Overview
Skills Intelligence is a platform for internal assessments of engineers and non-tech employees, built on the existing Codility infrastructure. We reused the task library, proctoring, and similarity checks, then designed the missing layer for employee growth and workforce planning.
The initiative was a key strategic bet to make the business more resilient to hiring cycles. I brought the opportunity back to the table, led discovery, shaped the MVP, and partnered with a product trio and a cross-functional team through delivery.
Research
We spotted a pattern in the database: companies were already running internal assessments using their official domains. I partnered with account managers to validate the use case, then ran discovery with employees, engineers, and managers. The gaps were consistent:
- No access to results or solutions
- No assessment history
- No participation analytics
- No skill verification beyond pass or fail
Engineers asked for clear leveling, knowledge gaps, and learning paths. Managers wanted a skill catalog to staff new projects and support promotions.
Problem statement
How might we turn a recruitment tool into an internal skills platform that supports employee growth and workforce planning?
MVP scope
We started by clarifying the core personas - employee, line manager, L&D orchestrator, and account admin - and aligned on an ICP of enterprise companies with 1,000+ engineers. This focus kept the solution opinionated and avoided overbuilding for smaller teams.
From there, we defined the MVP around three workflows:
- A program wizard with scheduling and enrollment rules
- Dashboards with participation analytics
- An employee portal with results, history, and solutions
Release and refine
I led a time-boxed design phase with multiple user tests and validations to de-risk the MVP. After launch, Sales and Customer Success rolled it out to early customers behind a feature flag.
Early onboarding revealed a critical pattern - many customers wanted open programs where employees self-enroll, and some did not know who would participate when creating the program. We refined the MVP to support open enrollment, unknown participant lists, and flexible start and end dates.
Outcomes
Most of the first-year revenue came from new or returning customers rather than upsells - a clear signal that Skills Intelligence opened a new market instead of repackaging an existing one. It also gave Codility a competitive edge, as most competitors lacked internal assessment capabilities.
Building on that, we committed to follow-on features like AI-generated feedback, stronger knowledge leveling, and deeper reporting.
