Transforming a decade-old client portal into a modern, full-featured platform — on time, under pressure, and in front of a global audience.
Coming off the heels of a successful redesign of our Absence platform, we decided to take the ambitious step to not only rebrand our external HR portal, but to completely reimagine every feature into a modern and sophisticated platform. The portal hadn't seen a meaningful update in nearly a decade — the technology underneath it was aging, the design language no longer reflected who we were as a company, and the functionality, though serviceable, wasn't keeping pace with what our customers actually needed. HR teams at our client organizations were logging in daily to a tool that told a story we'd long outgrown.
The mandate was clear: modernize the portal end-to-end, align it with our corporate rebrand, and migrate the underlying architecture from JSF to Angular. What wasn't so clear was how much ground we'd actually need to cover — and how quickly we'd need to cover it.
Over three months, I owned the full project lifecycle: stakeholder alignment, timeline governance, and keeping design, engineering, legal, and marketing moving in the same direction. The scope was substantial. We replaced a static PDF download experience with an interactive Power BI reporting dashboard. We rebuilt the content library with robust filtering so HR teams could find the communication materials they needed without digging. We replaced a fragmented email process for service requests — things like on-site trainings and Health Fair representatives — with a direct submission flow tied into our internal systems. We redesigned the team contact page, expanded partner-specific features that had previously been bare-bones, and launched French as a second supported language.
The hardest part wasn't the scope — it was keeping everything synchronized under a hard deadline. With a promoted launch date tied to the end of our development cycle, there was no room to slip. In the final stretch, we surfaced 249 pre-release bugs. That meant daily standups across multiple dev and QA streams, triage calls, and clear-eyed prioritization to keep us on track without compromising release quality. We hit the date.
"The reaction internally was immediate — people could see we'd delivered something that matched where the company was heading, not where it had been."
The impact wasn't confined to internal praise. Shortly after launch, the redesigned portal was featured as a highlight in a finalist sales presentation for a prospective client with over 100,000 global employees. What had been a functional but dated tool became a tangible proof point in a high-stakes business development moment — evidence that we're a modern, growing company worth putting their money into.
This project reinforced something I rely on as a PM: the ability to hold a complex, multi-team initiative together isn't just about process. It's about knowing where the real risks are, staying close to the people doing the work, and making fast, clear decisions when things get tight. The portal was more than a rebrand. It was a statement.
Replaced static PDF downloads with an interactive Power BI dashboard giving HR teams real-time visibility into workforce engagement metrics.
Redesigned the communications materials hub with robust filtering, making it faster for HR teams to find and download client-specific assets.
Replaced fragmented email workflows with a direct submission system for requesting trainings, Health Fairs, and on-site representatives.
Elevated partner-specific portal features from bare-bones to robust, with customization options that weren't previously possible.
Launched French as a second supported language, extending the platform's reach to new client segments and geographic markets.
Drove the full architecture migration from JSF to Angular, modernizing the technical foundation alongside the visual and functional overhaul.