The Challenge
Pizza chain Papa Johns recognised the need to enhance their employee engagement to attract top talent. The existing careers website lacked the necessary functionality and user experience for hiring the best, and wasn’t effectively communicating Papa Johns core values.
The goal was to streamline recruitment, improve candidate engagement, and enhance the overall user experience and SEO across Careers, Franchising and Corporate.
Key challenges included:
Existing careers experience lacking engagement and usability
No centralised platform for careers, franchising and corporate content
Difficulty communicating brand values and employee experience
Need to attract both:
Entry-level candidates
Corporate hires
Franchise investors
The Approach
Red Balloon designed a dedicated corporate hub website called “Inside Papa Johns”, incorporating Careers, Franchising and Leadership in the UK. The website integrated with Harri, an applicant tracking system (ATS) to make it easy for users to find head office jobs on the website.
The Red Balloon collaborated closely with Papa Johns HR and IT teams to understand their recruitment challenges and specific needs for the careers website. This involved in-depth discussions and workshops to gather all necessary insights for our web design and development.
The project aimed to improve the candidate journey, increase interaction with job opportunities, and highlight Papa Johns Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Designing for Multiple Audiences
We structured the site around distinct user needs to ensure each audience could quickly find relevance without friction:
Careers
People-first, engaging and brand-led
Focus on progression, culture and experience
Designed to appeal to younger audiences entering the workforce
Corporate & Investors
Clear access to leadership and business information
Scalable structure for news, governance and reporting
Franchising
Bringing the Brand to Life
The site was built to communicate Papa Johns’ core values and employee value proposition. To turn recruitment into a brand experience, not just a job listing, we used:
Employee stories and testimonials
Video and real-world case studies
Content showing progression from store to leadership
Seamless Recruitment Integration (ATS)
A key requirement was integrating with Harri (Applicant Tracking System) to created a frictionless application process for users and a streamlined workflow for HR teams.
We delivered:
Live job listings pulled directly into the site
Department-level filtering and navigation
Individual vacancy pages
“Apply Now” functionality with seamless handoff
Key Takeaways
This project highlights what effective corporate and recruitment digital platforms require so recruitment becomes a brand asset, not a bottleneck:
Recruitment is a brand experience, not just a functional process
Multiple audiences need clear, structured pathways
Integration with internal systems (ATS) is critical for scalability
Content and UX must work together to drive engagement and action
