Xometry COO Oscar Lovera discusses workforce capacity, automation, role design and the evidence behind hiring decisions as operational demand grows across complex manufacturing markets and regional operations.
Xometry’s operating approach treats additional headcount as a decision that requires evidence about where capacity is actually constrained. As Chief Operating Officer, Oscar Lovera oversees operations across European markets where manufacturing demand, engineering support, supplier relationships and commercial activity do not all require the same type of human capacity. Automation has changed that equation further by absorbing repetitive work in quoting, order tracking and technical analysis while increasing the importance of roles that depend on engineering judgment, customer context and complex problem-solving.
That distinction affects both hiring and organizational design. Lovera describes looking first at the mix of high-value work and administrative burden before approving additional headcount, particularly where fragmented systems or manual activity may be creating the appearance of a capacity shortage. Across multiple markets, the same operating logic determines which capabilities remain centralized and which stay closer to customers, suppliers and local commercial conditions.
In this conversation, City Shift Finance and Lovera discuss the evidence behind headcount decisions, the effect of automation on future role requirements, and the division of work across central and regional teams as Xometry scales its manufacturing marketplace across Europe.
City Shift Finance: How are AI and automation changing the way you evaluate future roles, hiring requirements or existing workforce capacity?
Oscar Lovera: AI and automation have fundamentally shifted our workforce strategy from simple headcount expansion toward role transformation. In digital manufacturing, we use technology to reduce repetitive tasks like manual CAD drawing analysis, quoting back-and-forths, and order tracking. This changes our hiring profiles entirely, as we do not have as much of a need to recruit for volume-based execution. Instead, we invest in specialised talent like Application Engineers and Strategic Account Managers who step in where human expertise is essential. By embedding an automated ecosystem into our operations, we scale our transaction volume whilst enabling us to invest where we can add the most value to our customers and partners. Technology sets the baseline for operational speed, while our team focuses on complex problem-solving and client strategy.
City Shift Finance: In a multi-location organisation, what factors have you used to determine which roles or decisions belong centrally, regionally or locally?
Oscar Lovera: When scaling across diverse European markets, the division of central versus local responsibilities comes down to separating global data architecture from local human context. We centralise decisions that benefit directly from network scale, such as our pricing algorithms, software infrastructure, supplier matching, and core quality standards. These functions belong centrally because consistency drives operational efficiency. At the same time, business development, key account management, and hands-on engineering support stay strictly regional. Manufacturing procurement relies heavily on local trust, language, and cultural understanding, making regional proximity indispensable for long-term customer relationships.
City Shift Finance: When an organisation believes it needs additional headcount, what evidence have you used to distinguish a genuine capacity shortage from poor deployment, duplicated work or structural inefficiency?
Oscar Lovera: Before approving any headcount increase, we audit the ratio between high-value tasks and administrative overhead within the requesting team. In fast-growing organisations, teams often feel overstretched because their daily workflow is bogged down by legacy manual processes or fragmented systems. If an account management team spends a large portion of their day manually entering data into spreadsheets or tracking supplier updates, adding more people simply scales an existing inefficiency. We look for clear evidence showing whether a bottleneck is caused by physical human capacity limits or by process friction that can be solved through workflow automation.
Oscar Lovera is the Chief Operating Officer of Xometry. Tyler is the editor of this interview for City Shift Finance.
City Shift Finance thanks Oscar Lovera for contributing to this interview.
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