Microsoft ITM

Microsoft lacked a centralized way for employees to explore internal roles, so people often left for growth opportunities elsewhere. I led UI/UX design for the Internal Talent Marketplace, a platform built to keep that talent in-house by making internal mobility effortless.

Role
Lead Product Designer
Years
2023
Scope
UI/UX Design, Strategy
ITM — opportunity discovery
ITM — employee profile

Challenge

Moving internally within Microsoft was slow and difficult, so when employees wanted to grow, leaving was often easier than staying. The challenge was to make internal mobility fast and easy enough that employees could find their next role inside the company instead of leaving to find it.

Impact

$0k+ Saved

Per Internal Move

0% Lower

Attrition Risk for Employees

$0 Million

Saved in Hiring Costs per 500 Placements

Collaboration

As the lead product designer, I worked closely with product managers, engineers, and researchers, mapping how employees discover and act on opportunities and aligning the experience with both user needs and technical realities, then carried the work through to a clean engineering handoff.

Understanding the Need

ITM had to work for three different groups. Employees wanted a real path to grow without leaving, managers wanted to close skill gaps on their teams, and Microsoft wanted to cut the cost of attrition. The design had to serve all three.

Group 1

Microsoft Employees

  • Better ways to find new, compelling opportunities

  • Clear, credible, actionable path to achieve career and growth goals

  • Assurance that MSFT is the best place to prepare for the future

Group 2

Microsoft Managers

  • Help employees learn and grow

  • Analytics to understand, react to team skills gaps

  • Efficient approach to growing/acquiring needed team skills

Group 3

Microsoft Corporation

  • Reduce high cost of attrition

  • Analytics to understand organization’s skills gaps

  • Support perception that MSFT is the best place to prepare for the future

Research & Planning

Working with engineering and business partners, I mapped how employees move from discovering opportunities to understanding fit and taking action. That work exposed breakdowns in how information, guidance, and actions connected, shaping a flexible system, organized around opportunities, career planning, and progression, that stayed clear and navigable for both employees and managers.

Research & planning — opportunity flow map

Initial Wireframes

These wireframes served as the starting point for the project, establishing the core structure and user flows. As feature requirements evolved during the process, the design adapted to meet changing needs while maintaining the foundational experience.

ITM initial wireframes

Design Directions

I explored three design directions that would work as both a Teams app and a web experience, each with different levels of visual detail: mild, medium, and spicy. The medium direction (middle one) was chosen because it struck the right balance, offering flexibility across platforms while bringing the right amount of visual flair to keep the experience engaging, effective and modern.

Design direction — mild
Design direction — medium (chosen)
Design direction — spicy

Key Experiences

ITM home

Colleague Feedback

Feedback from leaders and partners I worked with on the project, shared during performance reviews.

A great attitude through the ITM project. These projects are often amorphous with limited boundaries to work within. You handled yourself well through the churn to deliver excellent output and build trust with your peers.

Microsoft

Principal Design Manager

Microsoft

I love your bias toward action, and the fact that you couple it with good work is fantastic. You’ve done a great job at the beginning making sure you are clear on what we’re doing, why, for whom.

Microsoft

Studio Director, MSD

Microsoft