Designing PyjamaHR’s ATS - One platform for every hiring need

Hiring is mission-critical. But for many HR teams, the tools they rely on are anything but helpful. Most ATS platforms are complex, outdated, and hide essential features behind paywalls, forcing teams to either overspend or under-perform.

We set out to change that with PyjamaHR - a forever-free Applicant Tracking System designed to simplify hiring. We had to create a clean, modern, and intuitive experience that gives recruiters everything they need right out of the box - no hidden costs, no locked features.

We began the project by interviewing HR professionals, recruiters, and hiring managers. Through 10 in-depth interviews we uncovered where today's ATS tools fall short, and what users really want from their hiring experience.

👥 Who We Spoke To

• 5 HR professionals at mid-sized IT companies
• 3 hiring managers at larger organizations
• 2 in-house recruiters at startup teams

⚠️ Key Pain Points

• Outdated interfaces made hiring workflows feel cumbersome.
• Long application forms caused candidates to abandon the process.
• Recruiters lacked integrations with tools such as Slack, Gmail, and LinkedIn.
• Manual entry duplicated information already available on resumes.
• Mobile tools did not support recruiting work well.

🌱 What Users Really Wanted

• A clean, modern UI that feels intuitive from day one.
• Streamlined candidate flows that save time and clicks.
• Deep integrations with tools they already use.
• Smart, automated resume parsing.
• A mobile experience that feels just as powerful as the desktop.

From these conversations, we realized we didn't need to reinvent hiring, we needed to simplify it. So we curated PyjamaHR to be

• An intuitive UI that feels welcoming
• Integrated seamlessly with everyday tools
• A mobile experience built for real-life recruiters
• A product that's free to adopt, easy to love.

We designed the web experience to be the command center for recruiters - clean, scalable and thoughtfully structured around real hiring workflows.

From posting jobs to managing the pipeline, every interaction was crafted to reduce friction and increase visibility, backed by a robust component system that ensured consistency and ease of use across the entire product ecosystem.

The mobile app was built with on-the-go hiring in mind - streamlined, responsive, and intuitive.

We reimagined the candidate viewing experience to suit smaller screens without sacrificing clarity, enabling hiring managers to screen candidates, take action and stay in sync with their team - all from the palm of their hand.

Designing the PyjamaHR ATS wasn't just about clean UI or faster workflows - it was about building something recruiters could genuinely rely on. The goal was to simplify hiring without stripping away control, and that mindset guided every design decision.

Here's what I learnt

• Recruiters don't want flashy - they want fast and clear.
• Designing clarity is harder than it looks, and more rewarding.
• Cross-platform design means thinking in flows, not just screens.

This project taught me how to balance stakeholder needs with user pain points, how to scale design across platforms, and most importantly - how good collaboration (with a stellar team) can turn complexity into clarity.