Our People Are at the Heart of our Business
At O’Brien Fine Foods we focus on Growing our People by developing our talent throughout their careers, ensuring our systems and processes optimise their time, making O’Brien Fine Foods a safe place where our people love to come to work.
Our Talent
Our people are what makes our business unique. We are so proud of the breadth of opportunity we offer to develop your career across all our teams. Discover some of these possibilities below:
Our dynamic Supply Chain, Technical, H&S and Operations teams work across a variety of roles to ensure our fantastic products reach our customers and consumers to enjoy every day. We are on a journey toward operational excellence where everyone has an opportunity to contribute and progress from Production Operative roles to functional leaders. Our sites are located in Timahoe, County Kildare, Rathowen, County Westmeath and London, UK.
David Higgins
Shift Manager
I have been with O’Brien Fine Foods close to 13 years and within that time I have seen the company grow and expand at such pace. The company has helped develop me and bring me through the ranks from a General Operative through to managerial level. I couldn’t have done this without the help and support of fellow colleagues and peers.
Irma Virbickiene
Production Planning Manager
I am with O’Brien Fine Foods just over 12 years and have progressed during that time to a number of roles within Ops & Supply Chain. I like my job as it can be very challenging and rewarding at the same time, things are always changing for the better. In O’Brien Fine Foods the environment is very nice, people are really friendly and helpful. I think the values are strong in O’Brien Fine Foods and not just from the business but from all the employees. The value I clearly see in my own team and myself is Commitment and the thing that stands out to me is the opportunity to grow in O’Brien Fine Foods.
Olivia Butler
Senior Process Improvement Technologist
O’Brien Fine Foods is a great place to work, every day is different and brings its own challenges, which makes my job more interesting. Working with cross functional teams from NPD, Quality, Operations, and Finance gives me good exposure to the overall business. O’Brien Fine Foods puts its employees first and benefits include flexible working hours, tailored training plans and objectives that are aligned to the overall business strategy. Everyone on the team is very supportive and friendly.
Whether it be in Finance, IT, Procurement, Business Transformation, People & Culture or Process & Product improvement; our dedicated teams support the delivery of excellence in all we do. The breadth of opportunity to contribute to the growth of our business in these areas is demonstrated by our goal to ensure our systems and processes enhance our people experience and build strong relationships.
Darina Callanan
HR Business Partner
My O’Brien Fine Foods career has allowed me to continue to grow as a HR professional whilst allowing me to express my creative flair! It has given me the opportunity to work with amazing professionals cross functionally who have helped me understand the organisational strategy and goals, organisational culture and developing people solutions that allow O’Brien Fine Foods employees to grow and flourish into their future careers.
Dana Leu
Assistant Accountant
For me, O’Brien Fine Foods has always been a great place to work. It has honest, sincere people, who are enforcing a culture of trust. I can proudly affirm that I have enjoyed the opportunity of learning and collaborating with some of the best professionals in the field. I have been in contact with mentors that believed in me and wanted me to succeed. This has been the driving force behind my personal and professional advancement.
Our Commercial, Marketing, Category & Innovation team are the drivers of sales in our business. Fuelled by strong category insights, our Commercial team are skilled at growing category sales. Our Marketing team are custodians of Ireland’s #1 premium brand in Brady Family, Irelands #1 cooked poultry brand in Green Farm, and Homebird. Meanwhile our Innovation team are skilled in producing award winning products to Irish and international markets.
Derek Aherne
Key Account Manager
O’Brien Fine Foods is an extremely reputable and market leading company, who are on a hugely successful journey which I am delighted to be part of. The core values of the family run business – care, commitment, trust, and the support of my colleagues – make it an exciting and fulfilling place to work. I began my time with O’Brien Fine Foods in Field Sales, and after 4 thoroughly enjoyable years have transitioned into Key Account Management, where I have been given the opportunity to develop my capabilities and progress my career further, learning from some of the most dedicated and knowledgeable people in the category.
Sinead Swan
Brand Manager, Green Farm and Homebird
I joined O’Brien Fine Foods as a Marketing Executive when I finished my master’s degree. From day one I was involved in exciting projects across a multitude of areas within the marketing mix. What I enjoy about my role is that no day is ever the same, I get to work with some of Ireland’s favourite brands making key decisions that have a real impact.
We think of Early Careers as the start of a long-term relationships. Our Graduates choose us because we offer a career springboard with opportunities to gain cross functional experience, accelerated development plans, supportive management structures, business mentors, autonomy and much more.
Jessica Somerville
Technical Graduate
Working in Quality Assurance during my first year and in NPD in my second year of my graduate programme has introduced me to the fast-paced, industry environment of O’Brien Fine Foods. The hands-on experience in each technical area was a particular attraction for me as this opportunity is not common in most food companies.
Graduates become an integral part of the wider team quickly which allows for full development and learning. Each day presents a new opportunity for me to learn and progress in a friendly environment.
Graduates become an integral part of the wider team quickly which allows for full development and learning. Each day presents a new opportunity for me to learn and progress in a friendly environment.
Jack Reddin
CMIC Graduate
O’Brien Fine Foods is a fast-paced environment with a real team focus. Since starting with the business, I have always been supported and encouraged to push my own boundaries. Being continuously challenged while working on exciting projects makes it easy to be motivated. I have enormous pride in working for a highly ambitious family-owned Irish business going only in one direction.
Our Leaders
Olivia Butler
Senior Process Improvement Technologist
O’Brien Fine Foods is a great place to work, every day is different and brings its own challenges, which makes my job more interesting. Working with cross functional teams from NPD, Quality, Operations, and Finance gives me good exposure to the overall business. O’Brien Fine Foods puts its employees first and benefits include flexible working hours, tailored training plans and objectives that are aligned to the overall business strategy. Everyone on the team is very supportive and friendly.
David Higgins
Shift Manager
I have been with O’Brien Fine Foods close to 13 years and within that time I have seen the company grow and expand at such pace. The company has helped develop me and bring me through the ranks from a General Operative through to managerial level. I couldn’t have done this without the help and support of fellow colleagues and peers.
Darina Callanan
HR Business Partner
My O’Brien Fine Foods career has allowed me to continue to grow as a HR professional whilst allowing me to express my creative flair! It has given me the opportunity to work with amazing professionals cross functionally who have helped me understand the organisational strategy and goals, organisational culture and developing people solutions that allow O’Brien Fine Foods employees to grow and flourish into their future careers.
Derek Aherne
Key Account Manager
O’Brien Fine Foods is an extremely reputable and market leading company, who are on a hugely successful journey which I am delighted to be part of. The core values of the family run business – care, commitment, trust, and the support of my colleagues – make it an exciting and fulfilling place to work. I began my time with O’Brien Fine Foods in Field Sales, and after 4 thoroughly enjoyable years have transitioned into Key Account Management, where I have been given the opportunity to develop my capabilities and progress my career further, learning from some of the most dedicated and knowledgeable people in the category.
Jessica Somerville
Technical Graduate
Working in Quality Assurance during my first year and in NPD in my second year of my graduate programme has introduced me to the fast-paced, industry environment of O’Brien Fine Foods. The hands-on experience in each technical area was a particular attraction for me as this opportunity is not common in most food companies.
Graduates become an integral part of the wider team quickly which allows for full development and learning. Each day presents a new opportunity for me to learn and progress in a friendly environment.
Graduates become an integral part of the wider team quickly which allows for full development and learning. Each day presents a new opportunity for me to learn and progress in a friendly environment.
OUR ORGANISATION EFFECTIVENESS
We believe our business processes allow our talent to continually thrive and grow.
Business Transformation
At O’Brien Fine Foods we are constantly seeking to improve when it comes to our effectiveness as a team and our collaborative ways of working.
We have a dedicated Business Transformation team who are leading this improvement by reviewing and updating our processes and systems to best-in-class, with a goal of empowering our team members, giving them the clarity and confidence in their roles to deliver on our purpose of bringing better quality food to everyone every day.
We have a dedicated Business Transformation team who are leading this improvement by reviewing and updating our processes and systems to best-in-class, with a goal of empowering our team members, giving them the clarity and confidence in their roles to deliver on our purpose of bringing better quality food to everyone every day.
Flexible Work Practices
We have always been quick to adapt so when it comes to smart work practices, we were ready for the future of work. At O’Brien Fine Foods we continue to offer flexibility, balanced with opportunity to collaborate, and connect with colleagues and team members.
We believe that in demonstrating our values of care, commitment and in particular TRUST we can all continue to benefit from these ways of working.
We believe that in demonstrating our values of care, commitment and in particular TRUST we can all continue to benefit from these ways of working.
G.R.O.W
We have developed a career pathway for our Operations colleagues called GROW which gives clear opportunity to gain skills to progress through the business and greater earning potential. This allows us to nurture our talent for the future. Our GROW colleagues are paving our way to operational excellence every day.
THRIVE
For colleagues who wish to progress into people and team management positions or join other functional teams we offer clear career commitments in the Thrive career stream which focus on regular manager discussions, development plans, opportunities to reach your full potential.
Employee training and development
We provide access to a flexible learning platform to allow our people to develop their skills when and where they want through our hugely popular partner platform.
Our Culture
At O’Brien Fine Foods, we care about our people. We want to create a workplace where everyone can be themselves and be their best.
Our core values of Care, Commitment and Trust and our guiding principles ensure that everyone understands what is important here. We recognise this each quarter with our Employee Recognition Awards nominated by colleagues.
As a family-owned business, we are proud of our heritage and foster strong community links through our Kildare GAA sponsorship, Barretstown Big Picnic sponsorship and other community initiatives.
Our Values team aim to connect our engagement and wellness initiatives to the topics our people are passionate about in our workplaces whether it be wellness, inclusion and belonging or just good fun!
We support our colleagues to participate in our ‘I Care’ Employee Volunteering programme, with opportunities to volunteer in our communities and fundraise for partner charities. We set ourselves annual targets for the resources we contribute through the programme.
We always strive to be better, so we ask a lot of questions, and we spend a lot of time listening to our people. We do this through frequent pulse surveys and forums designed to keep our colleagues voice reflected in all we do.