Business Developer – Purchasing Development Solid Wood

In Purchasing development, we purchase the materials, and the production capacity needed to produce both home furnishing products, food and indirect materials & services.

Welcome to Category Area Wood, the home of five wood related categories. With about 300 co-workers and 200 suppliers and partners across the world, we can proudly say that we love wood and using wood smartly. Each day, we drive the IKEA wood business with great passion and ambition. Together, we create a strong wood supply chain for more sustainable and affordable IKEA products for the many. 

Category Solid Wood is responsible for supplying and developing materials and techniques for solid wood furniture. We build strong business ownership together with supplier, constantly seeking solutions and exploring our industry/market. We aim to build professional and long-term relationship with both our suppliers as well as internal stakeholders through IKEA way of doing business.

In accordance with the business plan, the Business Developer develops and implements common action plans together with team members and internal stakeholders.The Business Developer identifies new purchasing opportunities to ensure an optimal sourcing setup. This position will specifically focus on the development of suppliers for product ranges such as IVAR, HEJNE or TROFAST. This role is crucial for achieving excellent results in operations and fostering long-term professional business development.

More specifically, your tasks in this role will be the following:

• To lead the business team and create a common agenda and plan for their supplier development 
• To work with suppliers and continuously increase the competitiveness and on an everyday base work to lower the costs of IKEA products.
• To have an overall responsible for supplier performance and within that develop and implement action plans together with suppliers.
• Contribute to Strategic development of the supplier base in line with Category strategy.
• Transfer Category Business Plan to operational action plans.
• Negotiate with suppliers according to IKEA values and guidelines
• Evaluate and develop existing production capacities.
• Cooperate in the product life cycle process.
• Build effective and actively maintain relation with suppliers.
• Responsible that supplier meets social, environmental standards.
• To Lead Supplier Development Process (SDP) identification process to create and implement action plans together with suppliers which delivers to Category Plan
• To pro-actively work together with Range Area to integrate opportunities and act on deviations to Business Agreements

To build and maintain strong relationships with our suppliers and colleagues, this position typically requires certain travel

You would be part of Supply Area North which belongs to IKEA Supply Services (Sweden) AB. You would be reporting to Galina Pavlenko, Business Development Manager

In order to shine in this role, we hope to see that you check the following boxes:

• You are a collaborative team player! While you will often lead projects, it is crucial to encourage and value input from your team members and stakeholders.
• You have the ability to transfer the bigger picture into concrete actions and learn fast.
• You are self-driven and have an entrepreneurship mindset. 
• You are enthusiastic on people and business development.
• You are responsible for overseeing the entire purchasing process from start to finish.
• You are dedicated to continuous improvement and committed to making a positive difference.
• You demonstrate strong leadership by collaborating with team members on business development and supplier management.
• You possess strong knowledge of materials, particularly and preferably in the wood industry, as well as in production, including cost breakdowns and the value chain. You have a passion for analyzing costs, as pricing is fundamental to our success.
• You use analytical skills that are necessary for working with numbers, when negotiating prices, or when setting priorities for your work, which is usually high paced and demanding.
• You are strong negotiator, communicator
• You are always expected to act as an ambassador of IKEA values and a role model for fact-based business leadership.

This position will be based in Älmhult, Sweden and The position normally includes travelling. The selection process will take place continuously, so please send in your application in English as soon as possible but latest 11th of April  2025. Please note that we don’t accept application through email.

If you have questions about the position, please contact hiring manager Galina Pavlenko, at galina.osipenko@inter.ikea.com

If you have questions about the recruitment process please P&C specialist Femina Karlsson at femina.ladhani.karlsson@inter.ikea.com