Early in his career, he competed with Janey Mayne. He teamed up with Bianca Butler in 2000. Butler & Jacobsen were the 2007 United States National junior silver medalists.
Their partnership ended in February 2009.
Jacobsen teamed up with Amanda Dobbs. Joseph Jacobsen is now a principle skater with Disney On Ice portraying the role of Flynn Rider from the movie Tangled.
(with Butler).
They qualified for the 2005 Junior Grand Prix Final in their first year on the circuit, and placed sixth. Although they placed seventh on the day, they were later moved up a spot to a sixth-place finish at the 2007-2008 Junior Grand Prix Final following the retroactive disqualification of first-place-finishers Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov due to a positive doping sample from Larionov. They won the pewter medal at the 2010 Pacific Coast Sectional Championships to qualify for the 2010 United States. Figure Skating Championships.
