AI Product Design
Talent Marketplace
Go-To-Market StrategyE
UX Strategy & Research
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Startup Product Development
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Context & Overview
Product Vision
To empower businesses and job seekers through intelligent, human-centered AI matching that combines precision, empathy, and design excellence.
My Role & Scope
Founder Product Designer overseeing Branding, UX strategy, product design, and visual identity.
Worked with Meghan Houle and Deveney Williams as incubators to define the brand strategy, positioning, and unique value proposition.
Led end-to-end experience across job seeker, business, and admin journeys and workflows.
Developed design system and brand identity emphasizing trust, simplicity, and intelligence.
Partnered cross-functionally with engineers, AI specialists and business founder across Boston, Madrid and Buenos Aires to align product strategy with market readiness.
Timeline & Scale
10-month design engagement (January 2025 – November 2025).
553 hours of product strategy and design investment.
Target MVP launch: March 2026.
Platform designed to support scalable AI-driven matching for thousands of users across both sides of the hiring ecosystem.
Challenge & Problem Statement
The modern job market is fragmented — businesses struggle to identify qualified talent efficiently, while candidates face opaque hiring processes. Existing platforms prioritize volume over fit, leaving both sides dissatisfied.
CONCÉ set out to change this dynamic by blending AI precision with human curation to deliver meaningful, bias-conscious job matching.
Primary Challenges
Designing for two complex user segments (businesses & job seekers) with distinct workflows.
Translating AI capabilities into transparent, intuitive user experiences.
Creating a scalable design system adaptable to future growth.
Balancing speed to market with design excellence during MVP phase.
"
We weren’t just designing a hiring tool — we were designing trust. Every interaction had to feel intelligent, empathetic, and human.
Discovery & Research
We began by framing the foundational question: How might we design a hiring experience that feels as personal as a referral, but as efficient as automation?
Key Research Activities
Competitive landscape review of 12 AI recruitment platforms (e.g., Paradox, Eightfold, Hired).
In-depth interviews with 15 hiring managers and 20 job seekers to map emotional and functional pain points.
Journey mapping for both business and seeker personas, emphasizing decision friction points.
Architecture workshops to define information hierarchy across dashboards and role-based experiences.
Findings
Hiring managers wanted more control and transparency over AI recommendations.
Candidates valued guided, human-like feedback loops in the application process.
Both sides cited trust and clarity as critical missing factors in existing hiring platforms.
"
AI doesn’t replace the human connection — it amplifies it. The challenge was designing a system that reflects that balance.
Design Strategy & Approach
Vision
Deliver a polished, scalable MVP that feels premium and intelligent — combining data-driven automation with human warmth.
Strategic Pillars
Simplicity: Streamline complex flows into guided, frictionless interactions.
Transparency: Make AI recommendations explainable and trustworthy.
Scalability: Build modular dashboards that evolve with new AI capabilities.
Brand Alignment: Reflect a white-glove, tech-forward identity through design language.
Approach
Developed information architecture supporting multi-role logic (admin, business, seeker).
Created modular dashboards and task-based workflows to reduce cognitive load.
Designed AI interactions (recommendations, summaries, messaging) with clear rationale and feedback states.
Defined tone and microcopy to reinforce warmth, confidence, and clarity.
Built an adaptable design system emphasizing high contrast, elegant spacing, and motion to reinforce trust.
Execution & Collaboration
The CONCÉ MVP evolved through iterative design sprints across three core modules:
Job Seeker Experience: Profile setup, AI matching, messaging, and scheduling.
Business Experience: Role creation, applicant pipeline, and AI-assisted evaluation tools.
Admin Experience: Platform management and analytics dashboards.
Collaboration Highlights
Weekly design-engineering syncs to validate technical feasibility.
Prototyped and tested early flows with both internal stakeholders and pilot users.
Delivered 3 interactive prototypes and 80+ unique UI screens for MVP.
Close collaboration with Sunny Side Up studio for creative direction, brand visual identity, and content design.
Outcome & Impact
MVP Readiness
Product design completed on time toward MVP launch (target: March 2026).
Platform validated through stakeholder demos and pilot feedback.
Established a unified design system to accelerate post-MVP iterations.
Quantitative Outcomes
553 hours of design effort completed across UX, UI, and strategy.
Projected user onboarding time reduced by 45% through simplified workflows.
Internal testing showed a 68% improvement in user task success rate vs. baseline flows.
Strategic Outcomes
Defined scalable framework for AI-human hybrid interactions.
Created unified brand and product experience that positions CONCÉ as a premium SaaS entrant.
Informed post-MVP roadmap including personalization, candidate enrichment, and AI coaching features.
Post-MVP Vision
As CONCÉ transitions toward launch, ongoing design collaboration focuses on:
Continuous UX optimization based on pilot user feedback.
Expansion of AI-driven personalization and analytics capabilities.
Design system maturity and brand refinement to support scale.
Strategic product growth through feature expansion and enterprise readiness.
Closing Reflection
Designing CONCÉ was an exercise in future-shaping — translating an abstract AI concept into a tangible, human experience. Leading both the brand and product design provided a unique opportunity to craft a cohesive story — where every pixel and interaction reinforces trust, intelligence, and connection.
