At IKEA, we do things a little different. We think, differently. Act, differently. And work differently as well. We like to break things. Like rules. And then make things. Like music-playing lamps. And beds disguised as sofas. Even plant balls that help us look after our planet. It’s all part of our vision - to create a better everyday life for the many. By 2030, we hope to help millions more look forward to going home.

IKEA Purchasing Services (Czech Republic) spol. s r. o. is a purchasing organization which cooperates with furniture and home furnishing manufacturers located in Europe on producing furniture with perfect design and quality for many people, and which ensures distribution into retail stores IKEA worldwide. We are a team of about 150 co-workers of over 20 nationalities.

You will work in a small, 3-member micro-team with a Business Developer, who negotiates prices and take care of the overall commercial relation with the supplier, and a Production Engineer who takes care about production process and quality. As part of the annual action plan that your team will compile, you will be responsible for improving the logistics process in order to ethically reduce production costs in the overall IKEA supply chain. You will also perform:

• Planning – elaboration of forecasts for yearly quarters drawn from global partners who cover the entire product category, matching of global need forecasts with the production capacities of suppliers.
• Operation – order management, handling problems along the supply chain, monitoring shipping capacity and the smooth running of the entire logistics process, regular communication with suppliers (emails, calls), meetings with management and the team.
• Developing partnerships with suppliers – the micro-team regularly travels to the field in order to understand and solve issues firsthand and help with the implementation of action plans.

Michaela has been working as a Supply Planner at IKEA for 3 years. She says this about her work:

“I tell my friends: no, I don't really work in a department store and no, I don’t know if we have a particular wardrobe in stock. I provide logistics from suppliers to department stores. I travel a lot globally and enjoy finding and cultivating suppliers, and view the production cycle in many different environments, which is great! I learn about exciting technology, how things work, and seek efficiency. I'm very interested in that. I'm not just sitting in the office and using Excel all the time. "

• Knowledge of supply chain logistics including different restocking as well as a good understanding of capacity planning.
• A sense for detail: every table in Excel must be accurate and understandable while you handle a large amount of varied work – like emails, phone calls, chats with people stopping by for a talk.
• You can artfully deal with people, using empathy and good communication within your micro-team and also in cooperation with suppliers and other stakeholders in the IKEA supply chain.
• Analytical skills that are necessary for working within complex IT systems, numerically demanding project orders, Excel documents and regular reports; you can identify and implement new solutions and optimize existing ones.
• Minimum 3 year of experience on relevant position.

Sounds interesting? Please apply in English before September 6, 2022. Please also 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. If you would like to know more about the position, please contact Tomáš Vinter (at [email protected]) if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Lucie Drastilová ([email protected]).