Accelerating Enterprise UX Transformation Without Adding Headcount

The Client

Our client, a global Quick Service Restaurant brand generates over $6.1B in annual revenue and operates on a massive scale. With a strong emphasis on customer experience, the brand touches guests across physical locations, digital platforms, and in-restaurant technology.

The Challenge

For them, scale was not the problem. Their main challenge was transformation.

The company was in the middle of a multi-year initiative to fundamentally change how customers experience the brand. The goal was to move beyond the traditional grab and go QSR model and create a more intentional, experience driven environment that encouraged customers to stay, engage, and return.

To lead this shift, the company created a new Head of UX role. That leader was tasked with building an entirely new UX capability from the ground up, defining the roadmap, and executing a three year rebrand spanning in restaurant experiences, digital kiosks, menu boards, web, and accessibility.

There was one major constraint within this plan: full time headcount was frozen.

Despite the urgency and scope of the initiative, the UX leader was denied approval for permanent hires. Budget was fragmented across UX and IT, timelines were aggressive, and the work could not wait. The team needed senior level UX talent immediately, without the luxury of long hiring cycles or onboarding misfires.

Failure was not an option. This work would shape how millions of customers interact with the brand.

The Solution

Profiles was engaged as a specialized digital and creative staffing partner to solve a very specific problem, fast.

The engagement began with contract staffing for two critical roles:

• Senior UX Researcher
• Senior UX Designer

Speed and precision mattered.

Profiles leveraged pre-vetted, pipelined talent and delivered one highly aligned candidate per role. Both candidates were hired immediately with no additional interviews requested.

Behind the scenes, Profiles worked directly with HR and procurement to validate its digital creative specialization. The result was rapid approval and execution of a Master Service Agreement, unlocking the ability to support not only UX but any department across the organization.

As trust was established, the relationship expanded.

Profiles went on to place two additional contractors within a separate department, the Creative team:

• Copywriter
• Graphic Designer

These placements supported work across web design, print collateral, menus, menu boards, intranet experiences, and franchise communications.

What started as a tactical solution became a strategic partnership.

The impact was measurable and immediate.

Delivery Metrics

• Job Orders: 4
• Placements: 4
• Fill Rate: 100%
• Talent Submissions: 18
• Client Interviews: 10
• Time to Submit: 5 days
• Time to Place: 17 days
• Attrition: 0

Business Impact

• Both UX contractors were extended once and are in progress for a second extension, with average assignment length approaching over one year.
• Contractors became core contributors to the company’s three year rebrand initiative.
• Budget ownership expanded from UX into IT for future investment while maintaining the same leadership structure.
• Profiles earned trusted partner status, leading to expansion beyond UX into Creative and Marketing teams.

The work is ongoing, but the foundation is set.

The UX team is actively rebuilding the customer journey, redesigning digital touchpoints, aligning kiosk and menu board experiences, and embedding accessibility into the core of the brand experience.

Profiles did not just fill roles. Profiles enabled momentum at a moment where it mattered most.