Technical Product Designer, TD Securities

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Technical Product Designer, TD Securities

Company: TD

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Job Type: Full time

Category: Product Design / UX Design (Finance Technology)

Date Posted: 2026-08-13

Experience Level: Mid-level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• End-to-end product design ownership within sophisticated financial trading and operations workflows, focusing on simplifying complex user journeys.

• Collaborate directly with Front-Office Sales & Trading users, Operations teams, and subject-matter experts to deeply understand business needs and pain points.

• Translate user insights and business requirements into intuitive workflows, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity designs using Figma.

• Partner closely with software engineers throughout the development lifecycle, ensuring design integrity and providing engineering-ready specifications.

• Contribute to and leverage the Atomic portfolio's shared design system and reusable patterns to drive consistency and efficiency across FICC Technology.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Technical Product Designer," the core responsibilities and qualifications heavily emphasize product design, UX, and interaction design within a technical context. The "technical" aspect refers more to the domain (finance technology, complex workflows) and the need for close collaboration with engineers, rather than requiring the candidate to be a production software developer. The role is positioned within "Technology Solutions" and specifically "Global FICC Technology" at TD Securities, indicating a focus on financial markets technology.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead discovery sessions and user interviews to meticulously understand complex workflows, business goals, and user pain points within the FICC (Fixed Income, Currency, Commodities) domain.

• Define ambiguous requests into clearly articulated user problems, actionable requirements, and strategic product opportunities.

• Design complete user experiences, encompassing interaction details, information architecture, data density, validation logic, permission models, error states, and operational exception handling.

• Develop detailed user flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and polished high-fidelity designs in Figma, ensuring a high standard of visual craft and usability.

• Collaborate iteratively with product partners, engineers, and end-users throughout the design and development process, incorporating feedback and adapting solutions pragmatically.

• Translate finalized designs into clear, comprehensive engineering specifications and acceptance criteria to facilitate smooth implementation.

• Conduct design reviews of delivered features, ensuring adherence to the intended user experience and workflow, while identifying areas for improvement.

• Gather post-launch feedback and performance data to inform future design iterations and contribute to the continuous improvement of Atomic's design practices and the broader FICC Unified Desktop platform.

• Contribute to the evolution and application of a shared design system, including reusable components and design patterns, to enhance consistency and efficiency across the Atomic product portfolio.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Partner Through Delivery" section highlights a crucial aspect of this role: the designer's active involvement beyond just handing off designs. This includes reviewing implemented features and gathering post-launch feedback, which is a hallmark of mature product design practices in complex enterprise environments. The responsibility to "adapt designs pragmatically to technical constraints" indicates a need for flexibility and strong communication with engineering.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• A degree, diploma, or equivalent practical experience in Design, Technology, Business, or a related discipline is required. A Bachelor's degree is preferred. Experience:

• Professional experience in product design, UX design, interaction design, or a closely related product role.

• Demonstrated experience in taking a product problem from initial discovery and conceptualization through detailed design and successful implementation.

• Proven ability to simplify complex, information-rich workflows into clear, intuitive, and usable product experiences.

• Experience gathering requirements and user feedback directly from end-users, stakeholders, or subject-matter experts.

• Ability to translate business needs into clear workflows, design decisions, technical requirements, and acceptance criteria.

• Experience collaborating closely with software engineers and adapting designs based on implementation considerations and technical constraints. Required Skills:

• Product Thinking & Strategy: Ability to understand complex business domains and translate user needs into strategic product direction.

• Interaction Design: Strong fundamentals in designing intuitive and efficient user flows and interactions.

• Figma Proficiency: High proficiency with Figma for user flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, high-fidelity designs, and creating/managing reusable components.

• Workflow Analysis: Demonstrated ability to map, analyze, and simplify complex business processes and user workflows.

• User Research & Feedback: Experience conducting or participating in user discovery, gathering direct user feedback, and performing usability testing.

• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate design rationale and trade-offs effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, particularly software engineers and product managers.

• Problem Solving: Capacity to tackle ambiguous problems and develop pragmatic, user-centered solutions.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing enterprise-level products, particularly within FinTech, capital markets, operations, analytics, or other data-intensive domains.

• Experience designing information-rich or time-sensitive workflows for expert users.

• Familiarity with financial markets, trading platforms, risk management, or banking operations workflows.

• Experience contributing to or leveraging a design system, reusable component library, or shared set of product patterns.

• Understanding of accessibility (WCAG) and inclusive design principles.

• Familiarity with responsive web applications and component-based front-end architecture.

• Working knowledge of front-end technologies such as HTML, CSS, TypeScript, React, or Storybook.

• Experience working iteratively across multiple stakeholders and managing concurrent product priorities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Preferred Qualifications" section offers a clear roadmap for candidates to highlight relevant experience. Specifically mentioning "enterprise, fintech, capital markets, Operations, analytics, or other data-intensive products" and "information-rich or time-sensitive workflows for expert users" directly aligns with the challenges of the TD Securities environment. The mention of front-end technologies like React and Storybook indicates a strong preference for designers who can bridge the gap between design and development.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrated Product Thinking: Showcase a clear understanding of how your design decisions addressed specific user problems and business objectives.

• Interaction Design Mastery: Present detailed examples of user flows, interaction patterns, and wireframes that illustrate intuitive navigation and task completion.

• Figma & Prototyping: Include case studies where Figma was used extensively for wireframing, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototyping. Demonstrate the creation and use of reusable components.

• End-to-End Process: Feature at least one comprehensive case study that spans the entire design lifecycle: from initial discovery and user research through ideation, design, prototyping, and collaboration with engineering through to implementation and iteration.

• Problem Simplification: Highlight examples where you successfully simplified complex, information-dense, or highly regulated workflows into user-friendly interfaces.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Mapping: Provide examples of how you have visually documented and analyzed existing user workflows to identify inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.

• Design Specification: Showcase how you have translated designs into clear, actionable specifications for engineering teams, including detailed requirements and acceptance criteria.

• Iterative Design & Feedback: Demonstrate how you have incorporated user feedback, stakeholder input, and technical constraints into iterative design cycles to refine solutions.

• Design System Contribution: If applicable, include examples of contributions to design systems, component libraries, or the establishment of reusable design patterns.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a "Technical Product Designer" role in a regulated financial environment, a portfolio is critical. The emphasis should be on demonstrating a structured approach to problem-solving, a deep understanding of user workflows, and the ability to translate complex requirements into tangible, user-friendly designs. Highlighting experience with complex data visualization and information architecture within their portfolio will be highly advantageous.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $84,900 - $98,400 CAD per year

Benefits:

• Health and Well-being Benefits: Comprehensive coverage for medical, dental, and vision care, alongside programs supporting mental and physical well-being.

• Savings and Retirement Programs: Access to plans designed to help colleagues build financial security for the future, such as RRSP matching or pension plans.

• Paid Time Off: Generous vacation days, personal days, and company holidays to ensure work-life balance.

• Banking Benefits and Discounts: Exclusive offers and discounts on TD banking products and services.

• Career Development: Opportunities for continuous learning through training programs, workshops, mentoring, and access to an online learning platform.

• Reward and Recognition Programs: Formal and informal programs to acknowledge outstanding performance and contributions.

• Discretionary Variable Compensation: Eligibility for a discretionary variable compensation award, based on business and individual performance, providing an opportunity for additional earnings.

Working Hours: 37.5 hours per week. This is an on-site role, implying a standard office-based schedule.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided salary range is specific to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For a mid-level Technical Product Designer role in Toronto's financial technology sector, this range is competitive, reflecting the specialized skills required and the cost of living in a major Canadian city. The benefits listed are standard for large financial institutions and emphasize a holistic approach to employee well-being and professional growth. The mention of discretionary variable compensation is important for candidates to understand potential upside beyond base salary.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Services / Investment Banking / Technology Solutions. TD Securities operates within the global investment banking sector, providing a broad spectrum of capital markets products and advisory services. The role is situated within the "Technology Solutions" line of business, specifically focusing on "Global FICC Technology."

Company Size: TD is a large, multinational financial institution. TD Securities, as a division, likely comprises several thousand professionals globally. The "Atomic Team" is described as a "multidisciplinary team," suggesting a focused, agile unit within the larger organization, likely ranging from a dozen to a few dozen members.

Founded: TD Bank Group was founded in 1854. This long history signifies stability, established processes, and a deep understanding of the financial markets. The "Atomic Team" is a more recent initiative focused on transforming the application landscape.

Team Structure:

• The "Atomic Team" is multidisciplinary, comprising product designers, engineers, and technology professionals. This suggests a collaborative, integrated structure focused on end-to-end product development.

• Reporting likely involves a direct manager within the Atomic Team or Global FICC Technology group, with potential dotted-line reporting or close collaboration with product managers and business stakeholders.

• Cross-functional collaboration is a core tenet, with designers working directly with Front-Office Sales & Trading users, Operations teams, subject-matter experts, and software engineers. Methodology:

• Data Analysis & Insights: The team leverages user feedback, performance data, and direct user interaction to drive product decisions and identify areas for improvement.

• Workflow Planning & Optimization: A primary focus is understanding and simplifying complex financial workflows, turning them into more intuitive and efficient product experiences.

• Automation & Efficiency: The goal is to deliver innovative products and modernize platforms, inherently involving efficiency gains and potentially automation where applicable within financial processes.

Company Website: https://www.td.com/ca/en/td-securities/

📝 Enhancement Note: The context provided clearly positions this role within a high-stakes, performance-driven environment (investment banking) that relies heavily on technology. The "Atomic Team" is framed as an innovation hub focused on modernizing applications, which implies a dynamic, forward-thinking culture within a large, established organization. Understanding TD's broader mission to "reimagine what banking can be" is key to aligning with their values.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a mid-level "Technical Product Designer," typically requiring 2-5 years of professional experience. It involves significant ownership and end-to-end responsibility for product areas, indicating a level beyond junior design roles. The role requires a blend of design craft, strategic thinking, and technical collaboration.

Reporting Structure: The designer will report to a manager within the Atomic Team or the broader Global FICC Technology group. They will work closely with Product Partners (likely Product Managers) and Software Engineers, fostering a collaborative, matrixed reporting environment common in agile tech teams.

Operations Impact: The work directly impacts the efficiency, speed, safety, and intuitiveness of critical trading and operations workflows within TD Securities. By simplifying complex processes, the designer contributes to increased productivity for Sales & Trading professionals, reduced operational risk, and ultimately, enhanced business performance and client service in the capital markets.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific financial markets (Metals, Energy, FX, Fixed Income) or the FICC Unified Desktop platform, becoming a domain expert.

• Design Systems Leadership: Grow into a role focused on contributing to, or even leading, the evolution of the Atomic design system and shared patterns.

• Technical Collaboration: Enhance skills in partnering with engineers, understanding technical constraints, and contributing to front-end architecture discussions.

• Product Strategy: Develop a stronger voice in shaping product direction, identifying new opportunities, and influencing the product roadmap through user insights and design expertise.

• Mentorship: Potentially mentor junior designers or new team members as the team grows.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Gain exposure to various business areas within TD Securities, opening doors to other product or design roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth opportunities highlight a blend of technical and design skill development. For operations professionals looking to transition or grow, understanding how this design role directly impacts operational efficiency and risk mitigation within financial services is crucial. The emphasis on "meaningful ownership" and "portfolio-level impact" suggests that successful candidates will have significant scope for professional development and visibility.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is an on-site role, implying a traditional office-based work environment within TD's facilities in Toronto. The "TD Centre - TD Tower" location suggests a professional, corporate setting.

Office Location(s): The primary work location is at TD Centre - TD Tower, 66 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is a prominent business address in Toronto's financial district, offering accessibility via public transit and proximity to various amenities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The Atomic Team operates with a "collaborative product and engineering team" ethos. Designers will likely have access to shared workspaces, meeting rooms equipped for brainstorming and presentations, and informal areas for team interaction.

• Tools & Technology: The workspace will be equipped with standard office technology, and designers will be provided with necessary software licenses (e.g., Figma) and hardware. The mention of React, TypeScript, and modern web technologies suggests a tech-forward environment.

• Team Interaction: Expect frequent direct interaction with engineers, product managers, and potentially end-users for feedback sessions, design reviews, and daily stand-ups. The culture encourages open feedback and idea exchange.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is 37.5 hours per week. While on-site, there may be some flexibility in daily start/end times, but the expectation is consistent presence in the office to facilitate collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role in the financial sector, the on-site requirement is common and emphasizes security, direct collaboration, and adherence to established corporate norms. The "TD Centre" location is a significant landmark, suggesting a well-resourced and professional working environment. The emphasis on collaboration and direct user access points to a hands-on, interactive workspace.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter will likely review applications and portfolios to assess basic qualifications and fit.

• Hiring Manager/Team Interview: This stage will involve discussions about your experience, design philosophy, and approach to problem-solving. Expect questions about your portfolio and how you've handled specific design challenges.

• Portfolio Presentation/Case Study: You will likely be asked to present one or more case studies from your portfolio in detail. This is your opportunity to walk the team through your process, design decisions, and the impact of your work. Be prepared to discuss your role, the problem, your solutions, and the outcomes.

• Technical/Design Challenge (Potential): While not explicitly stated, some roles may include a short design exercise or a discussion around technical design considerations relevant to complex workflows.

• Team/Cultural Fit Interview: An opportunity for you to meet potential team members and for them to assess your collaboration style, communication skills, and alignment with the Atomic Team's values.

• Final Interview: May involve senior leadership or product heads to discuss strategic fit and overall potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Selectively: Choose 2-3 strong projects that best demonstrate your end-to-end design process, problem-solving skills, and impact, particularly those involving complex workflows or data-intensive applications.

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate: The Problem (user needs, business context), Your Role, The Process (discovery, ideation, design, testing, iteration), The Solution (key design decisions, prototypes, final UI), and The Outcome (impact, metrics, lessons learned).

• Highlight Figma Proficiency: Showcase your skills in Figma by demonstrating interactive prototypes, detailed component usage, and clear user flows.

• Emphasize Collaboration: Explain how you partnered with engineers, product managers, and users. Showcase examples of how you translated technical constraints or user feedback into design adjustments.

• Focus on Simplification: For this role, explicitly highlight instances where you simplified complex financial or operational processes.

• Be Prepared for Technical Discussions: While not a developer role, be ready to discuss your understanding of front-end technologies (React, HTML/CSS) and how they influence design decisions.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research TD Securities, its role in capital markets, and the FICC business. Familiarize yourself with common financial workflows (trading, risk, operations).

• Practice Workflow Analysis: Be ready to quickly sketch out or discuss how you would approach understanding a complex, unfamiliar workflow.

• Articulate Design Rationale: Practice explaining why you made specific design choices, focusing on user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.

• Prepare Questions: Have thoughtful questions ready about the team, the product roadmap, design challenges, and collaboration processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a role like this in a major financial institution will be thorough. A strong portfolio that explicitly demonstrates the ability to handle complexity, data-rich environments, and close technical collaboration is paramount. Candidates should be ready to discuss their process in detail and articulate the impact of their design decisions.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for wireframing, prototyping, high-fidelity design, and component creation. Proficiency is a must.

• User Research Tools: Experience with tools for user interviews, usability testing, and feedback collection (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, or internal TD tools).

• Collaboration Tools: Familiarity with tools like Jira for issue tracking and workflow management, Confluence for documentation, and communication platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a primary responsibility, an understanding of how design impacts key metrics is beneficial. Familiarity with analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) or internal reporting dashboards used to track user engagement and feature adoption would be a plus. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the designer's core toolset, but understanding how design integrates with CRM systems or workflow automation tools used by Sales, Trading, or Operations teams would be advantageous for context. Development Environment Context:

• Front-End Frameworks: While not expected to code, understanding React and TypeScript is highly beneficial for effective collaboration with engineers.

• Component Libraries/Design Systems: Experience with or understanding of tools like Storybook for documenting and developing UI components is a significant advantage.

• Styling Technologies: Familiarity with HTML and CSS principles.

• Backend Technologies (Contextual): Awareness of Node.js and Java services, MongoDB, Microsoft SQL Server, and Google Cloud Platform provides context for the broader product environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on Figma is clear. The "preferred qualifications" and "our product environment" sections provide strong hints about the broader tech stack. Designers who can speak to how their designs are implemented using React/TypeScript and managed via Storybook will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the development lifecycle and collaboration needs.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Curiosity: A drive to understand complex financial domains and user behaviors, asking insightful questions to uncover needs.

• Pragmatism: Balancing ideal design solutions with practical implementation constraints and business realities. Finding the "right" solution, not just the theoretically perfect one.

• Openness to Feedback: Willingness to receive and act upon constructive criticism from users, peers, and engineers to improve designs and processes.

• Ownership: Taking responsibility for the end-to-end user experience, from initial concept through post-launch iteration, demonstrating accountability for outcomes.

• Efficiency & Effectiveness: A focus on creating products that are not only usable but also fast, safe, and efficient, directly contributing to operational improvements.

• Collaboration: A strong belief in working together across disciplines to achieve shared goals, valuing diverse perspectives and collective problem-solving.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Expect a highly collaborative environment where designers are embedded within product and engineering teams, working side-by-side with developers and product managers.

• Process Review Culture: An environment that encourages open discussion of workflows, design approaches, and potential improvements, fostering continuous learning.

• Knowledge Sharing: A culture that values sharing insights from user research, design explorations, and technical learnings, potentially through internal demos, documentation, or brown-bag sessions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The stated values of curiosity, pragmatism, openness, and ownership are critical for success in this role. They indicate a culture that values initiative, adaptability, and a results-oriented approach within a demanding financial technology setting. A candidate's ability to demonstrate these values through their portfolio and interview responses will be key.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of Financial Domains: Navigating intricate and often jargon-filled workflows within Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodities trading and operations requires significant learning and domain expertise development.

• Balancing User Needs with Technical Constraints: Designing for sophisticated expert users while adhering to strict technical limitations, security protocols, and legacy system integrations.

• Information Density: Creating clear and usable interfaces for highly data-intensive applications where users need to consume and act upon large amounts of information quickly.

• Evolving Technology Landscape: Keeping pace with modern web technologies (React, TypeScript) and design system best practices while working within a large financial institution's established technology stack.

• Stakeholder Management: Effectively managing expectations and gathering consensus from diverse stakeholders, including front-office traders, operations teams, compliance, and engineering.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Domain Expertise: Deepen knowledge in specific capital markets areas (e.g., FX Options, Metals, Energy) and the nuances of trading and operations workflows.

• Design System Evolution: Contribute to and learn from the development of a sophisticated design system for enterprise applications.

• Technical Collaboration: Enhance skills in working closely with engineers, understanding front-end development processes, and contributing to technical design discussions.

• Product Strategy & Roadmapping: Gain experience in influencing product direction and contributing to strategic planning based on user insights and market trends.

• Industry Conferences & Training: Potential opportunities to attend relevant design or FinTech conferences and pursue professional development courses.

• Mentorship: Access to experienced designers and engineers for guidance and skill development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges highlight the demanding nature of the role, requiring continuous learning and adaptability. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a clear path for a designer to become a subject matter expert in financial technology and a leader in design practices within a large organization.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Problem Framing: "Describe a time you had to simplify a complex, information-dense workflow. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on workflow mapping, user research, and design iteration.)

• Collaboration & Constraints: "Tell me about a project where you had to work closely with engineers to implement a design. How did you handle technical constraints or trade-offs?" (Highlight your communication, flexibility, and ability to adapt designs.)

• User-Centered Design: "How do you approach understanding the needs of expert users, especially in a domain you're unfamiliar with?" (Emphasize discovery methods, user interviews, and domain learning.)

• Design Systems: "What is your experience with design systems? How have you contributed to or leveraged them in your work?" (Showcase understanding of consistency, reusability, and collaboration.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• TD & FICC Context: "What interests you about working in capital markets technology at TD Securities?" (Show research into TD, the FICC business, and the Atomic team's mission.)

• Team Dynamics: "How do you typically collaborate with engineers and product managers on a day-to-day basis?" (Align your style with their collaborative, embedded approach.)

• Values Alignment: "Can you give an example of a time you demonstrated pragmatism or took ownership of a project?" (Connect your experiences to the team's stated values.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure is Key: For each case study, clearly outline: The Problem, Your Role, The Process, The Solution, and The Outcome/Impact.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals (wireframes, mockups, prototypes) to illustrate your process and design decisions. Walk through your Figma files if possible.

• Explain Your "Why": For every design decision, be prepared to articulate the rationale behind it, linking it back to user needs, business goals, or technical considerations.

• Quantify Impact: If possible, use metrics or observable improvements (e.g., reduced error rates, faster task completion, positive user feedback) to demonstrate the value of your work.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about specific UI elements, interaction patterns, or why certain alternatives were chosen over others.

• Highlight Collaboration: Explicitly mention how you worked with engineers, product managers, and users throughout each project.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation emphasizes demonstrating a structured, user-centric design process, strong collaboration skills, and an ability to learn complex domains. A candidate's portfolio presentation is the most critical component, requiring a narrative that clearly articulates problem-solving and impact.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Technical Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the TD Careers portal via the provided URL.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your end-to-end product design process, particularly those involving complex workflows, data-intensive applications, or enterprise software. Ensure each case study clearly outlines the problem, your role, process, solution, and impact.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight keywords and experiences directly relevant to the job description, such as "Product Design," "UX Design," "Interaction Design," "Figma," "Workflow Analysis," "Financial Technology," "Capital Markets," and "Design Systems." Quantify your achievements where possible.

• Prepare Your Portfolio Presentation: Practice walking through your chosen case studies, focusing on clear storytelling, articulating your design rationale, and demonstrating your proficiency with Figma. Be ready to discuss your collaboration with engineers and how you handled technical constraints.

• Research TD Securities: Familiarize yourself with TD Securities' business, their role in capital markets, and the FICC division. Understand the "Atomic Team's" mission and the value they aim to deliver. Prepare thoughtful questions about the role, team, and company.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.