Designing CONCÉ: Redefining how talent meets opportunity
A two-year partnership to design the MVP for an AI-powered job-matching platform that blends human discernment with machine precision.
Over two years, Sunny Side Up partnered with CONCÉ to design and deliver the MVP for an AI-powered job-matching platform. The vision: merge human insight with machine intelligence into a sophisticated, scalable product that reimagines how professionals connect with opportunities.
From research to design systems, we shaped every detail to reflect CONCÉ's ethos: white-glove simplicity powered by AI precision.
Design wasn't just about aesthetics. It was about trust, clarity, and confidence. The goal was to create an experience that resonates like a conversation with possibility itself.
The challenge and vision
Founder Meghan Houle set out to build a trusted, AI-powered career matching platform that blends human discernment with intelligent automation. That meant designing a dual-sided SaaS experience for both businesses seeking talent and job seekers, while holding the line on white-glove simplicity and credibility. Unlike the slow, outdated applicant tracking tools most companies were stuck with, CONCÉ needed to feel personal, elegant, and genuinely easy to use.
Discovery and research
We examined trust drivers in job-matching platforms, how businesses define success beyond hiring speed, and how AI can assist rather than overwhelm human decisions. The team ran competitive analysis, mapped user journeys for seekers and hiring managers, and interviewed early-stage partners to define the product's emotional core.
The insight that emerged:
The differentiator was never technology or human touch alone. It was merging more capable AI with human connection, and delivering it through an experience that felt clean where legacy tools felt confusing.
Design strategy
Strategy anchored in precision and personalization. The work included:
- Multi-role user experience across four tiers: admin, hiring manager, panelist, seeker
- Dynamic dashboards that scale with evolving business needs
- A flexible AI interaction model for candidate assistance and recruiter workflows
- A design system crafted for scalability and elegance
Every screen prioritized clarity, ensuring a seamless, intuitive experience even as backend complexity grew.
Evolving scope
As the product vision matured, scope expanded with AI-driven summarization tools, calendaring, internal messaging, and multi-tiered access dashboards. Collaboration across Go-to-Market, ML, and Engineering teams spanning Boston, NYC, and Buenos Aires proved crucial for balancing strategy, speed, and craftsmanship.
Designing for AI means designing for trust. Every decision, from tone to timing, had to build confidence and feel human.
The road to MVP and beyond
The result is a complete, fully realized MVP: a product built to meet its market. CONCÉ is now preparing for public rollout, bringing a genuinely modern experience to a category long overdue for one. The journey exemplified alignment, agility, and artistry: blending AI-driven intelligence with the warmth and precision of thoughtful design.
From Boston to Buenos Aires, teams worked as one, proving that when strategy meets empathy, complex ideas feel effortless.
