A chance, poor encounter with an HR leader decades ago showed Clarissa O'Connell what a good HR professional should—and shouldn't—be. It also set her down a path that now has her leading HR strategies for the world's leading provider of clean code solutions. Working with 7 million developers around the globe, Sonar aims to help businesses build high-quality, responsible code, eliminating inefficiencies and driving productivity.

Those also are goals that O'Connell—who joined the Switzerland-based company with an Austin, Texas, headquarters earlier this year—has for Sonar's internal population. The organization is rife with opportunities for an HR leader, including a new co-CEO model that has "intrigued" O'Connell and the chance to help scale the company through rapid growth. O'Connell's team is working to revamp internal HR processes that will position Sonar for success as it grows, including efforts to maintain culture and embrace emerging technology.

O'Connell—who most recently held HR leadership roles at companies including ClearDATA and Care.com—shared with HRE the "behind the scenes" work her team is working on to drive Sonar's continued growth.