HR Talks – An interview with Smaranda Gosa-Mensing, Chief Human Resources Officer, Grant Thornton Ireland

In this edition, we feature Smaranda Gosa-Mensing, Chief Human Resources Officer at Grant Thornton Ireland.

With over 20 years’ international experience across technology-driven organisations, Smaranda brings deep expertise in talent, transformation and leadership. She is passionate about building high-performing, human-centric cultures and shaping the intersection of people strategy and innovation. Here, she shares insights from her career and her perspective on the future of HR.

Firstly, tell me a little about yourself and your career to date?

I’m the Chief Human Resources Officer at Grant Thornton Ireland, where I lead the firm’s people strategy and transformation agenda. I bring over two decades of international experience across Germany, the UK and Ireland, with a particular focus on talent, leadership and organisational growth. Much of my career has been spent in global technology environments, including over 15 years working closely with AI and advanced tech talent. I’m particularly interested in how innovation and people strategy intersect, how we build organisations that are both high-performing and deeply human.

I would describe myself as a growth enabler. I’m at my best when shaping environments where individuals, teams and organisations can evolve and perform at their full potential. My background spans leadership development, large-scale transformation and executive coaching, which I bring into how I lead and how I partner with the business. Alongside my executive role, I’m an Honorary Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School, where I contribute to programmes focused on AI and leadership.

What is the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned along the way?

One of the most formative lessons I learned early in my career, particularly during my time at McKinsey, was the importance of servant leadership and intellectual humility. The most effective leaders I’ve worked with combine sharp thinking and clarity of judgment with a genuine commitment to developing others. They are able to solve complex problems while remaining deeply attuned to people.

A critical capability at senior level is the ability to hold complexity and nuance, to recognise that multiple perspectives can be valid at the same time. Leadership is rarely about simple answers; it’s about making thoughtful decisions in context, balancing outcomes with empathy and bringing people with you.

What are the key differences in how HR and leadership are practiced across Germany, the UK, and Ireland?

While there are differences in legislation, communication styles and attitudes to hierarchy, the fundamentals of effective HR are remarkably consistent across geographies. What has evolved significantly over time is the role of HR itself. Across all markets, we’ve seen a clear shift from a functional focus to a far more strategic role towards HR as a true business partner, shaping organisational direction and enabling performance at scale.

What has changed most in attracting and retaining talent in professional services over your career?

Candidate expectations have shifted significantly. People are no longer looking for just a role or a salary, they’re looking for meaning, growth and alignment. There is greater emphasis on purpose, flexibility, inclusive cultures and leadership quality. The relationship between employee and organisation has become more discerning and more values-driven.

The well-known idea that people leave managers, not organisations, is even more pronounced today. This puts real focus on leadership capability and on creating environments where diverse talent can thrive. The concept of “fitting in” has largely been replaced by a focus on belonging.

What achievement in your HR career are you most proud of and why?

What stands out to me is less a single moment and more the cumulative impact over time. I’ve had the privilege of shaping initiatives and organisations that continue to evolve and succeed, and of supporting individuals who have gone on to build meaningful and successful careers themselves.

That combination of organisational and individual impact is, for me, the most rewarding aspect of this work.

How is AI reshaping workforce design in professional services beyond just skills?

While AI is often framed as a technology shift, its implications are fundamentally human. My early exposure to AI came through an executive programme at Stanford, where I saw first-hand how it could be used to improve outcomes for people, whether in healthcare or beyond. That perspective has stayed with me.

In professional services, AI is increasingly augmenting analytical work and enabling new levels of efficiency. However, this raises an important question around how we develop experience and judgment. As I often say, you can’t learn to ride a bike by reading about it.

Workforce design now needs to balance efficiency with the development of real, applied expertise. The organisations that succeed will be those that combine AI-enabled productivity with strong pathways for building lived experience. Here at GT, we’re using AI to modernise HR processes and decision-making, underpinned by a $1 billion investment in technology and tools across our multinational platform, and pairing this with regular AI skill-building, hackathons, expert talks and learning programmes to ensure capability is built through experience.

What is the hardest workforce decision leaders are avoiding in the AI era?

The most difficult decision is not about whether to adopt AI, but it’s about whether to fundamentally rethink the operating model. There is still a tendency to use AI to optimise existing ways of working, to make the “horse run faster,” rather than learning how to drive a completely different vehicle.

Grant Thornton’s latest AI Impact research highlights this gap clearly: while organisations are investing heavily in AI, the majority lack clear accountability, workforce readiness and governance to translate that investment into sustained performance. True value comes from reimagining processes, roles and how work gets done across the organisation. That requires letting go of legacy approaches, which can be challenging both operationally and culturally. The organisations that are willing to do this work are the ones that will see meaningful impact.

What distinguishes great HR leaders at executive level today?

At executive level, HR leaders need to be business leaders first. They must operate as credible partners to the executive team, with a strong grasp of strategy, performance and value creation. At the same time, they need to lead transformation—building functions that are agile, forward-looking and able to respond to rapid change.

It’s about moving beyond the traditional HR remit and shaping a people function that drives both stability and innovation.

How has your work with Cambridge Judge Business School influenced your thinking as a CPO?

Working with executives in a learning environment offers a different perspective on leadership. You see leaders in a more reflective and open space where they are willing to explore both their strengths and their challenges. That has given me a broader and more human view of executive life. It has also influenced how I think about people strategy, bringing more emphasis on reflection, balance and the realities leaders face beyond the organisational context.

What advice would you give to someone starting a career in HR today?

Stay curious and keep learning. Build depth in an area of expertise but also develop a broad understanding of how organisations operate. The ability to connect people strategy to business outcomes is critical.

Equally important are resilience and strategic thinking, both of which develop over time through experience and reflection.

What will differentiate the most successful professional services firms in the next 10 years?

At its core, professional services is built on trust. While insights and expertise remain important, the real differentiator is the strength of relationships between organisations and their clients. Those relationships enable deeper understanding and more meaningful impact.

Firms that combine technical excellence with strong, trusted partnerships and deliver consistently high-quality client experiences, will continue to stand out.

A huge thank you to Smaranda for taking part in our HR Leadership Interview series, for more interviews and HR insights take a look here!