Ciara Hughes

Ciara Hughes is the HR Manager at BDO Northern Ireland, where she leads the firm’s HR function and supports the development and delivery of its people strategy. Her responsibilities span the employee lifecycle, including talent acquisition, employee relations, performance management, learning and development, employee engagement, wellbeing and diversity and inclusion.

Ciara is passionate about creating an inclusive, supportive and high-performing workplace where individuals can develop their potential and build successful careers. She has played an important role in advancing BDO Northern Ireland’s diversity and inclusion agenda, contributing to the firm achieving Diversity Mark Silver accreditation. She also champions initiatives that promote employee wellbeing, neurodiversity awareness, flexible working and professional development, helping to foster a culture where people feel valued and supported.

In addition, Ciara supports the development of early-career talent through graduate recruitment, trainee development and apprenticeship programmes, while driving improvements to HR processes and people practices across the firm.

Ciara holds an undergraduate degree in Human Resource Management with a Diploma in Industrial Studies and has completed Advanced Level 7 CIPD studies. She is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Assoc CIPD).