Senior Foresight Spec.: Macro Trends

Volvo Cars’ continued success is the result of a collaborative, diverse, and inclusive working environment. The people of Volvo Cars are committed to making a difference in our world. Today, we are one of the most well-known and respected car brands, with over 40,000 employees across the globe. We believe in bringing out the best in each other and harnessing the true power of people.

About the team
 The open position belongs to new organization dedicated to long term strategic choices for the company at the intersection of societal change, technological breakthrough, and sustainability imperatives. The Advanced Technology & Sustainability (AT&S) Department mission is to ensure we solidify our leadership position as a provider of enhanced consumer experiences through technology for the world to come. 
 In this organization lies a newly established Technology & Mobility Foresight function where the position sits. 
 Leveraging the array of approaches & methods of future studies, the Technology & Mobility’s responsibility is dual: 
* First, looking beyond the horizon of our business plan, understanding our world reconfigurations, the evolutions of individual mobility & its value chain to guide our long term strategic reflection & tech choices
* While simultaneously exploring & assess the potential of technological choices / opportunities in front of our future world, our company purpose & strategic intention.

 In that light, this team will have a central influence in guiding the company’s long-term strategy & technological choices. We take a rigorous approach to foresight strategy to examine the factors that shape how the future will unfold, avoiding to fall in crystal ball futurism or trend works that lack robustness.  
About the role 
 To understand the future of technological choices ahead of us, “the next big thing”, we can not start from technology. We need first to build a common representation of our context: the frame in which our activities & choices will operate. 
First, as our macro world is changing, it is shaping a new context we need to understand, and the changes of which we need to anticipate. As Senior Foresight Specialist and a Macro Trends lead, you will take the full ownership of these questions. 

* Anticipation, formalizing possible changes
* & Action, developing and evaluating the possible strategic choices. 

 The main mission encompasses the following dimensions: 
Using an array of analysis & research techniques
* Structure the drivers of change that will shape the next years global context. In that light, the Foresight specialist will be a key player in shaping & structuring the company’s representation of our world’s transformation, in very close collaboration with the other functions of the group.
* Assess the company’s technological questions in the light of our changing global environment
* Taking the lead on exploring the potential alternative futures emerging, by a deep understanding & structuration of the mechanisms at play in the transformation of our world. 
* Create and animate a network of internal & external experts helping us shaping the shifts happening in Politics, Economics, Energy, Environment, Regulations, as well as scenario planning experts. 


About the role 
 We encourage profiles from all background to apply for the position should the challenge seem exciting to you. However, here are some key elements that we know will make you a good fit in the team and for the position. 
* You are very informed about our world transformations, and are used to working on its mechanisms.
* You typically have previous experience in Public Affairs, Corporate functions or political science.
* You are excelling at structuring complex and heterogeneous data to create actionable intelligence.
* You are an excellent communicator and maybe, a good writer. 
* You are familiar with Foresight approaches, you do not need to be an expert of foresight techniques, we will train and develop the competence over time.
* You are at ease with accepting the complexity & uncertainty associated to our problematic. You are comfortable articulating long term thinking and short term action
* You feel good interacting with senior management & senior experts towards whom you will represent the company. 


No one ever ticks all boxes. We believe in investing in you, developing your skills, and making sure you grow along the organization. We warmly invite you to apply even if you do not recognize yourself in all these previous points. We are convinced you can in facts bring something more that could bring an additional perspective on the topic. And this could make all the difference to us.

-