(Editor’s note: This post on career opportunities in Gothenburg is part of our Tech Tuesday series. Dispatches covers tech and careers because so many of our highly skilled internationals are engineers, top executives and managers.)
Never heard of Gothenburg? Don’t worry, Sweden’s second city is an often overlooked gem. West of Stockholm on the opposite coast, this city of more than a million people is situated conveniently between Oslo and Copenhagen, which are each a three-hour drive (and train ride) away.
While still distinctly “Swedish” for its size, Gothenburg is home to 140,000-plus internationals thanks to global companies who seek the best talent. I will highlight the top employers in Gothenburg that hire expats; Volvo, AstraZeneca, IKEA, AFRY, and Essity.
Volvo, Volvo, and Volvo
Nearly every expat I meet works at one of the Volvo subsidiaries: Volvo Cars, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Group, Volvo Construction … you get the point. The automotive giant started in Gothenburg in the 1920s and is now quite an international company. Thus, the work language is English and it employs more than 100,000 people worldwide. I’ve met multiple Americans here who work for Volvo due to employee relocations from their North Carolina (and other) headquarters.
Open jobs are posted constantly in various work areas here and here.
AstraZeneca
It’s impossible to talk about the global pharmaceutical industry without mentioning AstraZeneca. With one of its main R&D campuses located 10 kilometers south of Gothenburg, AstraZeneca readily recruits scientists, technology professionals, and business experts from all over the world for drug development and discovery. The company is actually the result of a Swedish (Astra) and British (Zeneca) merger in the 1990s, but the Astra part begun in Sweden in 1913. I moved to Gothenburg because my husband received a job opportunity there!
See available local jobs here.
A global icon of Swedish life, IKEA employs more than 200,000 people worldwide. Though it’s now owned by a company in the Netherlands, IKEA Systems BV, the unique DIY furniture empire started in Sweden, and the business is still operated and managed by the original family. With four superstores in the Gothenburg area and several offices, a great deal of foreigners are employed in areas like retail, design, supply chain, and technology. In downtown Gothenburg there is even a store where people can go just to make plans for rooms and layouts.
Search for a new position here.
AFRY
AFRY offices are scattered all over Gothenburg. This Swedish-Finnish engineering, design and consulting company with more than 19,000 employees certainly has a global reach. Although most of the jobs are posted in Swedish, AFRY prides itself on diversity goals and is making efforts to hire more highly skilled migrants. The company runs a foreign-born competence initiative that connects expats and hiring managers, and has developed helpful resources such as a how-to guide for other Swedish companies to enhance their recruitment of international talent.
Available positions are posted here.
Essity
An international health and wellness products giant (ever heard of Tork and TENA?), Essity has a massive office building south of Gothenburg where thousands of foreign and Swedish employees work in areas of business, R&D, finance and technology. Like many employers in Sweden, most job postings ask for both English and Swedish, but English-only speakers are encouraged to apply anyway. The company strikes a balance between catering to local markets and cultures, while maintaining a worldwide presence that is empowered by the diversity of different cultures.
Current job opportunities are posted here.
Gothenburg also has a talent-attraction initiative, Move To Gothernburg, touting the work-life culture and attractions of Western Sweden to international talent. You can see those jobs here.
At the time of this post’s publication, unemployment for foreign-born workers is at about 7 percent (three percent for all workers) in Sweden – down from an historic high of 10 percent in 2022 – so finding a job as an English-only-speaking expat may be quite challenging. It should be noted that the ability to communicate in Swedish in the workplace is still important to employers in Gothenburg. Furthermore, networking is both crucial and difficult when you’re an outsider. Securing employment in Gothenburg may require extra efforts like learning some (or alot) of the Swedish language, being open to a broader job search, and taking a temporary position or an internship.
But thanks to more and more globally-focused companies opening doors and paving the way, the opportunities for expats are increasing.
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Read more about Sweden here in DIspatches’ archives.
Jess Bretin
Jess Bretin is a communications and content specialist, and an American living in Gothenburg, Sweden. While in the states, she spent 2 years on the road living in a van and visited every state. She then married a Frenchman, so she has spent alot of time in France. Jess is also a singer/songwriter in a rock band and loves to cook and stand-up paddle board.
