I had always had my eye on Glovo as an option for a UX job in Barcelona — if you start dabbling in the tech world here it becomes evident that you have at most 1 degree of separation from someone who works there. The more I myself got into the tech world, I kept meeting people who worked (or had worked) for the company — and they all had really positive things to say.

I kept Glovo on my radar (and made sure to add any Glovo acquaintances to LinkedIn) while I continued my job search. Eventually, during one of my weekly rounds of checking job postings, the perfect position for me came up. I knew I had to apply. I spent quite a bit of time perfecting my application, looking up people on LinkedIn and reaching out to my contacts — then the application was sent. Fast forward — I am now working as a UX Researcher for Glovo and I wanted to share a few things about my experience in the first 4 months at the company to help inspire anyone who is looking to take the next step in their career.

The interview process is long (but worth it)

When I managed to get myself an interview I thought ‘I’ve done it!’… what I didn’t take into account is that the interview process for Glovo is very thorough (read: long). It consists of 5 stages including interviews, tests and challenges. While I did find it challenging, I can say that it was a great way for me to get to know Glovo as well and ask lots of questions to be sure it was the right fit. Each stage of the process allowed me to speak to different people that I would work with — peers, managers, PMs, design lead etc. — so I could really get a feel for what the team was like. The process is very transparent and I always got a quick response after every stage.

The onboarding is thorough

Glovo is a company that has a lot of moving parts so there is a lot to learn. It seemed so daunting at first, but two things helped this process. Firstly, there is the formal onboarding — this takes place over 3 days and is a crash course in everything Glovo. Secondly, there is the team onboarding that continues for weeks/months after you join to make sure you’re not overwhelmed by too much information. There is a buddy system so I could always ask burning (stupid) questions and onboarding coffees scheduled with different members of the team so you get to know who’s who.

Glovo is BIG and small at the same time

Globally there are 4000+ people working directly for Glovo and in Barcelona it’s pushing 2000 and only going up — this is a bit of a leap from my days of teaching. I was a bit apprehensive at first going into such a large company but have been pleasantly surprised so far that there is a good effort to build strong teams so that you have a solid base within the company. One thing that I think really helps to keep things feeling ‘small’ and manageable are weekly rituals that we always have as a small group to start and end the week as well as frequent 1–1 meetings to see how everything is going.

Glovo is a good place to grow

One of the things I am most grateful for at Glovo (maybe because it was glaringly absent in previous positions) is the clear path for growth within the company. From day 1 it was made very clear to me what is expected in my role and what my progression in the company could look like. I find this very motivating and I didn’t realise how much it was lacking in previous roles!

Glovo is fun

Please keep in mind I’m a start-up virgin here, so anyone more seasoned might not be so tickled by this — but I am LOVING the cliché ‘ping-pong table, beers after work cool vibes start-up’ culture. There are loads of events going on in the office (I must say apart from Friday beers and ping-pong I haven’t had the chance to attend any others yet, but I can’t wait to!). In addition to this there have been fun team-building activities like picnics, treasure hunts and hikes outside the city which have been great ways bond with new colleagues.