The firms that shape places deserve a people plan to match.
Built-environment firms plan every project with care: the brief, the site, the programme, the budget. The people side is too often left to chance. Who leads the next studio? Who is ready for partner? Who do you hire when you win work in a new market?
I'm Sophie Mockett, founder of Design Your Talent. I've spent more than 15 years recruiting for the built environment, including 12 years in HR and talent leadership at Gensler, and I've worked in 18 countries along the way. I live in Abu Dhabi and work with firms across the Gulf and beyond.
- Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR)
- ICF coach training (completing in March 2027)
- 15+years recruiting for the built environment
- 12years in HR and talent leadership at Gensler
- 18countries worked in
- 150+roles filled
- 30+senior and leadership hires
A route that was never a straight line.
Leading through disruption, for the people who shape places.
- Portugal
Growing up between two cultures
My parents moved to Portugal when I was a baby, and I lived there until I was 18. Growing up between two languages and two cultures taught me to listen before I assume, and that is still the first thing I do with every firm.
- Mozambique
Rebuilding after the floods
After the floods of 2000 and 2001 left many families without homes, I lived in Xai-Xai, in Mozambique's Gaza province, helping to build new houses as part of a programme led by UNDP, the United Nations Development Programme. I also taught English, Maths and Science at a local primary school.
With the team 
Community planning notes 
A local neighbour - London and Malta
Diagnose before you prescribe
I went on to study medicine at King's College London. The course included an overseas placement, which took me to the hospital in Valletta, Malta, working in the urology department. Medicine left me with a habit I still use: diagnose carefully before you recommend anything.
- Recruitment and Gensler
Fifteen years inside the industry
Recruitment and HR in the built environment became my career. I spent three years in international recruitment for the construction and property sectors, then 12 years in HR and talent leadership at Gensler. There I hired leadership teams, staffed new offices, including in Riyadh, built promotion paths and planned succession.
- Abu Dhabi
Taking the plunge
I first had the idea for Design Your Talent in 2022. Having done this work for so long for one company, I was eager to connect more widely across the industry, and to collaborate across different set-ups, corporate cultures, teams and geographies. It took until 2026 for me to feel ready, and then I finally took the plunge and went for it.
Design Your Talent brings everything I learned to firms that want their people plan to be as considered as their buildings: from the first hire in a new market to the next generation of partners.
I'm happiest working with people who are passionate about what they do, and about lifelong learning.
I enjoy working one-on-one or in small groups to tackle the thorny issues that hold back the success of someone's work, their team or their business.
Five countries called home. Eighteen countries of work.
Hiring across this many markets teaches you one thing above all: a people plan can't be copied and pasted from one country to the next.
- Lived
- Worked
- Lived and worked
- Community build
- Lived
- United Kingdom, Portugal, Malta, Mozambique, UAE
- Worked
- United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Egypt, DR Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, India, Australia
Small, direct, community-based impact.
In Karongi, Rwanda, I was part of a crew of local and international people building a footbridge over the Gisuma river. The community's wooden bridges kept washing away in the floods, cutting people off from the central market and children off from school.
Gensler Abu Dhabi took part in the build alongside engineering firm Buro Happold and the charity Bridges to Prosperity. The bridge is now open and connects two communities.
- 5,700+people across two communities who benefit
- 30%expected rise in annual income
- 2,126more children with safe access to school
- 597more women with access to attended births
Impact figures as reported by the project partners.
A bridge is a simple thing that changes what's possible for a whole community. Good talent systems work the same way. A clear promotion path, a well-planned hire or a leader who is ready in time connects people to opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
That's why I prefer practical, close-up work over grand programmes, and why I work with a small number of firms at a time.
What you can expect from me.
Diagnosis first
Every engagement starts with evidence: conversations, data and how your firm actually works. No off-the-shelf fixes.
Local, not copy-paste
What works in London rarely works unchanged in Riyadh. I design for your market, culture and regulation, including Emiratisation and Saudization.
Direct and personal
You work with me, not a junior team, one-on-one or in small groups. I'll tell you what I see, clearly and kindly.
Built to hand over
The aim is a people system your own leaders can run without me.
Languages
- EnglishFluent
- PortugueseFluent
- FrenchIntermediate
- SpanishIntermediate
- GermanBasic
- RussianBasic
- UrduBasic
Let's talk about your people plan.
Tell me what's on your mind, or start with the five-minute Talent Pulse.