Regional Development Strateg with a Focus on Rural Areas

The Regional Development Department is part of the Management Office at Region Uppsala, one of the largest employers in Uppsala County. The Management Office is led by the Regional Director and consists of approximately one thousand employees. With a governing, supportive, and coordinating role, the Management Office is tasked with supporting the political leadership and administrations to ensure that political guidelines are implemented across the region's various operations. In this way, Region Uppsala can fulfill its role, both regionally and nationally.

Do you want to develop and contribute to Region Uppsala's growth? We welcome you to join our team!

Who We Are

Region Uppsala has a state mandate to oversee regional development work in Uppsala County. This work is conducted within the Regional Development Department, which aims for the efficient implementation of regional development policy, as well as internal work on human rights and the environment. The starting point for our work is the Regional Development Strategy for Uppsala County, which also serves as the Agenda 2030 strategy. We initiate, coordinate, and drive the county's development work together with public, private, and non-profit actors in the county.

Your Role

We are looking for a Regional Development Strategist with a focus on rural areas to join our team! Your assignment will be characterized by a holistic view of several societal sectors, capturing the unique characteristics, challenges, and opportunities of rural areas. The position aims to contribute to a vibrant rural area with equal opportunities for entrepreneurship, work, housing, and welfare throughout Uppsala County.

The focus is on contributing to a sustainable and competitive rural area where businesses can grow and develop by strengthening rural entrepreneurship, primarily related to commercial services and food and forestry issues. In addition to these areas, other enabling issues may become relevant, such as contributing to a holistic perspective in urban planning in collaboration with colleagues.

The role also includes environmental scanning, collaboration in relevant networks both internally and externally, and acting as a subject matter expert towards our collaboration partners, such as the county's municipalities and external actors like authorities, local and regional business life, and others.

The work on regional development largely involves identifying development or challenge areas in collaboration with various societal actors and functioning as the link between the local and national levels.

Your Qualifications

We are looking for someone with a strong interest in and commitment to rural development. You have a university degree or other education and experience that the employer considers equivalent. You have experience working in and understanding the conditions of rural areas, the needs of business and entrepreneurship, and strategic development opportunities. You should have knowledge of the food chain, primary production, and sustainable food supply. Additionally, you should have an understanding of service development in sparsely populated and rural areas.

Merits:

• Insight into the forest's role in economy, ecology, and social sustainability.
• Experience in development and change work, preferably at a strategic level.
• Experience working in a politically governed organization and collaboration within the framework of labor market issues (municipal or state).

As a person, you are self-reliant, flexible, and able to structure your tasks efficiently. You are resilient, complete started projects, and take initiative for various activities. You achieve results and have a holistic view, always considering the best interests of the county in both actions and decisions.

You are engaged, results-oriented, and thrive on developing and driving processes together with others. You are team-oriented with good skills in building and maintaining networks and relationships.

The role includes some case processing, follow-up, and responding to consultations, as well as preparing matters for politics and management. You will also be the contact person for authorities, organizations, and private actors. Therefore, it is important that you have good communication skills, feel comfortable leading meetings for larger groups, and make the contacts required by the assignment.

You have good command of Swedish in both speech and writing. We place great emphasis on your personal qualities.

What We Offer

The position is a fixed-term appointment (100%) until 2027-05-28. Start date ASAP according to agreement.

Our modern office is located in central Uppsala, directly adjacent to Uppsala Central Station.

As an employer, we want to create conditions for our employees to have a good life, so that you can feel secure and have quality in life outside of work. In addition to having one of Sweden's best collective agreements, we offer subsidized UL tickets and a favorable wellness allowance.

With us, you get benefits that make a difference. Read more about the benefits on Region Uppsala's website (https://regionuppsala.se/formaner/).

Want to know more?

Unit Manager: Christel Benfalk, tel: 018-617 02 84
Rural Strategist: Therese Strimell Flodqvist, tel: 018-617 36 18

Union Representatives:
Vision - Christianne Simson, 018-611 32 51
SACO - Örjan Olsmats, 018-611 00 00 (switchboard)
Other unions can be reached via Region Uppsala's switchboard at 018-611 00 00.

Do you want to work with us?

Please submit your application via the link below before 2026-06-16.

Region Uppsala values the qualities that equal gender distribution and diversity bring to the operations and welcomes applicants of all genders and with different birth backgrounds, functionalities, and life experiences.

Region Uppsala mobilizes all permanent staff based on the needs of the total defense. This implies no obligations for the individual employee in peacetime but is solely a planning measure.

Before making a decision on employment, a check of suspicion and criminal records will be conducted for all job seekers who, in the sought position, may come to work within psychiatric care, habilitation, care for children and youth, or compulsory care for addicts. This applies to all who will work patient-facing, even if the tasks at present are not intended to primarily involve work with the aforementioned patient groups.

This recruitment is conducted entirely through Region Uppsala, and we decline phone calls from recruitment agencies and advertising sales.