About Jens Heitland
A career shaped inside complex systems
Jens Heitland is the CEO of Heitland Media Group, the thought leadership agency for CEOs of large international companies.
His professional journey spans more than 25 years and reflects sustained work inside large, complex organizations where leadership decisions have long-term operational, cultural, and reputational consequences.
Rather than following a linear leadership path, Jens’s career evolved across engineering, operations, sustainability, innovation, and executive leadership. This breadth is what informs his perspective today.
Early career and operational foundations
Jens began his professional career in 1997 as an Electrical Engineer at Brockbals GmbH, where he worked until 2004. During this period, he was responsible for electrical design, customer service, troubleshooting, and system maintenance, developing a strong grounding in reliability, accountability, and operational discipline.
In 2004, he briefly worked at Elektro Ruthmann GmbH as a Project Engineer, focusing on electrical infrastructure projects and technical delivery.
From 2004 to 2007, Jens joined Bilfinger, then operating as M+W Zander DIB, where he served as Electronic Infrastructure Manager in Bielefeld, Germany. In this role, he delivered facility services to more than 40 Deutsche Bank subsidiaries, conducted audits, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced operational costs.
Alongside this role, between 2005 and 2007, he also served as Regional Project Manager, where he documented and planned maintenance activities across all sites and implemented Computer-Aided Facility Management systems.
From 2007 to 2008, Jens advanced to Deputy Country Facilities Manager, overseeing operational facility services for more than 90 Deutsche Bank subsidiaries across Germany. This role required coordination across vendors, regulatory environments, and service levels, further deepening his understanding of scale and institutional accountability.
Leadership development at IKEA
Jens joined IKEA in June 2008, marking the beginning of a decade-long engagement with one of the world’s most complex global organizations.
He initially served as Team Leader in Ulm, Germany, where he led the strategic development of facilities services, improved energy efficiency by more than 20 percent, reduced costs by 10 percent, and elevated service quality.
From 2009 to 2011, he worked as Regional Facilities Manager, supporting 11 IKEA stores in western Germany. His focus during this period was on improving maintenance processes, strengthening collaboration, and building resilient operational teams.
Between 2011 and 2013, Jens served as Country Project Manager for IKEA Germany. In this role, he developed and rolled out a legal delegation concept and led the national implementation of a CAFM system, delivering the program on time and within budget.
Sustainability, innovation, and global leadership
From 2012 to 2017, Jens held the role of Global Project Manager at IKEA, where he developed IKEA’s sustainable store concept. He piloted the concept in Germany and Japan, introduced life-cycle cost analysis, and embedded sustainability principles into IKEA’s real estate strategy.
Between 2014 and 2017, he served as Head of Sustainability at IKEA Centres in Moscow. There, he implemented the IKEA Group People and Planet Positive strategy across sites, achieved measurable sustainability outcomes, and worked to shift organizational mindsets toward long-term value creation.
In parallel, from 2016 to 2017, Jens also assumed the role of Head of Innovation and Customer Experience at IKEA Centres Russia. He built and trained the first innovation team in the region, delivered pilots including virtual reality retail experiences and neighborhood co-creation initiatives, and established a cross-organizational innovation lab.
From 2017 to 2019, Jens served as Global Head of Innovation at IKEA Centres. In this role, he designed and implemented IKEA Centres’ global innovation system, developed scalable processes for scenario planning and prototyping, and embedded innovation thinking into leadership roles across markets.
Business design and advisory work
Following his time at IKEA, Jens joined Fjord, part of Accenture, as Business Design Lead from 2019 to 2020. There, he integrated human-centered business design into client organizations across retail, banking, and professional services, while also strengthening internal collaboration and business design culture.
In parallel, Jens founded Heitland Innovation in 2019, advising organizations across the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, USA and Spain on people-centric transformation and leadership alignment.
Heitland Media Group and executive reputation
In 2021, Jens founded Heitland Media Group, where he currently serves as CEO.
The firm works with CEOs of public and private companies to treat thought leadership as infrastructure rather than content. The focus is on long-term reputation, institutional credibility, and alignment between what leaders say and how their organizations operate.
Jens’s role within the firm is not delivery, but direction. He sets the intellectual and strategic framework that guides how the firm approaches CEO reputation and leadership visibility.
In 2022, he co-founded WeAreSucceed, where he developed the Succeed Leader Index, a data-driven tool used by professionals, teams, and founders to assess and improve leadership performance.
Teaching, mentoring, and ecosystem contribution
Since 2012, Jens has spoken at global organizations and events including Airbus, Bank of America, Bayer, BAT, Mobile World Congress, Berlin Fashion Week, Invest in Africa Summit, and the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies.
Since 2022, he has served as a Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, teaching corporate innovation and entrepreneurship through action-based learning.
He has also mentored founders and leaders through programs including StartUB!, Universitat de Barcelona, 4YFN, the UNDP Women Innovators Programme in the Arab States, and Rockstart in Amsterdam.
Community and long-term perspective
Since 2024, Jens has served as Country Organizer for 24 The Planet Germany, supporting sustainability initiatives with a pilot event in Munich.
He also founded the Rising Stars Community, a global platform supporting leaders, speakers, and innovators in developing durable careers and reputations.
Perspective
Across engineering, operations, innovation, and executive leadership, Jens has observed that reputation is rarely shaped by intention alone. It emerges from consistency, clarity, and alignment over time.
This perspective informs both his personal work and the company he leads.