Throughout the early 1990s, McBride worked as a broker for Tullet and Tokyo (Forex) Ltd, moving on to join Barclays Capital as a money market sales trader after joining the graduate trainee scheme offered by the bank in 1995. As part of the money market sales team, he specialised in secondary trading of FX and interest rate treasury products. Clients included non-counterparty banks, central banks, large corporates and fund managers.

In 1997, McBride moved on to Garban Securities where he was appointed head of GRD financial products. He initiated and ran the GRD financial products desk (government bonds and IRS), and notably Garban were the first brokerage to offer services in this market at the time. Under McBride’s leadership, it quickly established itself as the primary broker worldwide.

Leaving Garban in March 1999, McBride took up the same role as GRD financial products lead at Eurobrokers, after being headhunted to set up the relevant arm for that business with a view to opening a branch in Athens. After legal constraints in Greece and unforeseen costs in the set-up process put paid to those plans, McBride departed in the September of that year.

The following year, McBride got his move to Greece, becoming a director at Private Dealers Athens, a local brokerage. He oversaw FX sales and GRD financial products and was responsible for attracting UK customers.

In March 2004, McBride returned to the UK to become a proprietary futures trader with CTC Futures, a small group of elite traders in London’s Canary Wharf. The main focus of the group was short sterling structured arbitrage. 

After spending over a year in Canary Wharf, McBride moved to Westerham based Beer Mergers Ltd to become the company’s deal manager. His responsibilities included overseeing all sales, acquisitions and merger activity brokered by the company, along with signings, writing information memoranda, negotiation and brokering deals. He remained in the role until 2008.

In 2008, McBride then looked to set-up his own business. His first venture, Liberty Life Ltd, proved a challenging one in the market environment following the global financial crisis, working in M&A consultancy.

Leaving Liberty Life in 2010, McBride then set up Legend Business Consultancy and remains managing director now. One of his longstanding consultancy clients is a single owner-managed home improvement business, which he advised on business development, sales and marketing, helping turnover treble and increasing sales lead conversion to over 75 per cent.

In 2019, McBride became managing director of Insulating Windows Ltd.