
Karen O’Brien
Chief People Officer
Karen is ý’s Chief People Officer and has extensive experience delivering HR programmes within the global construction and engineering sector.
Karen joined ý in 2017 and took on the role of reward and HR operations director in 2018. She was promoted to chief people officer in 2024. Having worked at Mace, Laing O’Rourke and BAE Systems, Karen has the experience and industry knowledge needed to enhance our people and drive our growth strategy forward.
Karen’s passion for fairness and equity is matched by her strategic thinking and change management skills, which she leverages to enhance our people service and offering. She is a strong communicator, demonstrating high levels of emotional intelligence and the ability to deliver complex reward and change programmes. She breaks down complex challenges into digestible and easy-to-understand proposals and solutions that enable leaders to make significant business decisions.