Platform Manager (Public Cloud) | Technology & Platform

About the role 

As Platform Manager for Public Cloud, you guide our cloud platform domains, so they run smoothly, securely, and cost‑effectively and always aligned with IKEA standards. With a clear eye on performance and compliance, you make sure our public‑cloud platforms are dependable foundations for the many digital solutions across IKEA. 

You lead the full platform lifecycle with a focus on removing friction: 

• Platform-as-a-Product: You treat our cloud capabilities as a product, where your success is measured by the velocity and autonomy of the engineering teams who consume them. 

• Automated Guardrails: You lead the shift toward Policy-as-Code, replacing manual compliance checks with automated, "invisible" guardrails that allow teams to stay secure by default. 

Working across our technology and platform networks, you connect the needs of different stakeholders into one shared direction. You communicate roadmaps and activity plans in a simple and inspiring way, build awareness around platform capabilities, and strengthen adoption of common ways of working, tools, and processes. Along the way, you nurture close relationships with our suppliers, ensuring contracts, governance, and collaboration follow IKEA ways of working. 

Leading people is a big part of the job. You grow high‑performing, curious teams with the skills we need today and in the future. Through competence development, succession planning, and an innovation mindset, you create the conditions for teams to thrive. You also take responsibility for budget planning, cost monitoring, and optimising spend. And by encouraging DevOps practices, automation, and a great developer experience, you help shorten delivery cycles and make life easier for engineering teams across IKEA. 

About you 

You combine technical depth with a product leadership mindset. You understand that a great cloud platform is one that gets out of the way of the developer while maintaining total resilience. You lead with IKEA values, developing a high-performing team that takes total ownership of the platform’s success. 

You are a pioneer of modern cloud engineering, comfortable with: 

• Landing Zone Automation: Treating infrastructure as software to create a consistent, global foundation. 

• Policy-as-Code (OPA): Using technology to enable safe, decentralized decision-making. 

• Developer Experience (DevEx): A passion for shortening delivery cycles together with the DevEx platform team, and making life easier for engineering teams. 

You understand how IKEA works as a franchise system and have a good sense of our strategic direction and core business needs. You enjoy translating complex technical topics into simple business language, staying close to market trends and emerging technologies to guide future decisions. Budget awareness, cost optimisation and strong organisational skills help you lead transformation in a clear and structured way, even in fast‑changing or ambiguous situations. 

You’re a people‑centred leader who develops high‑performing technical teams and builds strong collaboration across units. Motivated by the IKEA culture and values, you bring energy to platform development and take initiative to drive results. You know how to influence others, navigate complexity and integrate governance, security and resilience into platform strategies. With a growth mindset, excellent communication skills and a passion for continuous improvement, you help create better solutions for the many. 

To be successful in this role, the following knowledge, skills and experiences would be valuable: 

• Total Accountability: Proven experience in owning a large-scale public cloud domain, from strategy to unit cost economics (FinOps). 

• Product-Led Mindset: A track record of building platforms that focus on ease-of-use, self-service, and high adoption. 

• Strategic Influence: The ability to move the organization toward cloud-native adoption through mentorship and shared standards. 

• Resilience & Security-by-Design: An "automated-first" approach to risk management and compliance. 

• Hands‑on experience with software engineering at scale, such as landing zone automation, Policy‑as‑Code (OPA) and working with hyperscaler shared‑responsibility models. 

• Proven ability to lead and develop high‑performing technical teams, coach others and drive organisational change across mixed sourcing models. 

• Experience owning budgets and managing cost within a defined domain or organisational area. 

• Deep knowledge of technology trends, emerging solutions and best practices for platform lifecycle management, modernisation and portfolio governance. 

• Ability to apply security‑by‑design and privacy‑by‑design principles, take ownership of risk prevention and lead remediation activities. 

• Awareness of regulatory changes, compliance requirements and digital risk management in platform delivery. 

• Strong problem‑solving and decision‑making skills, combining analytical thinking with hands‑on operational experience to optimise complex technology landscapes. 

About us 

At IKEA, we think and work differently. We challenge old patterns and create new solutions, whether that’s a music-playing lamp or plant-based food that’s better for the planet. Our vision is simple: to create a better everyday life for the many people.  

In Technology and Platform, we support the whole organisation by providing reliable technology and digital platforms that are easy to use and built for the future. By working closely with others across IKEA, we turn technology into real value and support ongoing transformation.