People Advisory  |  Workforce Capability  |  Strategic Upskilling  |  Employee Experience

Designing the systems that grow people and performance.

My career in People and Culture started the way a lot of good careers do, by being thrown into a little bit of everything. Early on I was a generalist: payroll, training coordination, recruitment, policy, IEAs. Whatever needed doing. That grounding turned out to matter more than I realised at the time. It taught me how the different pieces of the people function actually fit together, long before I specialised in any one of them. Over the last eight years that generalist instinct has stayed with me even as my role has narrowed and deepened. I've built and rebuilt programmes from the ground up, taken ambiguous, half-formed briefs, and turned them into initiatives that work, and learned to develop a mindset of continuous improvement. What I care about, underneath it all, is the same thing I cared about at the start: to be part of a team that builds an environment in which everyone can do their best work.

Sophia Jacobsen

Core capabilities

Three tracks, one toolkit

A generalist foundation that never went away, layered with eight years of deep learning and organisational development specialisation.

HR & Operations

The generalist backbone

  • Onboarding & Inductions
  • Recruitment & Advisory Support
  • Payroll Support
  • Policy Review & Compliance
  • Succession Planning

OD & Strategy

The bigger picture

  • Strategic Alignment & Impact Mapping
  • Senior Leader & Board Partnership
  • Organisational Change & Transformation
  • Capability & Career Pathway Design
  • AI & Digital Tool Adoption

Learning Design & Delivery

Making an impact

  • Blended Learning Experience Design
  • Programme Evaluation & Action
  • Facilitation & Workshop Delivery
  • System Implementation & Governance
  • People Data & Insights

Portfolio Library

Pick a book off the shelf

Seven themes from my work, captured as a collection of short books. Open one to explore the challenge, the approach, and a reflection on the outcome.

Career path

How I got here

2015 – 2018

Tutor Team Leader

The Career Academy

Led a team of 13 online tutors. My first experience building learning at scale and partnering with curriculum developers to continuously improve the learner experience.

2018 – 2021

People & Development Coordinator

Meredith Connell

Coordinated firm-wide learning programmes and supported HR operations including recruitment, payroll and policy work, gaining broad exposure to the full HR function.

2021 – 2022

People & Development Advisor

Meredith Connell

Moved from coordinating to designing: technical training programmes, onboarding workshops, and learning insights for senior managers. Also managed the firm's Intern Programme and continued payroll and policy support.

2022 – Present

Capability & Development ManagerCurrent

Meredith Connell

Strategic leadership of firm-wide capability, career development, and employee experience. Partnering with senior leaders to connect people programmes to organisational strategy, while staying closely connected to broader generalist HR work.

Education

Where I've Studied

Bachelor of Science

University of Auckland · 2010 – 2012

National Certificate in Adult Education and Training, Level 4 & 5

QED Associates · 2016 – 2017

Graduate Diploma in Business Studies (Human Resource Management)

Massey University · In progress

Let's connect

Let's talk People & Capability

I bridge high-level strategy and everyday workplace performance, translating where the business wants to go into how people actually deliver. If you need a trusted advisor who pairs big-picture vision with measurable impact, I'd love to chat.

smjacobsen23@gmail.com · 0211 841 052 · Auckland, New Zealand