IKEA Range & Supply has the responsibility to develop, design, produce and supply IKEA stores with home furnishing solutions available to the many people. Each year IKEA Range & Supply introduces 2,000 new products in the IKEA stores. The total range is almost 10,000 products.

Do you have a passion for sustainability, and solid experience working with foam and latex? We are now looking to recruit a Material & Technology Engineer in the Category Area Comfort.

Comfort

The feeling of comfort when sitting in a sofa, work chair or sleeping in a bed is important in people's everyday lives. Good comfort is what makes people want to use the product over and over again. Good comfort defines our customers' quality perception. 

Category Area Comfort is sourcing sofas, work chairs, mattresses, pillows and quilts for all IKEA stores globally. We are 180 co-workers in 14 different locations, and we are all passionate about comfort. We work closely with approximately 150 suppliers across the world.

In Category Area Comfort we want to develop and produce the best comfort for our customers. In partnership with our suppliers we always look for the best materials, logistics solutions and production methods that makes the IKEA sofas, work chairs, mattresses, quilts and pillows etc. truly affordable to the many people. We want to build this on a sustainable comfort supply chain that enables IKEA to be the trusted leader in life at home.

About the assignment

We must change. We have one planet with limited resources, at the same time the population is growing. It’s time for us to go all-in, creating a sustainable raw material sourcing for Comfort. IKEA overall target is to end the dependency on virgin fossil materials by 2030 and to ensure a 100% circular offer by securing that all products have circular capabilities. Materials need to be renewable or recycled supporting sustainable circular flows of resources.

About the job

As a Material & Technology Engineer within Comfort, you will play an important role in the journey towards our 2030 goal. You will work to investigate and introduce alternative materials and technologies to foam, and actively work with internal and external stakeholders towards more sustainable product development for IKEAs products.

You will be responsible to initiate and lead material & technology development projects, and continuously search for and be updated on developments in your specialist area. You will be an important link to the product development teams to secure an effective utilization and implementation of new materials and technologies. You will also secure knowledge sharing and lead material specific trainings, as well as secure usage of standards where possible and standardization of existing and proven materials.

About you

To be successful in this role we see that you have a background in either chemical engineering, industrial engineering or in material science, and you have solid material knowledge in foam and latex. You have experience from production processes and enjoy being on the factory floor doing trials. You have passion for sustainability and recycling of materials, and you stay up to date and is curious about what is happening in the industry. It is desirable if you have a black or green belt in Lean 6 Sigma.

You are motivated by long term goals and long term results, and you like to think outside the box. You like to challenge yourself as well as other teams and IKEA. Speaking in IKEA teams and values, you like to ‘dare to be different’.

This role requires up to 70% travelling to suppliers both in and outside of Europe.

The location of the role is preferably Warsaw, Poland or in Shanghai, China. But we are open for other locations where we have IKEA Purchasing & Logistic offices. 

If you have any questions about the recruitment process please contact Johanna Hansson +46 73 376 1744. If you have questions about the role please contact Christopher Bird +48 50 600 3503.

We are look forward to receiving your application in English. Please note that we will be interviewing continuously so do not delay, send in your application today! Last day to apply is Sunday 2nd September 2018.