TEAMSHARES LEADERSHIP ATS
TEAMSHARES LEADERSHIP ATS

A hiring engine for a company of companies

A hiring engine for a company of companies

As the first designer on a new initiative, I led the creation of a custom Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for Teamshares to help our recruiting team place Presidents across 90+ acquired small businesses. Through deep discovery, iterative design, and tight collaboration with PM and engineering, we built a product that became the single source of truth for executive hiring—reducing time-to-hire, streamlining workflows, and increasing recruiter confidence and throughput.

As the first designer on a new initiative, I led the creation of a custom Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for Teamshares to help our recruiting team place Presidents across 90+ acquired small businesses. Through deep discovery, iterative design, and tight collaboration with PM and engineering, we built a product that became the single source of truth for executive hiring—reducing time-to-hire, streamlining workflows, and increasing recruiter confidence and throughput.

20+
leaders
hired
10+
qualified leaders
identified

Key capabilities demonstrated

Key capabilities demonstrated

Stakeholder Research

Workflow Analysis

Information Architecture

Business Impact Measurement

Cross-functional Leadership

Background

Background

Teamshares is a unique financial platform that buys profitable small businesses and transitions them to employee ownership. Each acquired company needs a new President—a critical leadership role.

Executive hiring processes on average take between 2-6 months. Upon my arrival at Teamshares, there were roughly 80 Network Companies acquired, with some Network Presidents playing double-duty between 2 companies. Teamshares had a goal of having a queue of qualified leaders ready for placement.

Recruiting efforts were fragmented across spreadsheets, email chains, and external tools like Lever and LinkedIn. There was no centralized workflow, no visibility into candidate status, and no product dedicated to internal talent operations.

Teamshares is a unique financial platform that buys profitable small businesses and transitions them to employee ownership. Each acquired company needs a new President—a critical leadership role.

Executive hiring processes on average take between 2-6 months. Upon my arrival at Teamshares, there were roughly 80 Network Companies acquired, with some Network Presidents playing double-duty between 2 companies. Teamshares had a goal of having a queue of qualified leaders ready for placement.

Recruiting efforts were fragmented across spreadsheets, email chains, and external tools like Lever and LinkedIn. There was no centralized workflow, no visibility into candidate status, and no product dedicated to internal talent operations.

Early findings

Early findings

To uncover the right product opportunity, I facilitated in-depth interviews with our internal recruiters. Key insights emerged:

To uncover the right product opportunity, I facilitated in-depth interviews with our internal recruiters. Key insights emerged:

High friction and context-switching: Recruiters managed data across multiple tools without automation or visibility

No structured workflow: There was no way to track applicant stages or progress consistently

Urgency in hiring: Presidents were critical for operational continuity at newly acquired businesses

I also audited third-party ATS tools to understand patterns in information architecture and candidate pipeline design—but we needed something custom.

I also audited third-party ATS tools to understand patterns in information architecture and candidate pipeline design—but we needed something custom.

Personnel

Design lead (myself)

1 Product Manager

2 Engineers

Recruiting Team

C-suite Stakeholder

What I did

End-to-end product design from discovery through iteration and implementation

End-to-end product design from discovery through iteration and implementation

Strategic goals

Strategic goals

Centralize applicant data into a single internal product

Streamline workflows and reduce time spent per applicant

Enable recruiters to create candidate shortlists and take action quickly

Support cross-functional collaboration with engineering and recruiting from day one

Design process

Design process

I led the design effort through several core explorations:

I led the design effort through several core explorations:

Candidate Detail Views
Created responsive layouts optimized for recruiters working on desktops and candidates applying on mobile. Designed views to surface high-signal data—resumes, notes, pipeline stage—with minimal clicks.

Application Submissions (Applicant View)
Focused on simplicity and accessibility. We learned that many applicants were first-time executives—so clear calls to action, mobile support, and transparency were critical.

Status Tiles & Pipeline Visibility
Designed visual indicators for each stage of the hiring funnel. Recruiters could now filter, search, and prioritize candidates based on their pipeline stage.

Assignment Switching
Built intuitive controls for recruiters to reassign candidates across open roles—supporting rapid internal reshuffling.

Custom Landing Page
We added a branded landing experience for applicants—conveying our mission of employee ownership and how being a President fits into that narrative.

Evolving the product

Evolving the product

Candidate detail

Archiving openings

Bulk editing candidates

Further evolution: candidate scoring

What we shipped

What we shipped

Within a few months, we evolved Teamshares Leadership from a barebones applicant list and application to include:

Within a few months, we evolved Teamshares Leadership from a barebones applicant list and application to include:

A structured applicant database

Custom filters and status views

Admin tools for recruiters to manage assignments

Mobile-first application experience for candidates

Candidate evaluation with scoring rubrik

Strategic trade-offs & future vision

Strategic trade-offs & future vision

In the interest of delivering value quickly, we made deliberate trade-offs to focus on recruiter efficiency first. Some planned features—like an applicant-facing dashboard to manage submissions and materials—were deprioritized to accelerate the MVP.

We also explored a longer-term vision: integrating President hires with TeamsharesOS and our Financial Products platform. This would have created tighter connective tissue between leadership hiring, company operations, and the broader ownership ecosystem—laying the groundwork for a more unified product strategy.

To deliver impact quickly, we deliberately scoped the MVP around recruiter workflows. Features like an applicant dashboard and deeper integration with TeamsharesOS were part of my broader product vision—but postponed to focus on speed and operational adoption first.

In the interest of delivering value quickly, we made deliberate trade-offs to focus on recruiter efficiency first. Some planned features—like an applicant-facing dashboard to manage submissions and materials—were deprioritized to accelerate the MVP.

We also explored a longer-term vision: integrating President hires with TeamsharesOS and our Financial Products platform. This would have created tighter connective tissue between leadership hiring, company operations, and the broader ownership ecosystem—laying the groundwork for a more unified product strategy.

Outcomes

Outcomes

Single source of truth: All applicant management now happens within Teamshares, replacing Lever and spreadsheets.

Increased throughput: Recruiters built and managed President shortlists faster with clearer workflows.

Improved candidate experience: Mobile-first application flow improved completion rates.

Product maturity: The ATS became core infrastructure—used daily until the team was dissolved during a company-wide reorganization.

Using a the Lean UX methodology allowed us to move at velocity to evolve the product to maturity.

Using a the Lean UX methodology allowed us to move at velocity to evolve the product to maturity.

Impact

Impact

Shaped the product vision from zero to MVP through close partnership with Recruiting and PM

Drove trade-offs and prioritization (e.g., deprioritized integrations to ship faster)

Built for scale, not just speed—design components were reused across internal tools

Influenced culture: Introduced early product rituals with Recruiting (e.g., feedback rounds, async design reviews)

Why this effort matters

Why this effort matters

This wasn't just an internal tool—it was the infrastructure that enabled Teamshares to scale leadership placement, unlock employee ownership, and drive long-term transformation across small businesses nationwide.

This wasn't just an internal tool—it was the infrastructure that enabled Teamshares to scale leadership placement, unlock employee ownership, and drive long-term transformation across small businesses nationwide.

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