Our people
May 14, 2025
Deep-dive into the world of Wolt Ads with Catalina, Global Head of Advertising
Meet Catalina, a globe-trotting advertising pro who trained as a software engineer but is now leading Wolt Ads, turning massive amounts of data and knowledge from over 30 countries into actionable advertising insights for customers ranging from your local pizzeria to the top global brands.
Under Catalina’s leadership, the Wolt Ads team has grown from a team of ten into over hundred people in just two years, and the growth of the team isn’t coming to an end any time soon 🚀 But what is Wolt Ads, really? Why is it expanding so quickly, and why does it occupy a critical place at the heart of the Wolt’s growth strategy? And what does it take to join this rocket ride? Read on to find out more!
Hello Catalina 👋 Tell me a little bit about yourself, your background, and what you do at Wolt?
“I’m originally from Colombia, but my career has taken me around the world. I’ve spent seven years in Australia, four years in London, four years in Colombia, and now I’m based in Berlin with Wolt. I just had my two-year anniversary with Wolt in March, in fact. It’s been amazing to be part of Wolt’s growth so far: when I started in 2023 Wolt was operating in 23 countries, and we’re now in over 30 countries and continue to grow quickly.
I started my career as a software engineer, but I’ve always worked in digital marketing. I had experience with major global agencies, including GroupM, Omnicom and Dentsu for around 11 years before coming to Wolt.
I joined Wolt to build advertising solutions to help our partners connect with customers in the right place at the right time. I’m the Global Head of Wolt Ads, so I’m in charge of the strategy and operations for our merchant and brand advertising and promotions. Our team works with partners ranging from individual restaurants and local brands right up to major global brands including Unilever and Coca-Cola.”
Those are some big names! How did your career path take you to Wolt?
“When I was in Colombia, I was building up advertising in a business similar to what Wolt is doing, across LATAM. I wasn’t familiar with Wolt, given that they aren’t operating in that region, but I did know DoorDash as one of the biggest players in the industry. Learning that Wolt and DoorDash had joined forces, I got excited about the opportunity and scale at which we can do things!
“Learning that Wolt and DoorDash had joined forces, I got excited about the opportunity and scale at which we can do things.”
That impression was reinforced when I interviewed for the Global Head of Wolt Ads role. I met people who have had incredible careers, for example, our CFO Kris, who knows the industry so well and has been involved with similar companies, and our CEO and founder Miki, who built Slush into a leading global start-up. It was clear Wolt’s leadership sees advertising as a strategic pillar for the company, and my team would be able to build our advertising strategy from the ground up into something very big and impactful!
So far, it’s been excellent. I work with a lot of really smart people who are also fun to be around. I love learning from and working with people who are ambitious and want to do the right thing for the customer. Even after two years, I keep on learning new things every day at Wolt.”
“It was clear Wolt’s leadership sees advertising as a strategic pillar for the company, and my team would be able to build our advertising strategy from the ground up into something big and impactful.”
So what exactly is Wolt Ads, and how does it support Wolt’s business?
“Wolt Ads helps our partners get closer to their ideal customers by offering high visibility for their brand, business, or products across our Wolt app and beyond. In short, we’re on a mission to help our partners grow. Wolt Ads helps our partners grow and allows our customers to get relevant deals and offers from our partners. So in a nutshell, Wolt succeeds when our partners succeed.
By partnering with us, businesses can reach consumers at the point of purchase, creating a seamless and relevant shopping experience. We’ve built In-App ads and are working hard to launch options also outside the app. We also provide co-marketing opportunities in both the digital and physical worlds.
When you think about it, Wolt provides an exciting platform for both digital and physical worlds. We’ve got over 50 million users in over 1000 cities globally using our Wolt app, which gives us an unbeatable understanding of their needs. But we also connect with customers in the physical world via our courier partners delivering products into our customers’ homes, offering opportunities like targeted sampling, branded bags, flyers, and more. This gives brands the opportunity to engage with customers in a more meaningful, engaging way than simply offering discounts.
Retail/Commerce media is growing four times faster than search advertising did back in the day, with a lot of competition – and potential. It follows that our team is also growing quickly. When I started two years ago, it was essentially me, one product lead and a few engineers. Now we’re a growing team of over 100 people and a key strategic priority for the company.”
“When I started two years ago, it was essentially me, one product lead and a few engineers. Now we’re a growing team of over 100 people, and Wolt Ads is a key strategic priority for the company.”
Whoa, that’s fast! So, how does it all work in practice — how does the Wolt Ads team work with our partners?
“In Wolt Ads, we have two big focus areas: merchants and brands. Merchants refer to the restaurants, shops, and other businesses that partner with us. When they partner with us, we help them to rise higher in the Wolt app. In our team, we have specialists who focus on supporting small businesses, and then we have more enterprise-focused roles that accelerate the growth of bigger and more global companies.
The other focus area is Brands. We’re talking about Ben and Jerry’s, laundry detergents, consumer packaged goods, personal care items, drinks, and so forth. Wolt Ads for Brands lets manufacturers of various products promote them via the Wolt platform. While merchants have venues they want to position in the app, brands have products to sell inside the venues – like Coca-Cola offering a drink special when the customer is buying from their favorite pizzeria. With brands we work with the top enterprises in each country to help them connect to the right user at the right time.
What I love about advertising at Wolt is that it’s located in the consumer organization, underlining our goal to make it relevant and value-adding also for our customers. The best way for us to help our partners grow is to make sure it's a win-win and people truly get relevant offers and deals from their local businesses.”
Now I’ve got it! Tell me about the roles in your team and how you’re making an impact.
“In our team, we have Ads & Promotions Campaign Specialists who play a critical role in helping our partners succeed. They own the daily execution, monitoring, and optimization of advertising campaigns for our partners. They collaborate closely with Account Development Managers and Account Managers to ensure campaigns are aligned with client goals and deliver strong results.
CPG Managers are essentially enterprise account and sales managers who specialize in strategies that help brands drive product awareness, drive engagement with consumers, and drive sales through ads and promotions. In the day-to-day, they meet with chief marketing officers at large companies that have ambitious growth targets and want their products connected to users inside the Wolt app. They have conversations with potential and existing partners to bring global strategies to a local environment and help them succeed via their partnerships with Wolt.
The key goal for all of us is to truly understand the needs of the businesses who partner with us. Our team members meet with partners, share our tools and technology that help them better understand the opportunities of working together, and help to build a plan for growth. I love this work because we are contributing to entrepreneurs and businesses surviving and thriving in a tough economy.”
Sign me up! What sort of person is the perfect fit to join the Wolt Ads team?
“Our team members need to be very organized, understand their targets, and be quick to understand our partners and their needs to create impactful solutions for them. We’re looking for people who are proactive, results-oriented, and ready to take ownership beyond the obvious. We’re a data-driven business, so our team members need to be good with numbers. It also helps to have strong communication skills, as we’re here to build long-lasting relationships with our partners.
We want to be a really meaningful player in this arena, so we want talent with drive, speed, and a willingness to make things happen.”
How would you describe the working environment at Wolt?
“What I value about working at Wolt is our team’s relentless ambition to do what is right for our customers. We do our best to give our customers and partners a world class experience, even if it’s challenging at times. As a team we often refer to building ‘Wolt-grade’ experiences — building delightful, world-class user experiences at all times.
We trust our people and give them the freedom to own their domain. In day-to-day, this means meaningful responsibilities and feedback for every employee at Wolt, two things that are super important to me. It also means using data, experimenting, and learning fast on the go as we build this rocket ship while riding it!”
And to close, why is Wolt Ads one of the most exciting teams to join right now?
“We’re a tech company, and the acceleration of tech with AI and the opportunities they bring are exciting. At Wolt, we have amazing data and engineering capabilities, and we work closely with our product teams to harness the power of those for our advertising efforts. We keep improving our services, tools, and products that we use in our day-to-day and offer for our partners. This makes our jobs not only easier, but also more exciting!
The best part about being in Wolt Ads is that you get to be at the forefront of this rapid change – we need to remain super relevant for our consumers by constantly evolving and offering them personalization and the best value. Advertising is a dynamic industry, and every day is different when you’re dealing with brands of all shapes and sizes.
There’s incredible support from management for our work. In town halls, leadership team meetings, you name it – ads are always at the center of the strategy. It’s a huge responsibility, but the trust and support are amazing. We’re set for success, and it is a great time to join us!”
