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August 30, 2025
Nicholas
Thorpe
Head of Talent, Thoughtworks Australia
Victoria
Brand statement
Empathetic change agent, coaching and leading at the crossroads of People and Value Delivery.
Career Journey
Career Story
I've always been an inventor. I dreamed of things that did not yet exist. When I was a kid, none of these ideas worked out.
As I grew older, a few of them did.
In the ’90s, I co-founded a serial startup that tried many ideas, and a few of those worked too! I learned even more from the ones that didn’t.
From then on, I have worked with teams to build successful products. Along the way, I discovered that individuals and teams pushing forward together determine the outcome of our efforts far more than frameworks, processes, or technology ever could.
So, for the past two decades, I’ve focused on working with individuals, teams, and leaders who are striving to create something that doesn’t yet exist—one person, one team, or one room at a time.
Career Highlight
Over the course of a year, bringing together 30 software delivery teams across 3 cities at a listed company in Germany to achieve shared visibility of all the work, shared long and short-term planning processes and a shared delivery rhythm. We did it together. Socks and Sandals for the win!
Career Goal
I'm looking forward to applying all my experience to new challenges. I think I'm having the most fun ever, applying myself to a variety of challenges at different organisations rather than working for a single employer. I have a strong background in team and exec coaching, which I get opportunities to put to use, but I'm also happy in the trenches with teams, delivering software. Most recently I have been developing my own product to help teams get better at feedback (feedback is a bit of an obsession of mine). It;s called "Feedback Animals" and it takes a new approach to understanding team feedback patterns and how to imorove. You'll see it in my linkedin feed. I usually offer these services through my company, "unfold labs" but I'm flexible.
Experience
Experience 1
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Experience 2
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Experience 3
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[{"role":"Founder","company":"Unfold Labs","endYear":"","endMonth":"","location":"Melbourne, Victoria, Australia","startYear":"2023","startMonth":"11","currentRole":true,"description":"<p>As the founder, responsible for leading and establishing Unfold Labs.</p>"}, {"role":"Founder","company":"LiveMusicLocator","endYear":"","endMonth":"","location":"Melbourne, Victoria, Australia","startYear":"2023","startMonth":"10","currentRole":true,"description":"<p>Founder responsible for creating and managing LiveMusicLocator.</p>"}, {"role":"Visiting Lecturer","company":"Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)","endYear":"2025","endMonth":"9","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"2004","startMonth":"3","currentRole":true,"description":"<p>Guest Lecturer at RMIT of Multimedia Industry Business Skills and RMIT Writing and Editing course.</p>"}, {"role":"Product Manager, Thoughtworks Global Consulting Academy","company":"Thoughtworks","endYear":"2023","endMonth":"9","location":"Melbourne, Victoria, Australia","startYear":"2022","startMonth":"11","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Setting up and running a centralised Academy for growing Consulting skills across Thoughtworks globally.</p>"}, {"role":"Principal Consultant","company":"Thoughtworks","endYear":"2023","endMonth":"8","location":"Melbourne, Victoria, Australia","startYear":"2011","startMonth":"8","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Principal Consultant, specialising in Organisational design, running and tuning large agile delivery programmes.</p>"}, {"role":"Head of Talent, Thoughtworks AUstralia","company":"Thoughtworks","endYear":"2023","endMonth":"5","location":"Melbourne, Victoria, Australia","startYear":"2022","startMonth":"10","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Head of Talent, Thoughtworks Australia. Leading the People and Culture, Capability Development and Recruitment functions.</p>"}, {"role":"Global SME, Assessment","company":"Thoughtworks","endYear":"2021","endMonth":"10","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"2018","startMonth":"12","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Global SME for performance assessment, Thoughtworks.</p>"}, {"role":"Head of People, ThoughtWorks Australia","company":"Thoughtworks","endYear":"2021","endMonth":"5","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"2017","startMonth":"3","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Head of People, then head of talent for Thoughtworks Australia.</p>"}, {"role":"Principal Consultant","company":"ThoughtWorks Germany","endYear":"2017","endMonth":"2","location":"Berlin Area, Germany","startYear":"2016","startMonth":"2","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Principal Consultant in organisational design and large delivery programmes.</p>"}, {"role":"Lead Agile Coach","company":"Lonely Planet","endYear":"2012","endMonth":"2","location":"Footscray","startYear":"2009","startMonth":"9","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Lead Agile Coach at Lonely Planet, helping teams to be their best!</p>"}, {"role":"Programme Manager, LPOS Programme","company":"Lonely Planet","endYear":"2011","endMonth":"6","location":"Footscray","startYear":"2010","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Programme Manager for the LPOS programme at Lonely Planet. This Programme reimagined the human and technical operating model which drove the company.</p>"}, {"role":"Delivery Manager, Global Lonely Planet Web Site","company":"Lonely Planet","endYear":"2009","endMonth":"10","location":"Footscray","startYear":"2008","startMonth":"12","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Responsible for ensuring processes are in place to successfully deliver all work to the Lonely Planet website, working across multiple teams.</p>"}, {"role":"Senior Program Manager & Agile Coach","company":"Lonely Planet","endYear":"2008","endMonth":"","location":"Footscray","startYear":"2007","startMonth":"","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Senior Project Manager & Agile Coach at Lonely Planet.</p>"}, {"role":"Snr Project Mgr","company":"Lonely Planet","endYear":"2007","endMonth":"1","location":"Footscray","startYear":"2006","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Project Manager at Lonely Planet.</p>"}, {"role":"Project Mgr","company":"GolfLink Pty Ltd","endYear":"2006","endMonth":"1","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"2005","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Product and Delivery Manager at GolfLink Pty Ltd. We acquired, developed and successfully sold a Golf Course Management system.</p>"}, {"role":"Product Mgr","company":"Best Bets","endYear":"2005","endMonth":"1","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"1997","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Led the development of print and digital publishing systems for Australia's leading racing publication.</p>"}, {"role":"General Mgr","company":"Digerati Pty Ltd","endYear":"2005","endMonth":"1","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"1996","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Based in Melbourne, Digerati Pty Ltd was a continuous startup which developed and successfully sold multiple digital products over a decade. I was one of the founders and equity holders.</p>"}, {"role":"Head of Creative Solutions","company":"Cendant","endYear":"2004","endMonth":"1","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"2002","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Led a team dedicated to creating new products through web-based technology for this publicly listed company.</p>"}, {"role":"Lead Project Mgr","company":"Show Ads / Shomega","endYear":"1997","endMonth":"1","location":"Melbourne, Australia","startYear":"1991","startMonth":"1","currentRole":false,"description":"<p>Senior Project Manager at Show Ads / Shomega.</p>"}]
Contact Information
Work Preference
Prefered Working Location
Victoria
Work Preference
Hybrid
Expertise & Skills
Primary Expertise
People & Culture
Secondary Expertise
Technology
Seniority Level
25 - 30 years
Key Skill
C-Suite,Coaching and mentoring,Communication,Digital transformation,Emotional Intelligence,Empathy,Humility,Leadership,Leadership development,Product development,Program delivery,Storytelling,Strategic planning,Team building
Impact
What type of impact are you interested in making?
Impact By Numbers
30
Years growing People and Products
41
Client Companies
5
Countries
Flair
I'm a father of 4 kids who I'm very proud of.
I run a Startup called Live Music Locator, which is solving the discoverability problem for Live Music in Victoria (have you noticed its hard to find out who's playing where?).
I'm a double bass player on the local music circuit.
I made a clock for our house which tells you when its a good time to catch the train, and whether you need an umbrella.
Beyond the Bio
Fun fact 1
When I’m not working, you’ll find me
...playing Double bass in bars around Melbourne.
Fun fact 2
When I was young, I wanted to be a
... inventor, then a taxidermist, then an inventor again, then a poet.
Fun fact 3
I could talk all day about
... feedback. How we give it, why we receive it the way we do, and how we teams can embed a feedback habit to supercharge collaboration and performance.
Education & Qualification
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