Phil Finane

Experienced Recruiter who has pivoted into AI and Product Management over the last 4 years.

Based in Cork, Ireland - I am actively looking for new roles wither permanent, contract (long/short) or freelance project engagements.

Freelance Prompt Engineer / AI Ops at Self-Employed (2025-08 – Present)

• Model Alignment & Calibration: Engineered advanced prompting frameworks including RAG, chain-of-thought reasoning, and Tree-of-Thought approaches across enterprise and early-stage environments.
• System Integration: Utilized Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect LLMs to external databases and third-party systems, structuring reliable prompts embedded directly into production workflows.
• Rigorous Model Evaluation: Conducted strict testing and iteration cycles, assessing model outputs for accuracy, edge-case failure, and consistency across different foundational models.
• Hallucination Mitigation: Successfully reduced hallucination rates in RAG-based prompts for a global technology client via rigorous verification and validation guardrails.
• Process Optimization: Automated prompt versioning and testing documentation (CLAUDE.md), improving developer workflow velocity by ~5–6 hours per week.

AI Solutions Designer & Founder at Monard X Publishing (2025-10 – Present)

• Live App Deployment (Proof of Concept): Designed, configured, and launched a live career tool ecosystem (monardx.com) leveraging 100% AI-assisted development, Claude Code, and Replit.
• Workflow Engineering: Built and deployed complex, specialized prompt engines for live consumer apps, including an ATS-friendly CV Optimiser, a contextual Interview Prep simulator and a Salary Benchmark analysis tool.
• Output Quality Assurance: Continuously benchmarked, evaluated, and tuned LLM responses against 25 years of real-world recruitment data to ensure highly accurate, context-aware outputs.
• Thought Leadership: Authored and published "WHEN THE GROUND SHIFTS: How to Thrive in the Age of AI Job Displacement," exploring human-AI collaboration paradigms and systemic job market shifts. Available at: Books.by

Product Manager, AI at Kyloe Partners (2024-12 – 2025-08)

• AI Product Lifecycle: Managed the end-to-end lifecycle for AI-powered recruiting tools (Kyloe AI Assist and AI NoteTaker), translating user pain points into technical AI specifications.
• Prompt Strategy Design: Designed, stress-tested, and refined prompt architectures to summarize complex text, extract entities, and structure data from candidate records and meeting transcripts.
• User Alignment Coaching: Delivered hands-on training and early-adopter feedback loops for non-technical teams transitioning from traditional manual processes to AI-driven workflows.

Talent Intelligence Manager / Technical Recruiter at Allen Recruitment Consulting (2014-04 – 2024-11)

• Foundational Prompt Engineering: Seconded directly to Bullhorn's AI product team in the US (2024) to write, test, and calibrate the system prompts powering their global AI Assist tool.
• Early AI Adoption: Led internal operational shifts by building early-stage custom prompts for automated candidate screening, CV parsing, and structured CRM data enrichment.
• Pipeline Delivery: Managed end-to-end technical hiring projects across Ireland and mainland Europe, mapping talent data and optimizing CRM workflows.

Manager, Tech Recruitment at Eden Recruitment (2010 – 2014)

Led IT and software vertical hiring campaigns.

Owner and Manager at Direct Source Network (2007 – 2011)

Founded and operated an independent recruitment consultancy across Ireland and the UK with the sole aim to fill C-Level and Director level positions in overseas Expat assignments.

Operations Manager at Richmond Recruitment (2004 – 2007)

Oversaw daily delivery systems and introduced internal workflow automation.

Recruitment Manager at Trilogy Software (2002 – 2005)

Managed talent acquisition for software engineering teams.

• 25+ years in recruitment and talent acquisition, which is itself substantial vocational training through practice.

• Deep exposure to
  • Recruitment technology

  • ATS/CRM systems (Bullhorn, Kyloe, etc.)

  • Talent intelligence and labour market analytics

  • Product management

• Extensive AI and prompt engineering experimentation over the last few years:
  • GPT models

  • Claude models

  • Prompt design

  • Evaluation and testing

  • AI product development