Country Commercial Leader

About the Role

IKEA Alsulaiman is seeking a Country Commercial Leader to spearhead the commercial agenda across its operations in Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This full-time position is central to strengthening the IKEA Brand, enhancing customer visitation and sales, and improving the overall customer experience across all retail channels.

Role Purpose

The Country Commercial Leader is responsible for translating customer needs, market insights, commercial priorities, and IKEA home furnishing knowledge into effective commercial activities and service solutions. This role ensures an easier buying process for customers before, during, and after purchase, driving the commercial calendar, service offer, sales planning, and execution to support sustainable growth and long-term profitability for the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Define, develop, and implement the country commercial calendar in alignment with IKEA commercial priorities and customer experience strategy.
• Develop commercial activities that drive visitation, customer engagement, sales, and long-term profitability across all channels.
• Lead the development and implementation of the country service product offer, ensuring services meet customer needs and support a convenient buying experience.
• Identify national and local commercial opportunities and translate them into relevant activities, offers, and initiatives.
• Develop and maintain clear service propositions, pricing structures, and service communication across different sales and communication channels.
• Lead sales planning and forecasting for service products, ensuring service capacity supports commercial demand.
• Monitor customer needs, shopping behavior, market trends, and competitor activity to identify opportunities for commercial growth.
• Lead the planning and communication of new product and range launches in collaboration with Commercial, Marketing, Creative, and other relevant functions.
• Work closely with Marketing and Creative teams to develop strong communication packages that attract visitors and strengthen the IKEA Brand.
• Ensure vitality across customer touchpoints by continuously refreshing commercial activities, range communication, and customer-facing solutions.
• Support stores in executing the commercial calendar and service offer, monitoring performance, and taking action based on sales and customer results.
• Monitor the end-to-end performance and quality of services, collaborating with internal stakeholders, external partners, and service providers to continuously improve the customer experience.
• Ensure customers clearly understand the available service offer, pricing, and how to purchase services through all relevant channels.
• Secure alignment of the commercial and service agenda across the organization and ensure consistent implementation across stores and channels.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders, external partners, and service providers to enable effective commercial execution.
• Liaise with relevant regulatory parties when required to secure permits and approvals for commercial activities.
• Coach and support store commercial teams, share best practices, and contribute to building commercial competence across the organization.
• Monitor commercial and service KPIs, identify performance gaps, and take appropriate actions to improve sales, profitability, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve ways of working, simplify processes, and optimize commercial investment.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Retail Management, Communications, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in retail, commercial, sales, customer relations, service development, marketing, or a related field.
• Strong experience in developing and executing commercial activities, calendars, or customer-facing initiatives.
• Experience in service development, service operations, or customer experience is highly preferred.
• Proven ability to drive sales, visitation, customer engagement, and long-term profitability.
• Experience in sales planning, forecasting, performance analysis, and KPI management.
• Home furnishing retail experience is an advantage.

Key Skills and Abilities

• Strong understanding of retail operations, customer shopping behavior, and commercial performance.
• Ability to make commercial decisions based on customer insights, market information, and business performance.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to work across Commercial, Marketing, Customer Relations, Operations, and external partners.
• Strong leadership, communication, collaboration, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to lead projects and initiatives across multiple stores, functions, and channels.

Application Information

This is a full-time position based in Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply.