McDaid weaves an excellent fine line between being a writing partner, a song composer and a band member. His first main role was as the singer and songwriter in the band Vega 4 before later joining Snow Patrol as guitarist, pianist and vocalist. Alongside these roles, McDaid established himself as a writing partner for a wide range of artists in a variety of genres. Everything from Paul Van Dyk to Robbie Williams, to rapper Example, to bands like Biffy Clyro and Kodaline, production outfits like Rudimental as well as singer songwriters like Birdy and of course, Ed Sheeran. His repertoire has become majorly appreciated and heavily used across many advertising campaigns, TV formats and as title tracks for movies, such as the Eva Isaksen House Of Fools film. His partnership with Ed Sheeran is historic. McDaid co-wrote 7 of the songs on the X album including Photography and Bloodstream, which was nominated for Best Song at the 2016 Ivor Novello Awards, and the album was Grammy nominated and won the Brit Award for Best Album. In 2017 McDaid co-wrote Shape Of You, which went to Number 1 in both the UK (stayed there for 4 weeks) and also the US.