As you already know, a Contingent Worker is a worker that is temporary in nature, and not ultimately an internally hired employee of an organization. They normally work in shorter terms against specific projects and requirements but are ultimately provided and managed by a third-party supplier. In that same capacity, Profile Workers are similar in the fact that they, too, are non-internal employees, and therefore external in nature to the buyer organization and must be submitted or provided by a supplier. Suppliers must be configured and enabled to provide both Contingent and Profile Workers in their profiles as well before engagement can begin in either worker category.
Differences
The core differences between Contingent Workers and Profile Workers comes down to their associated costs and responsibilities within the SAP Fieldglass application. Contingent Workers are hired against specific Job Postings, associated to Work Orders, and reflect specific rates and costs for submitted time spent completing tasks, duties, and their defined responsibilities. They are associated to a given rate structure and cost and have associated billing and invoicing tied to their services. Profile Workers do not have rates, costs, or invoicing associated to their population in the system. They are merely captured for head counting purposes and can reflect associated onboarding activities, but do not reflect any monetary value for a buyer company.