Designing a role-based internal hiring workflow that reduced approval cycle time and improved traceability across departments
Project Snapshot
Company / Product: Evoke — Request to Hire (RTH), internal hiring workflow
Timeline: 2025 (≈5 months, discovery → deployment)
Role: Lead UX/UI Designer (end-to-end, partnering with Engineering)
Stakeholders: HR, Finance, PMO, Rewards, Talent Committee + Engineering
Platform / Tools: OutSystems, Figma, Miro
Scope (What I designed): role-based dashboards, conditional multi-step forms + validations, approval states/history, automated routing (SSO + Active Directory), audit-ready traceability
Outcomes: ~60% faster approvals, full traceability, near-zero post-launch tickets; framework reused by HR for additional workflows
Confidentiality: Some screens/data anonymized.
Summary
Request to Hire (RTH) is an internal platform designed to streamline the end-to-end hiring request process at Evoke.
Before RTH, hiring requests were managed through spreadsheets, email threads, and manual approvals, resulting in low visibility, frequent rework, and strong dependency on HR to coordinate progress across departments.
I led UX and UI from discovery to deployment, starting with interviews across HR, Finance, PMO, Rewards, and the Talent Committee to understand how each role participated in the approval process, what information they required, and where breakdowns were happening.
Based on this, I designed a centralized, role-based workflow that structured complex approval logic into clear steps, reduced bottlenecks, and ensured full traceability for every request.
Timeline: 2025 — ~5 months (discovery to deployment)
Context
Hiring requests involve multiple roles, approval levels, and policy constraints, with each department requiring different information at different stages of the process.
This created a highly fragmented workflow, where responsibilities were unclear and data requirements changed depending on the request type and approval step.
My Role
I led UX and UI design end-to-end, working closely with HR, Finance, PMO, Rewards, and Talent Committee stakeholders.
A key part of my role was conducting interviews with each department to map how decisions were made, what data was required at each stage, and how responsibilities shifted throughout the approval process.
From this, I translated a complex, policy-driven workflow into a structured product experience with clear states, role responsibilities, and data requirements.
The problem
The process was not only fragmented but also unclear in terms of responsibility and data requirements.
Different departments requested different information at different stages, often leading to incomplete submissions, rework, and delays caused by back-and-forth communication.
Goals
- Digitize and standardize the hiring request workflow end-to-end
- Reduce approval bottlenecks across departments and shorten cycle time
- Make status, ownership, and next actions explicit for every stakeholder
- Ensure traceability and policy compliance through structured steps and logs
- Build a modular workflow that supports multiple hiring types and future extensions
- Automate routing via SSO + Active Directory hierarchy to reduce manual coordination
Constraints and approach
Instead of starting from the interface, I began by mapping the full approval process across departments, identifying decision points, required data, and ownership at each stage.
This allowed me to define a structured workflow based on role responsibility and state progression, translating policy rules and organizational hierarchy into a clear and scalable product model.
The interface was then designed to reflect this structure, reducing ambiguity and guiding users through complex approval scenarios.
Key improvements (iteration highlights)
Each improvement was directly based on issues identified during stakeholder interviews and workflow mapping.
1) Role-based workflow engine
Each role only sees what is required to act, reducing clutter and delays:
- Clear ownership and status at each step
- Separate views for “Pending my action,” “Submitted by me,” and “Completed / Rejected”
- Consistent action patterns (approve, request changes, reject) with recorded rationale
2) Smart forms with conditional logic
The request creation experience was designed to reduce errors and rework:
- Multi-step forms with conditional sections based on request type
- Required-field logic and validations aligned with policy
- Reduced cognitive load by hiding irrelevant fields per role and scenario
3) Transparent progress and request history
To eliminate status ambiguity and “follow-up loops”:
- Visual progress indicators across approval stages
- Action history showing what happened, when, and by whom
- Clear feedback on rejections and required changes to move forward
4) Automated routing via SSO + Active Directory
Approvals were routed automatically to reduce manual coordination:
- Auto-assignment of approvers based on AD hierarchy
- Fallback approvers and defined rejection loops
- Reduced reliance on HR to manually track and push requests through the chain
UI Design and Delivery
- Designed 11+ screens including dashboards, multi-step forms, modals, and decision views
- Established a Figma component set tailored for internal operational tools (cards, tags, tokens, form fields, validation feedback, notifications)
- Designed for high legibility, keyboard navigability, and clear error handling aligned to WCAG practices
- Produced exportable tracking views for reporting and operational review
Usability Testing and Iteration
I conducted 8 usability sessions with participants from HR, Finance, and PMO to validate how well users understood their responsibilities, the approval flow, and the required actions at each step.
Key changes driven by testing:
- Simplified approval routing representation and reduced perceived complexity
- Added stronger progress indicators and clearer request history logs
- Further reduced cognitive load by tightening field visibility by role and scenario
Implementation and Handoff
I supported build and rollout closely with engineering:
- Delivered annotated Figma files for OutSystems implementation, including states and validation logic
- Partnered on form validation rules and SSO integration details
- Participated in QA rounds to verify business rules (fallback approvers, rejection loops, state handling)
- Ensured error states and edge cases matched design intent
Outcomes
- ~60% reduction in total approval time
- Full traceability across departments with clear ownership and action history
- Near-zero support tickets post-launch
- RTH framework reused by HR to support additional workflows (promotions, transfers)
- Seamless identity handling and routing enabled by full SSO + AD integration
What this demonstrates
This project demonstrates my ability to translate complex organizational processes and policy rules into clear, structured product experiences.
It highlights my strength in working directly with multiple stakeholders, aligning conflicting requirements, and designing workflows that reduce operational friction while maintaining governance and traceability.