Employees working on improving AI testing

Global SaaS PLM provider scales product operations with Lifted, an Upwork Company™

Lifted, an Upwork Company™ enabled a global SaaS company to build a flexible workforce across 30+ countries, supporting marketing and technical projects efficiently.

At a glance.

average time to hire

0 -day

average time to hire

0 -day

independent contractors actively engaged monthly

0 +

independent contractors actively engaged monthly

0 +

fill rate across six departments and three global regions.

0 %

fill rate across six departments and three global regions.

0 %

Summary

What began as a temporary, stop-gap solution of using one independent contractor evolved into a globally integrated workforce strategy. This global SaaS provider needed a scalable way to support digital marketing and technical projects without adding operational overhead or expanding headcount. Leveraging Lifted, the company built a flexible, decentralized model for engaging skilled independent talent across 30+ countries.

Challenges we tackled

The company’s global marketing function needed to expand rapidly, but faced structural constraints that made traditional hiring impractical.

  • Headcount Cap

    No approval to add additional FTE headcount

  • Siloed Operations

    Limited visibility across regions created the risk of duplicate effort and inconsistent workflows

  • Invoicing Complexity

    Six teams required custom billing to meet procurement requirements

  • Pre-Identified Talent Bottleneck

    Pre-Identified Talent couldn’t be engaged compliantly under local requirements

How our solution helped

Lifted provided a centralized platform to scale contingent hiring by supporting rapid talent onboarding, pre-identified worker onboarding, and detailed reporting across multiple global business units.

What We Delivered

  • Scaled from one contractor to over 200 monthly active independent contributors

  • Onboarded pre-identified and sourced talent through Lifted’s compliant workflow

  • Enabled reporting and invoicing by region and team to streamline budget tracking and compliance

Key success factors

Lifted’s partnership enabled the company to institutionalize IC engagement across its distributed marketing and operations teams.

  • Centralized Platform

    Centralized PlatformTeams across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas could tap talent on demand knowing they were following local regulations

  • Pre-Identified + Sourced Talent

    Combined internal network with Lifted’s broader ecosystem to meet evolving skill needs

  • Finance & HR Alignment

    Integrated billing and reporting features enabled confident scaling across cost centers without increased operational burden

The outcome

From One Hire to a Global Talent Engine: What started as a one-person quick fix became a company-wide solution. The Global Marketing team now has a repeatable model for managing hundreds of independent contractor engagements monthly, all without adding headcount or administrative burden. By integrating Lifted into both tactical and strategic operations, the company unlocked around-the-clock execution, regional flexibility, and seamless collaboration across departments.

While this work was performed when these Enterprise solutions were embedded in Upwork, the same offerings and more are now available through Lifted, an Upwork Company.

Share

Gain visibility into your freelance workforce, today

Talk to our experts

Gain visibility into your freelance workforce, today

Talk to our experts

Get insights from global industry leaders.
Sign up now.
Get insights from global industry leaders.
Sign up now.
Get insights from global industry leaders.
Sign up now.