At IKEA Food Services AB we are passionate food lovers that from our Malmö office develop and provide food for the many people around the world. Every year 680 million visitors experience a taste of Sweden in the IKEA Restaurants, Swedish Food Markets and Bistro´s in our different markets. With Food at the heart of everyday life, we offer honest food for the many people and the planet.

We have a new IKEA direction with many opportunities within our reach and we are taking next steps together to set ourselves up for success. Over the next few years, all of us need to be better than ever. We will strengthen the core of what we do in Range & Supply. This role is part of this transformation.

IKEA Food is on an exciting journey the years to come. We will strengthen the way we work with new concepts and innovation, and the Project Leader role is an essential part of that. The position will be based in Malmö and report to the Range & Product Design Manager.

The new concepts & innovations team is a part of the function of Range & Product Design led by the Range & Product Design Manager. This team will focus on the range creative concepts, initiation and exploration of strategic development projects before handing over to either Food Services or Consumer Packaged Goods.

As Project Leader in the new concepts and innovations team you

• Lead projects connected to research and development of new concepts, menu development and new products, preparing them to be successfully launched into the market with significant product step change and innovation.
• Will be responsible for developing new food and beverage products and concepts within a complex process of ingredients, processing techniques, packaging materials, legal compliance, pricing and consumer demands and preferences.
• Will develop routines and apply new product strategy and creative ideation process from thought cycle to prototyping as well as perform documentation and communication of new ideas, concept development and testing, consumer screening and evaluation.
• Develop food and beverage menu and operations for large scale events.
• Plan, organize and execute projects according to applicable methodology and you manage dependencies and interfaces between projects and relevant parts of the organization.
• Manage time, cost, scope and quality as well as plan resources and set and control budget.
• Have a close connection to the Project Manage

In order to be successful in this role you must come with previous knowledge and experience in food and beverage development, exploration and ideation methods as well as understanding the interdependencies of menu development, food and beverage operations and related equipment.

You know the IKEA Food business and are able to conceive and conceptualize ideas that are scalable for global distribution. You are have a natural curiosity and talent for identifying new ideas from the food, drink and hospitality industry that can stretch the IKEA Food vision into the future. You have the confidence and knowledge of what good tastes like, nutritional and sensory knowledge together with a good Scandinavian ingredient, flavour, culinary and gastronomic understanding.

Your project management skills are good, and you are experienced in leading teams and stakeholders and you have an ability to collaborate with strategic development partners, external suppliers, factories and laboratories as part of exploration, innovation and development. You have strong creative problem-solving skills and the ability to apply understanding of consumer drivers.

The passion for Food and the IKEA Food Journey as well as for the IKEA Food Health and Sustainability Strategy is obvious and you want to be hands on working to deadlines to make things happen in reality. You are good in building trustful relationships, cooperate with different people and units, and your communication and influencing skills are solid. You stretch boundaries, challenge what already exists as well as manage uncertainty in a complex context.

Please send us your application – CV and letter of motivation – in English. We really want to get to know you, so make sure you tell us why you would be a good fit for this role. The last day to send your application is August 11th. Please 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 have any questions regarding the position, please contact Gerry Dufresne on +46 766190832. Note that summer is coming and this might mean a delay in answers, please be patient.

We welcome all applications. In the first selection process, we consider candidates from IKEA Food Services, IKEA of Sweden and IKEA Communications.