Business Navigation Manager, IKEA Malaysia

The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. We do this by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them. We operate in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – and have an ambitious expansion plan to bring a little bit of Sweden to new markets in the region. We are part of the Ikano Group of companies and the only IKEA franchisee owned by the Kamprad family that founded IKEA.

We also develop, own and operate Shopping Centres that are anchored by IKEA and create walkable communities by including residential, office and other types of real estate in our development plans.

We work towards making sustainability a natural part of our everyday work. We are active in our communities, driving and supporting social initiatives that benefit children, women and the environment.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

Be a pro-active, trustworthy business partner who takes a multi-dimensional view of the business, connecting the needs of customers and the organisation with a complete overview of the profit & loss. Supporting and challenging the organisation through business-case thinking in developing the markets. Together with the store BNs, take the lead in developing and promoting lean, simple and effective ways of working. To steer and support country business performance that is beneficial to people & planet and protects and adds value to our assets, securing profitable growth and financial independence. By providing services, supporting a strong compliance framework, and effective governance to enable entrepreneurship and safeguard our people, customers and businesses.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE JOB

• Project and secure the long-term financial development in the country by connecting the profit and loss to the objectives of the IKEA Direction, Market Penetration Plan and identified business opportunities in the country.
• Drive and co-ordinate the financial business planning process, ensuring that the financial plan is aligned with the BPL priorities in the country while involving and creating commitment among stakeholders such as the Country Commercial Team on performance management and goal setting.
• Drive and co-ordinate the business performance follow-up and forecasting process in the country, in line with the IKEA SEA business navigation year cycle and in close co-operation with the country management team and stores. 
• Secure a pro-active, documented and anchored way of working with scenario planning and implementation, providing fast reactions to performance deviations while maximising the business performance in the short term. 
• Promote the use of business cases when identifying, evaluating and acting on business opportunities. Together with stakeholders analyse and evaluate benefits, costs and investments, looking at the business from all relevant perspectives, ensuring a good return on investment and qualitative business cases. 
• Actively support the change in mind-set to a truly Integrated Multichannel Retail Approach.
• Support and challenge the planning, implementation and follow up of the pricing of products and services, in line with country pricing principles.
• Navigate towards more effective and cost-conscious ways of working, identifying growth and cost potentials through benchmarking, striving for constant improvements and closing of the performance gap between units. 
• Lead & develop the Business Navigation organisation in the country, securing Business 
• Navigation competence within the function as well as spreading it to the rest of the organisation. While doing so, secure learning in the business with the customer in mind and encourage entrepreneurial behaviour exploring retail in the future.
• Support actively the Country Commercial Team with your navigation expertise in delivering country projects on time and within budget. 
• BN commercial reviews and BN peer meetings, the development and communication of timelines for budget and forecast process, the organisation of functional trainings, etc.
• Secure that purchasing in my function is taking place according to the principles defined in the Procurement Policy by operational participation in procurement projects and by securing compliance of sourcing requirements, IWAY Working Method and signed agreements.

REQUIREMENT FOR THE JOB
Motivation:

• Energized by increasing customer value, driving business growth and contributing to overall success and results through people 
• Motivated by leading and developing people 
• Inspired by working together in an ever-changing multi-dimensional and complex environment 
• Motivated by leading through co-creation with colleagues and other IKEA units 
• Motivated by sharing and living the IKEA culture and values. 

Knowledge:

• Strong, broad commercial business knowledge and cross-functional understanding of how IKEA operates. 
• In depth knowledge of how sales and gross margin is optimized in the different sales channels and how we measure commercial success throughout the total IKEA value chain.
• Good understanding of data science, new technologies, analytics and their wide-ranging application in business context.
• Good knowledge of the IKEA Concept, the IKEA Brand Identity and the IKEA culture & Values.
• In-depth knowledge of IKEA business tools, processes and cycles.
• Good understanding of IKEA’s strategic landscape and direction.

Capabilities:

• Business Partnering: Strategic, tactical and operational business partner, with strong analytical skills, translate business needs into financial consequences and solutions.
• Networking: Strong network and relationship builder both within and outside of the own organization. 
• Business acumen: Strong ability to recognise external trends and translate them into business opportunities. 
• Communication: Strong communicator with capacity to influence decisions and create energy and commitment within the organisation. 
• Change oriented: Ability to handle a constantly changing environment with many different stakeholders and demands. 
• Developing people: Ability to inspire individuals and teams to accomplish organisational goals; motivate people to perform and grow by providing feedback, coaching, training and career direction

Please apply by 12 Oct 2025.