on practical, day-to-day delivery rather than building out a heavier Programme and Project function.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and deliver a number of live projects directly, while coordinating a wider set of workstreams across different teams.
• Bring structure and best practice to how projects are initiated and delivered, from business case and scoping through to execution, without over-engineering process for an SME environment.
• Partner with subject-matter-expert leads across the business to guide and support effective project delivery.
• Put in place right-sized governance, including RAID management, delivery controls, and reporting, suited to a fast-moving, standalone environment.
• Provide clear visibility to leadership on progress, risks, and dependencies.
• Help ensure new initiatives are thoroughly assessed and set up for success.
• Facilitate steering governance and decision-making forums, owning the agenda, materials, actions, and follow-through that keep senior decision-making sharp and timely.
• Work closely with senior leadership with regards to strategy and innovation.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

Required Skills and Competencies:

• +7 years’ experience delivering projects and programmes end to end, often across multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Recognised programme or project management certification.
• A strong project generalist background: equally comfortable managing real projects hands-on and coordinating multiple workstreams at once.
• Genuinely hands-on and highly assertive; this is a doer’s role, not one for someone looking to build out a structured Programme and Project organisation.
• Comfortable operating as a standalone project resource, supporting multiple teams within an SME environment.
• Confident engaging with senior stakeholders (CEO, CFO etc) across the business, with experience supporting and facilitating executive decision-making forums.
• Proven ability to shape project governance in a proportionate way for an evolving, fast-paced SME environment.
• Strong portfolio management capability, including risks, dependencies, change control, and benefits tracking.
• Confident operating at C-suite level, influencing and guiding senior stakeholders.
• Motivated by the opportunity to build and enhance project delivery capability from the ground up within a growing organisation.
• Experience operating in an SME or similarly lean environment is a strong advantage; experience in regulated, high-governance, or large operational environments is useful but secondary to a hands-on, generalist mindset.

Our client, a global organisation with Dublin as a key hub, is hiring an IT Systems & Support Analyst – a genuinely blended role combining real business systems analysis with hands-on IT support.

About the Role

You’ll play a genuine role in how the business uses its core systems – including Workday and Microsoft Power Platform – helping gather requirements, support workflow improvements, and drive better use of existing tools across the organisation. Alongside this, you’ll be a key local point of contact for day-to-day IT support for the Dublin office. This is a role for someone who wants to build real depth on both the systems and support side, not a narrow helpdesk position.

About the Person

2-5 years’ experience in systems analysis, IT, or technology projects, with a genuine interest in business systems work as well as hands-on support. Training provided on internal systems – what matters most is problem-solving, communication, and a proactive mindset.

Other Details

Fully onsite in Dublin, 5 days a week.

Some flexibility on hours required due to collaboration with US-based colleagues.