Tara O’Brien is an experienced Talent Acquisition and People Leader with a career spanning more than two decades across the UK, Australasian and Middle Eastern markets.
She has built a reputation for delivering modern, people-centred recruitment and talent strategies that balance efficiency with genuine human connection. Her expertise spans the full talent lifecycle, from attraction, selection and onboarding to leadership development and succession planning.
Tara is currently Head of Resourcing at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, where she leads on all permanent recruitment, employer branding, early careers and candidate engagement. She has successfully introduced digital innovations, centralised recruitment models and user-generated brand campaigns that have improved candidate experience and strengthened the Trust’s position as an employer of choice.
Before joining the NHS, Tara spent more than a decade in international recruitment, supporting organisations across MedTech, Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals. Her experience includes leading senior-level appointments, up to C-Suite and Non-Executive Director roles, through targeted executive search methodologies.
Tara has also designed and led a wide range of leadership and talent development programmes, supporting individuals and teams from graduate to senior management level. She is particularly passionate about the intersection of talent, culture and leadership, and how these shape engagement and retention in complex, fast-moving organisations.
She holds an MA (Merit) in Business Management from Henley Business School, where she focused on Leadership, Culture & Conflict and Change Management, and is currently completing the CIPD Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management.
What’s a recent professional achievement of yours that you are proud of?
Redesigning the delivery of recruitment services within Oxford Health, including introducing a true Talent Acquisition team, leading to a reduction in the organisation’s vacancy rate from 19% to 8.5%.
What is your prediction for the future of the TA industry?
What projects are you planning on working on in 2026?
My three big items are: building a centralised recruitment model for areas of high-volume hiring, bringing in better compliance/onboarding technology and making a significant, culture-led change to the way we manage the offer/contract process at OH.