Talent Health Check
A fixed-fee, 4 to 6 week diagnostic: interviews, a data review and a board-ready report with clear priorities.
- Gender Pipeline Review
- Nationalisation Readiness Review
New cohort: Designer to Project Manager
The people plan behind the masterplan.
Design Your Talent is the talent partner for architecture, engineering, interiors and development firms. I help firm leaders hire well, grow leaders and plan succession, drawing on 12 years leading HR and talent at Gensler across the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe.
15+years recruiting for the built environment
12years leading HR and talent at Gensler
3regions: Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe
150+roles filled
30+senior and leadership hires
The gap
Built with rigour. Staffed by chance?
Built-environment firms plan every building in detail, then leave their talent to chance. I bring the same rigour to people: a brief, a plan and a structure that holds as the firm grows.
- 01A new office opens before its leadership team exists.
New markets are won on the strength of a bid. They are kept on the strength of the people you put there.
- 02Your best designers leave the year before they would have stepped up.
Promotion criteria live in partners' heads, so talented people cannot see the path.
- 03Partner succession is a conversation nobody has scheduled.
Founders build the firm. Without a handover plan, the firm stays dependent on them.
The method
Survey. Blueprint. Build. Handover.
A four-stage method in the project language your firm already uses. Start at any stage.
Stage 1
Survey
Where are our talent risks?
A diagnosis of your pipeline, succession, retention and hiring.
Stage 2
Blueprint
What should our people plan be?
Talent strategy, new-office staffing plans, leadership-team design and promotion criteria.
Stage 3
Build
How do we put it in place?
Leadership pipeline programmes, senior hiring and onboarding.
Stage 4
Handover
How do we make it last?
Succession plans, coaching for leaders stepping up and an ongoing talent partnership.
Services
Not sure where to start? Talk to me →
Hire well. Grow leaders. Plan succession.
Talent Blueprint
Your people plan, designed: talent strategy, a succession map, leadership-team design, promotion and partner criteria, or a New Office and New Market staffing plan.
Plan your people →Leadership Pipeline Programmes
Cohort programmes named for the step, not the skill. Workshops, one-to-one coaching and a live firm project.
- Designer to Project Manager
- Associate to Director
- New Studio Leader
- Director to Partner
Senior and Critical Hires
Advisory-led search for leadership roles only, shaped by your Blueprint so every hire fits the plan.
Discuss a role →Leading Through Disruption
Executive coaching for people stepping up, relocating or changing direction, mainly as part of firm engagements.
About my coaching →
Talent Partner · By invitation
A Head of Talent for a select few firms.
For founder-led and mid-size firms without senior HR leadership, I act as a fractional Head of Talent: hiring, succession, people decisions and coaching for the leadership team. I keep this partnership to three firms at any one time, so each gets real depth.
1
2
3
Three partner places. Enquiries for 2027 are open.
Who I partner with
- Purpose-led firms that design for people, places and the planet.
- Leaders who invest in people, not only in projects.
- Studios of 30 to 300 people ready for their next stage of growth.
Portrait photo
About
From inside the industry, for the people who shape it.
Leading through disruption, for the people who shape places.
I'm Sophie Mockett. For 12 years I led HR and talent at Gensler across the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe: hiring leadership teams, opening offices, building promotion paths and planning succession.
Now I bring that experience to firms that want their people plan to be as considered as their buildings. I am based in Abu Dhabi and work across the Gulf and beyond.
- GPHR
- PHRi
- ICF coach training (2026 to 2027)
How healthy is your talent pipeline?
Twenty questions, five minutes and an instant report with your firm's strengths and risks.
Contact
Let's talk about your people plan.
Tell me a little about your firm and what's on your mind. I reply personally, usually within two working days.
- LinkedInConnect with me on LinkedIn
- Based inAbu Dhabi, working across the Gulf and beyond