At IKEA, our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. We strive to be the leader in sustainable, affordable life at home, inspiring and enabling customers to fulfil their needs and dreams at home.

In Purchasing Development, our assignment is to secure the IKEA Business Idea created 75 years ago, with the goal to produce the ‘wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. ​Affordability, accessibility, sustainability and quality are our main priorities.​Together with our Suppliers and Product Development teams, we develop and execute sourcing strategies and thus meet the supply markets / industries in 6 different categories. We are truly a global organization with 1300 co-workers placed in 27 different locations.

Right now, we are establishing a new team that will take a holistic approach to our sourcing activities and support across our purchasing categories within Purchasing Development. The Sourcing Development Leaders will bring value by making knowledge, skills & experience available to the entire IKEA organization, contributing to establishing and securing a more consistent and even more professional approach in how we run our sourcing activities and how we approach our suppliers.

We are looking for 3 Sourcing Development Leaders.

As Sourcing Development Leader your role is to work across organizations to develop, strengthen and support the execution of our sourcing activities. You will have a key role in continuously developing our Sourcing processes, highlight opportunities and provide input to the develop our sourcing tools and systems. A key part of the assignment is to in full collaboration with our different categories, for selected, strategic or complex sourcing events (Request For Quotation, Request For Proposals, Request For Information) support the execution, this part will be assignment based and depending on the request from the category will be a customized support covering anything from structuring the event in our digital tools to share best practice from other events.  You will develop a very comprehensive network and knowledge across IKEA purchasing categories and industries, so another key element of the assignment is to document and promote best practices, develop and execute learning activities as well as using your network to connect people across organizations.

More specifically, your assignment is to:

• Facilitate, plan and execute the sourcing process for selected / strategic events end to end.
• Structure the sourcing event in our digital tools.
• Build competence & cultivate talent.
• Explore & develop – push organization beyond standard performance and act as a change agent.
• Analyze data build scenarios to support fact-based decisions ensuring an objective view on the business.
• Ensure that we efficiently re-use communication material, templates and tools.
• Secure that learnings and identified and documented, as well as improvement potentials are implemented in our processes and tools.
• Develop our sourcing processes
• Interact, promote and share best practice.

This is a unique opportunity to build a extensive network and work across multiple IKEA organizations and Categories (IKEA Food, IKEA home furnishing, Indirect procurement, IKEA Components)

You will report to our Sourcing Development Manager.

You come with a strong business drive and high interest in sourcing, and digital solutions. You are also curious, constantly eager to develop and learn, challenge and improve the way we work.

You have great analytical skills together with the ability to draw conclusions which contributes to the total IKEA business. You are a strong trust and partnership builder, delivering results through involving and engaging people. You also have great communication and facilitation skills and ability to influence and challenge in a constructive and professional way, always with a positive mind and a can do-attitude.

To be successful in this role, you also have:

• Knowledge of sourcing process & tender strategies
• Knowledge of negotiation skills - multi-round negotiation
• Understanding of value chain analysis & cost modelling – Cost breakdown analysis, Supply Chain Optimization
• Understanding of relevant data processing & intelligence tools – Excel, Qlikview, Power BI etc. 
• Knowledge of legal agreements & contracting
• Knowledge of the DNP & DNS processes (if internal candidate)
• Understanding of IKEA Strategic Landscape, IKEA Purchasing Strategy and IKEA Business model & Business model for growth (if internal candidate)

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.

For more information about the role, please contact Mårten Wennersten, Sourcing Development Manager, [email protected]. For information about the recruitment process, please contact People & Culture Recruiter Zuzana Vackova, [email protected].

We look forward to receiving your application (CV + motivation letter) in English as soon as possible and by latest 22nd May 2022. Please note that we will review the applications and interview the candidates continuously and may close the recruitment should we find the right candidate so do not delay and send us your application today.