Creating a better IKEA Purchasing has the aim to ensure that our ways of working enables IKEA to grow and develop according to Growing IKEA Together 2020 and beyond. We want to continue working very closely together with our hundreds of suppliers in 50 countries with a common goal and plans to optimize our value chain, resulting in better products at lower costs.

To strengthen IKEA Purchasing within IKEA Range & Supply, we are looking for a new Business Development Managers to lead the purchasing of the Protein Category or Vegetables Category within Food.

To be successful in the role as Business Development Manager you need to have a commercial background in food, with extensive experience within purchasing/sourcing in the industry and direct leadership for people!  
 
About the job

In your role as Business Development Manager you are accountable for developing and implementing the Action plan in line with the overall sourcing strategy of the Protein Category or Vegetable Category. The objectives is to deliver excellent results in purchasing by leading purchasing teams and establish professional long term business development with our suppliers. A proven track record in food service, retail or the food industry will help to provide industry and market intelligence to the product development teams in Sweden and grow the business.

As part of the Category Management team and reporting to the Category Manager, you will actively contribute to the development of the long term Category sourcing strategy. A very important part of your assignment will be to inspire and empower the co-workers in your team to perform to the best of their abilities and continuously develop in their assignments.

Location for the role is within Purchase and Logistics Operations Area North Europe in Älmhult.

As Business Development Manager your main assignments will be:
- Overall responsibility for the purchasing and suppliers performance
- Recruitment, development, performance management, retention and
succession plans for co-workers directly in your team
- To set the business direction with clear Action Plan(s) to improve and develop business and supplier performance, and deliver to Category Plan, using the Supplier Development Process as a base
- To secure planning and execution to fulfill the sourcing assignment and pro-actively work together with Business area Food to integrate opportunities and act on deviations
- To be accountable for professional and long term relationship with suppliers through IKEA
way of doing business, based on a shared business model, trust and transparency
- To identify and start-up new suppliers according to business needs through the purchasing team and/or by giving assignment to New Business teams
- To lead and/or contribute to projects on behalf of the overall category or category area
- Responsibility for driving Leadership and Competence agenda within the team; to identify needs and gaps, and build leadership and competence plans to meet the short and long term business needs

About you

With knowledge and experience in the field of purchasing together with a background in food or food production, you have a strong capability to identify and capture business opportunities and deliver excellent results. You are able to lead purchasing on an operational/tactical level with the business strategy in mind. Your strong analytical skills and fact-based business leadership capabilities support making the right decisions and implementations. You are highly interested in understanding the markets we are working in as well as the reality of production and you are familiar with working in partnership with large suppliers. Furthermore, you have experience of working directly with big suppliers in order to improve the relations and overall business performance. It is an advantage if you have experience from working as Business Development Manager within IKEA.

You come with good track record in current & previous positions, in leading and developing both business and people in an international environment, you lead by example and have the ability to bring out the best in your team and the people and organizations you encounter. You identify very much with our values and enjoy creating an environment where the IKEA values are a strong and living reality.

A fluent communication in written and spoken English is a pre-requisite for this role with an ability to work.

Sounds interesting?

If you have any questions related to Protein Category, please contact Recruiting Manager Ronald Glas, at +46 733756985, questions related to Vegetables Category address to Recruiting Manager Max Reumark, at +46 733756973 , and if any questions regarding the recruitment process you can contact Recruitment Specialist, Hana Pazourova at +46 708337087

If you think this sounds interesting and as your next career step, please submit your application at the latest on December the 13th. Please note that we will be interviewing continuously, which means that we may close the application process earlier than stated if we find the right candidates. Please send us your application in English today!