Glovo CTO Shiro Theuri is a guardian for benefiting from AI

Shiro Theuri joined Spanish delivery firm Glovo just as Germany’s Delivery Hero took a controlling stake in the business in 2022. Today she is CTO for the Barcelona based Glovo and preparing and enabling her team of software engineers to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their work and considering how AI will change consumer behaviour.

Founded in 2015, Glovo operates delivery services in an impressive number of nations, including the European countries of Italy, Romania, Portugal, Poland, and others, but also central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and African nations Morocco, Kenya, Côte D’Ivoire, Uganda, Nigeria, and Tunisia. Its distinctive yellow branding is a common sight on the streets of its native Barcelona. CTO Theuri describes the business as:

A technology platform that connects customers, couriers and partners to offer convenience through a multi-category offering for restaurants, grocers, local shops and retailers.

Digital services firms are at the forefront of adopting AI for code generation and ensuring a rapid release rate of updates and new features to their technology products. Glovo is no different.

AI Guardian

Digital leaders, as we have researched, are both driving the adoption of AI, but also instrumental in the significant levels of change management AI requires for business processes, technology development, and the people that work for the business. Theuri says of this role:

I think the duty we have is to be the guardian of our teams during this transformation, and a big part of that is giving them some options.

Theuri is already seeing her engineers using AI to augment their work and expects this scenario to grow:

AI penetration in the team is very high and growing day-to-day. The velocity and quality of the work mean we are starting to see material impacts from AI and how it shifts the way we work.

One of the first things that we had to do was make sure that we have the necessary guardrails in place, and there is a team that ensures we are delivering responsible AI-driven development. Beyond that, we have a human component to make sure that there is a human in the loop for quality checks.

Theuri is focused on ensuring her technologists are not left behind by AI:

We are trying to give developers options to pick up the appetite and familiarity with the tooling. The industry is shifting, and it is our responsibility as leaders to be guardians, and that is sometimes a hard thing to do.

Initial usage is already improving the software output, she says, adding that a key focus is to ensure that her team and the business are always able to understand everything that is generated. So the review process is vital.

Glovo has been experimenting with conversational ordering via AI, but the firm is watching consumer behaviour and expects there to be a degree of lag, she says:

They are not finding it intuitive to talk into their phones and order a burrito.

Where the customer appetite for the new is stronger, is for robotic and drone delivery, which Glovo, like its market rivals, is experimenting with.

Theuri and her team work very closely with the product teams at Glovo. Her teams work in tribes focused on three development areas: customers, couriers, and partners. She became CTO in May 2024, having been Senior Director of Engineering for two years at Glovo, and had previously been a CTO in Nairobi from 2017 to 2020. Asked about moving from building technology to leading technologists, she says of the change:

The people aspect of the CTO job is a little bit disarming at the beginning, as you are not responsible for an outcome where you have direct input. You are responsible for the output of other people, and your job is to be a force multiplier and to create an environment where these people can be really productive. I think building the leadership muscle is one of the challenges.

She now leads a team of 400. She adds:

Every time you get a different scope or role change, you adapt and learn about how to allow teams to do their best job, and that looks different depending on the size of the team.

Prior to joining Glovo, Theuri had been a CTO with Nairobi-based mobile messaging firm FrontlineSMS and gained her technology education in the Rift Valley at Egerton University. As a technologist, she says Africa offers a wealth of opportunities:

Africa is super exciting, not just because I am from there, but because it is growing super fast.

Because of the sheer lack of infrastructure, Africa often ends up leap-frogging, so in a country like mine, Kenya, banking was not a thing. But as mobile penetration went up really fast, we developed mobile money, and we went from low double digits in terms of financial inclusion to north of 80% financial inclusion. That is a special thing about Africa, we find ways to make things work.

So, should peers be looking to Africa for the next wave of talent they need? Yes, Theuri says:

I have worked with amazing people in Lagos and Cape Town, and there is a ton of skilled talent. There is a better link between London and Amsterdam, but not so much with Spain, but that is something we are working on.

Her move to Spain is indicative of the rise of Barcelona as a world-leading digital skills cluster, and Theuri says Glovo benefits from being in the city, and is mindful of its responsibility to play a role in the continued development of technology skills in Barcelona whilst embracing AI:

We still believe that junior talent is really critical. The thing we ask ourselves is: ‘Where will the senior talent come from?’ So there is still a need to invest in junior talent. We believe it is the right thing to do, especially given the size and scale of Glovo.

Glovo works with local education providers to create direct job access, but also recruits talent globally.

Theuri’s Glovo career has taken place as the firm became part of the Delivery Hero business, and she says being part of a larger group has led to more leverage with the global cloud hyperscalers that the digital business is dependent on. As CTO, she has seen increased collaboration between Glovo and Delivery Hero, and they learn from one another’s experimentation.

My take

Theuri’s view that as a leader, you are a guardian not only of the share price, but the future of team members in an age of AI adoption, is to be applauded and copied.