Business Development Project Office (BDPO)
IKEA of Sweden, Älmhult

We are looking for an inspiring, values-based, transformational senior leader to take on the challenge to enable, strengthen and accelerate, the delivery of some of the most important strategic movements in IKEA Core Business Supply going forward. Are you up for it?

Business Development Project Office (BDPO)

We are a global function for delivering strategic business development projects across the business units in IKEA Core Business Supply*, and a competence centre for project management and strategic business development. We are a team of approximately 30 enthusiastic problem solvers and project management professionals with the mission to strengthen and accelerate strategic business development in Supply. We partner up with our stakeholders to secure full delivery, on time or faster, in every project. We primarily focus on supporting the following types of projects:

• Strategy, business planning, material direction, business and capability model development, operating model design;
• Business transformation and organisational development;
• Digital enablement and business acceleration;
• Value chain design and optimisation, incl. sourcing, manufacturing, services, logistics;
• Production concept development;
• Development and deployment of new materials and innovations;
• Performance and process improvement, including new process design and process re-design.

BDPO is about realising the Supply strategy, maximising impact and value realisation for our customers in every project, and supporting our stakeholders by catering for their business needs. BDPO is also a place to accelerate co-workers´ competence development and export talents further into IKEA.

Since our start in FY18, we have contributed to delivering over 200 strategic business development projects of different types. For example: Operational integration of business units, Material direction, Strategic direction for Category BPL, Logistic innovation lab, Transactional finance transformation.

In BDPO we have two types of project management roles, Business Development Project Leader (BDPL) and Business Development Project Partner (BDPP). We work in project group constellations that usually consist of one BDPL managing and being overall responsible for the project and one or several BDPP(s) contributing to the projects by leading delivery streams, having responsibility for specific deliverables.

Both project management roles report to BDPO Development Managers, who are members of the BDPO Management and strategic partners to the management teams of business units in Supply.

* Scope includes; IKEA Components, Purchasing Development, Purchasing & Logistics Areas, Supply Chain Development, Supply Chain Operation, Wholesale.

As BDPO Development Manager, you lead a group of project management professionals. You actively inspire, empower, coach, and support them to perform to the best of their abilities and continuously develop in their assignments, while achieving outstanding results in every project; full delivery, on time or faster. You develop highly performing, cross functional, project teams in a global and multicultural environment.

As a member of the BDPO Management, you actively contribute to steering and managing of our portfolio of engagements, incl. staffing. You co-lead and navigate the organisation towards operational excellence and continuous development of respective core competencies and subject matter areas. You put extraordinary focus and pride into accelerating competence development and exporting talents further into IKEA. You handle recruitment, retention, and succession planning in your group and the whole organisation.

You manage stakeholder relationships, advise and support management teams and senior leaders across business units in strengthening and accelerating strategic business development of Core Business Supply.

You proactively contribute to the BDPO team and stakeholders with knowledge and experience within project management, strategy, business development and transformation, innovation, problem solving, and strategic leadership. You are the driving force behind the continuous development of BDPO as a competence centre for project management and strategic business development.

We search for individuals who can instantly adapt their leadership and communication approach to always maximise the value creation for IKEA. In the role, you act as an ambassador of IKEA values and a role-model for fact-based business leadership.

We believe that you are an inspiring, values-based, senior leader, with lots of positive energy and high level of personal integrity. You have strong ability to choose and adapt your leadership style to the needs of specific situations and people. You have strong coaching skills and ability to unleash the potential in others. You demonstrate excellent interpersonal and communication skills, you build strong relationships, and you influence and challenge, always with a positive twist.

You have a mind-set to always look for better ways and you are committed to high standards and professionalism in everything you do. You showcase remarkable problem solving skills and deliver results through involving and engaging people, who may be in remote locations. You master balancing patience and active listening with acting and leading with sense of urgency. You are a true entrepreneur with profound business transformation expertise.

You come with deep understanding of the IKEA strategic landscape, IKEA core processes, and Supply business units and their assignments.

You have vast experience in

• Leading diverse teams, managing change, and creating stability and confidence in the unknown;
• Successfully leading, developing, and transforming businesses;
• Managing and delivering large projects in complex, global environments across multiple industries and business segments.

Experience in one or several of the following fields will be beneficial: Innovation development and deployment, Category Management, Digital transformation, Organisational development, Supplier development, Logistics development, Finance, Process design and development, Business Navigation, Management consulting.

Does this sound like your next challenge?

We look forward to receive your application in English by latest 2nd July 2021. Please note that we will handle applications and interviews continuously and may close the application process earlier than stated if we find the right candidate!

For more information about the role, please contact BDPO Manager, David Impseil, [email protected]. If you have questions about the recruitment process, please contact People & Culture Recruiter, Zuzana Vackova, [email protected].

This is a permanent position based in Älmhult, an inspirational working environment, based on creativity and innovation, which gives you the opportunity to work and interact with people from all around the world. Älmhult has excellent commuting possibilities with hourly trains to Malmö, Lund and Växjö, and an IKEA shuttle bus running back and forth to Helsingborg two times a day.