Ciaran Cosgrave

Chief Executive Officer Nearform

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Ciaran Cosgrave is Chief Executive Officer of Nearform, an Irish-founded engineering company that builds data, AI and digital systems for large organisations in regulated sectors such as banking, insurance, healthcare and the public sector. He joined in March 2021, taking over the chief executive role from co-founder Cian Ó Maidín, and brought more than 20 years of experience in enterprise technology services, most recently as an Accenture managing director for Europe. Under his leadership Nearform has positioned itself around what it calls AI-native engineering, with a particular focus on financial services.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of Nearform since March 2021.
• Previously a managing director for Europe at Accenture, leading its ServiceNow digital solutions platform.
• Earlier vice-president for Europe at Cloud Sherpas, the cloud advisory and technology services firm Accenture acquired in 2015.
• Held chief technology officer roles at IT services organisations and founded two software companies, according to The Irish Times.

Professional Journey

Cosgrave’s career has run through enterprise IT services. According to reporting at the time of his Nearform appointment, he held chief technology officer roles at several IT services organisations and founded two software companies of his own. He then served as vice-president for Europe at Cloud Sherpas, a cloud advisory and technology services company, which Accenture acquired in 2015. At Accenture he became a managing director for Europe, leading its ServiceNow digital solutions platform.

In March 2021 Nearform announced him as chief executive. The company had been founded in Waterford in 2011 by Cian Ó Maidín and Richard Rodger and had built its reputation on open-source software and cloud platforms for clients including The New York Times, Intel, IBM and Microsoft; it also built Ireland’s Covid Tracker app, whose code was later adopted by the Linux Foundation Public Health initiative. His appointment followed an investment from Columbia Capital, and Ó Maidín moved to the role of President, overseeing customer success.

As CEO he has steered Nearform towards AI engineering for complex, regulated organisations. In 2026 interviews he described the company’s work in banking, insurance and wealth management, including anti-money-laundering remediation and legacy modernisation, and described the aim as helping large, regulated organisations turn AI “from a hype-cycle distraction into a genuine driver of profitability, security and customer value.”

Education

No education record was found in any first-party or press source.