Sven Jochem was born in Balingen, Baden-Württemberg, in 1966. He studied political science, history and philosophy in Tübingen, Heidelberg and Stockholm.
He obtained 1997 his PH.D. at the University of Heidelberg, supervised by Prof. Dr. Manfred G. Schmidt and Prof. Klaus von Beyme. His work was titeld "Scandinavian ways to unemployment. An international comparison of the northern employment policy’s continuity and change. 1984-1994“ (1998 published by Leske +Budrich).
He worked as a research assistant for Prof. Manfred G. Schmidt at the centre of social research policy, University of Bremen and for Prof. Ellen M. Immergut at the University of Konstanz. Employments as research assistent at the University of Bern and Konstanz followed.
In 2008 he habilitated under the supervision of Prof. Ellen M. Immergut (external assessor: Prof. Roland Czada) at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Title of the Hablilitation: „Reformpolitik im Wohlfahrtsstaat – Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich“ (2009 published by Lit-Verlag).
Admission of his habilitation at the University of Konstanz in december 2011. Professor ad interim at the University of Luzern, at the University of Konstanz (Prof. Dr. Manow, Prof. Dr. Freitag), at the University of Bamberg (Prof. Dr. Zohlnhöfer),at the University of Bremen (Prof. Dr. Nullmeier) and at the University of Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Riescher).
On 31 october 2012 he was called as an extraordinary Professor at the University of Konstanz. He was honoured for his excellent lecture in 2012 by the "Lehrpreis der Universität Konstanz", (LUKS), for the department of Politics and Management. Since April 2013 Sven Jochem has also been confidence lecturer for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.