StaffRoom - New networking/jobs platform
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Problem Statement:
The football industry operates within a closed network, making it difficult for professionals without established connections to access opportunities, showcase their expertise, and grow their careers. There is no centralised, industry-specific platform for networking, collaboration, and recruitment, forcing clubs and decision-makers to rely on limited personal networks to identify top talent for off-pitch roles.
This lack of accessibility, visibility, and structured career support hinders both professionals and clubs. Our product solves these challenges by providing a digital network of over 40,000 football industry professionals, offering a centralised platform for visibility, recruitment, and career growth. -
Solution Statement:
Our platform transforms the football industry by breaking down traditional barriers and creating a centralised, industry-specific digital network for off-pitch professionals. By connecting over 40,000 football professionals with 500+ clubs worldwide, it provides a seamless space for showcasing expertise, expanding networks, and accessing career opportunities.
For clubs, it streamlines talent discovery and recruitment, replacing outdated, relationship-based hiring with a more efficient and transparent process. This innovation empowers professionals to accelerate their careers while helping clubs identify and recruit top talent with ease.
Just a little context…
At TransferRoom, BAU and redesign efforts are progressing smoothly, while the new hires are settling into their roles and the product team is coming together as a cohesive unit. With these foundational elements in place, we now have the capacity to explore new opportunities. One such opportunity, inspired by an idea from the Product Director & the commercial team, is StaffRoom. This initiative presents a chance to secure TransferRoom’s position as a market leader by expanding our offerings and growing our network. By leveraging our existing infrastructure and expertise, StaffRoom has the potential to create a comprehensive ecosystem for off-pitch professionals, further enhancing our value proposition in the football industry.
StaffRoom - As presented by one of footballs respected reporters The Athletic's David Ornstein
A Place to Start
The concept for StaffRoom originated from the commercial team, who had recognised a gap in the football industry's recruitment process for off-pitch professionals. Working crossfunctional we set out to confirm this opportunity by:
Analyze Current Recruitment Processes & Pain Points: Conduct research and customer interviews to outline the typical recruitment journey for off-pitch football professionals and identify key inefficiencies.
Evaluate Market Demand & Pricing Sensitivity: Assess the interest and willingness to pay for a Talent Recruitment staff solution for off-pitch professionals.
Define Product Scope & MVP Features: Use insights from research to shape the TR staff offering, prioritising essential features for the minimum viable product (MVP).
Develop Commercial Strategy & GTM Plan: Create a viable business model and go-to-market strategy to successfully launch and scale the TR staff product.
User interviews indicated strong demand for a staff offering
The Product Director and I took it upon ourselves to lead the interview process, recognising the importance of gathering first-hand insights. Our goal was to speak directly with those responsible for hiring, understanding their challenges and decision-making processes, as well as individuals actively seeking new employment opportunities to learn about their experiences and pain points in the job market. By engaging with both perspectives, we aimed to build a comprehensive understanding of the recruitment landscape and identify key areas for improvement.
Demand - Almost all interviewees said they would use a TR staff offering, although clubs were more open to paying than candidates
“The new StaffRoom brand needed to feel closely aligned with the existing TransferRoom identity while ensuring that, from a user experience perspective, it remained familiar and intuitive for users based on the products they were already accustomed to. The design had to maintain consistency in terms of colour, typography, and overall visual language, creating a seamless connection between the two brands. At the same time, it was essential to follow established UX patterns, making navigation and interactions feel natural while allowing StaffRoom to have its own distinct identity without feeling disconnected from TransferRoom.”
After conducting a series of in-depth interviews, we confirmed that there was a real opportunity for a staff offering. The feedback we received from both hiring managers and job seekers made it clear that this was a problem worth solving. With that validation, we moved into the product discovery phase, focusing on understanding what the platform needed to look like and how it would serve users effectively. At the same time, the commercial team began working through the legal and financial aspects to ensure everything was in place for a successful launch. It was a true team effort, allowing us to take a well-informed, balanced approach to moving the idea forward.
Few of the explorations into profile concepts
While the designer concentrated on developing the design language, I collaborated closely with the Product Director, CTO, and commercial team to establish a clear and strategic product timeline with key milestones. This involved defining the scope of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), ensuring we prioritised the most valuable features for launch, and mapping out a phased approach for subsequent releases. By aligning technical feasibility with commercial objectives, we created a roadmap that balanced speed to market with long-term scalability, ensuring a strong foundation for the product’s growth and evolution.
The delivery roadmap & feature requirements for v1 for StaffRoom
With the design work well underway, we successfully established the brand’s look and feel, ensuring it aligned seamlessly with our overall vision. This allowed us to swiftly integrate the visual identity into the ongoing MVP development, maintaining consistency across both the user experience and interface. Once we had a functional MVP, we wasted no time in initiating real-world testing, engaging a carefully selected test group to provide early feedback. Through in-depth interviews and hands-on testing sessions, we were able to validate our design and product decisions, ensuring we were on the right track. The initial reactions were overwhelmingly positive—better than we had hoped—reinforcing our confidence in the direction we were taking. This enthusiastic response provided the momentum we needed to refine and enhance the product further, allowing us to move forward with even greater clarity and conviction.
A brief look at the final branding and product design
Results? The successful launch of the product was a testament to our strategic approach, seamless collaboration, and user-focused design. By establishing a strong brand identity early on and integrating it into the MVP development, we ensured a cohesive and intuitive user experience from day one. Our rapid testing and validation process, involving a carefully selected test group, provided invaluable insights that confirmed we were on the right track. The overwhelmingly positive initial feedback not only validated our approach but also gave us the confidence to move forward at pace. As a result, we delivered a product that not only met but exceeded user expectations, driving strong adoption and setting the foundation for continued growth and innovation.
3 Key Results
Revenue Potental met
Within the first 48 hours of launch, the platform experienced an overwhelming response, with 6,000 individuals claiming their profiles. This momentum only accelerated, and within two weeks, the number of claimed profiles had exceeded 15,000, far surpassing initial expectations. This rapid uptake not only validated the product’s market demand but also ensured we comfortably met our target of 2,400 active candidates—a crucial threshold to guarantee clubs received a sufficient volume of responses to their job adverts.
With this strong candidate pool in place, clubs were able to post vacancies with confidence, receiving a steady flow of applications that matched their needs. The high engagement levels from both candidates and clubs reinforced the platform’s value proposition, driving further adoption and positioning it as an essential tool for football recruitment. This early success laid a solid foundation for continued growth, enabling us to refine and optimise the user experience while expanding our reach within the industry.
Great take up numbers - Clubs
On the high immediate uptake of users, we anticipate a strong initial adoption of the platform, with a gradual transition from non-paying to paying clubs over time. At launch, the total number of clubs on the platform stands at 405, with 105 of these being paying clubs.
As the product gains traction and demonstrates value, we expect a steady conversion of non-paying clubs into paying subscribers, driving long-term revenue growth and platform sustainability. This transition will be supported by continuous product improvements, user engagement strategies, and targeted commercial efforts to reinforce the value proposition.
Great take up numbers - Individuals
Within the first 48 hours of launch, we saw an incredible response, with 6,000 individuals claiming their profiles. This rapid adoption demonstrated both the strong demand for the platform and the effectiveness of our launch strategy. Momentum continued to build, and within just two weeks, the number of claimed profiles surpassed 15,000. This early success validated our approach, reinforcing confidence in the product’s market fit and setting a strong foundation for future growth.