Crisis & Risk Leader, Group Communication (Malmö, Sweden)

IKEA; Malmö kommun; On-site; SEK 1,100,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

IKEA in Malmö is seeking a Crisis & Risk Leader to drive risk and crisis communications across the group. You will build crisis readiness, lead cross-functional communications in high-pressure situations, and ensure timely, clear messaging to key stakeholders.

This senior role requires a university degree with 8+ years of experience in communications, including crisis and risk management, and strong leadership to influence senior leaders across markets.

Qualifications

• University degree and/or proven expertise in communications with 8+ years in crisis management
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management in complex environments
• Ability to translate complex risk into governance, ownership and actionable mitigation plans
• Experience leading cross-functional response teams in high-stakes situations
• Excellent communication to diverse stakeholders including internal teams, partners and media

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain crisis readiness. Develop and continuously improve crisis communication framework, playbooks and ways of working across the organisation
• Establish and drive governance, processes and collaboration models for crisis and risk management
• Lead crisis communication in high-pressure situations, coordinating cross-functional teams and ensuring aligned messaging
• Share functions responsibility in Crisis Management Team (CMT) with External Communication Manager
• Identify and communicate strategic, operational and reputational risks with stakeholders, turning complex risk into clear ownership and mitigation plans
• Strengthen stakeholder trust through timely, open and consistent communication with internal and external audiences
• Drive training, simulations and continuous learning to build preparedness and resilience over time

Skills

Crisis management

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Crisis communication

Risk assessment

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Education

University degree in communications or related field

Job description

\"You care about making a positive impact in the world. You understand greatness requires thinking differently. An inclusive and accepting work environment is important to you.\"

A job at IKEA is so much more than home furnishings. Together, we work to make a better everyday life for the many. It's the perfect fit if you want to contribute, grow, and share. Join the team and start a better life for yourself.

You are a trusted leader in times of uncertainty. With a strong ability to anticipate risks, navigate complexity and lead through ambiguity, you help IKEA stay resilient when it matters most. You combine strategic thinking with operational excellence, providing calm, clarity and direction in high-pressure situations. As a credible advisor to senior stakeholders, you build trust, drive alignment and ensure that risks and crises are managed proactively, transparently and effectively across a global organisation.

To be successful in this role, you bring:

• A university degree and/or proven expertise in communications, together with at least 8 years of relevant experience in communication roles, including substantial experience in crisis management, issues management and risk-related communications
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management capabilities, with experience advising, influencing and constructively challenging senior leaders in complex environments.
• Proven ability to identify, assess and prioritize strategic, operational and reputational risks, translating complex situations into clear governance, ownership and actionable mitigation plans.
• Experience leading cross-functional response teams in high-stakes, time-critical situations, securing aligned decision-making, communication and action across multiple functions and markets.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to deliver clear, timely and consistent messaging to a wide range of stakeholders, including co-workers, business partners, media and external audiences.
• A demonstrated ability to protect and strengthen organisational trust and reputation through transparent communication and effective issues and crisis management.
• The resilience, judgement and composure to remain calm, structured and effective when facing uncertainty, pressure and rapid change.

Your responsibilities

To strengthen Ingka’s resilience, we are looking for a Crisis & Risk Leader to lead risk and crisis communication across the group. In this senior role, you build and maintain crisis readiness through clear communication frameworks and playbooks, lead cross-functional communication in high-pressure situations, and secure open, timely communication to our key stakeholders. You also drive trainings, simulations and continuous learning to build confidence and preparedness across the organisation.

• Build and maintain crisis readiness. Develop and continuously improve Ingka’s crisis communication framework, playbooks and ways of working, ensuring they are understood, used and kept up to date across the organisation.
• Establish and drive governance, processes and collaboration models for crisis and risk management
• Lead crisis communication in high-pressure situations. Coordinate cross-functional communication teams, provide clear direction, enable fact-based decisions and secure aligned actions and messaging across all channels, including social media, during incidents and crises.
• Ready to share the functions responsibility in Crisis Management Team (CMT) with the External Communication Manager.
• Identify and communicate strategic, operational and reputational risks. Work with stakeholders to identify, assess and prioritise key risks. Turn complex risk situations into clear ownership, practical mitigation plans and follow-up, and ensure consistent logging, documentation and tracking of risk and crisis-related activities.
• Strengthen stakeholder trust through clear communication. Secure timely, open and consistent communication to co-workers, partners and external stakeholders, helping to protect and strengthen trust in IKEA through well-coordinated narratives and messages.
• Drive training, simulations and continuous learning. Design and lead trainings, simulations and exercises that build preparedness, leadership confidence and structured ways of working, supporting continuous learning and strengthening crisis readiness over time.

This position is a permanent position located in Hubhult, Malmö. We spend majority of our work week together here, collaborating and co-creating. There is no relocation support available for this role. Therefore, we are seeking candidates who are already based in Malmö or within a reasonable commuting distance.

This role reports to the External Communication Manager.

Together as a team

We bring people together around one clear IKEA story. We turn business priorities into stories that journalists, creators and consumers care about – building trust, creating attention and supporting growth. And when things get difficult, we stand together to protect IKEA, navigate risk and help the business move forward.

Studies show that members of underrepresented communities do not apply for jobs unless they are 100% \"“qualified”\". If this is part of the reason you hesitate to apply, we would like to consider and give it a chance. Maybe your profile fits our needs much better than you think. We look forward to receiving your application.

We look forward to receiving your application!