Innovation & Sustainability Internship (3 months)

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections,  where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

As an Innovation & Sustainability Intern, you will contribute to “The Green Loop”, a project focused on building a localized take-back and recycling approach for non-contaminated plastic consumables used in Roche Diagnostics laboratories across the Middle East. The project aims to identify practical recycling pathways, clarify the legal boundary between medical waste and recyclable plastic, and create a pilot concept that turns diagnostic waste into regional resources.

You are expected to help deliver a vendor landscape analysis, a regulatory heatmap, a customer interest survey, a waste stream assessment, and a pilot implementation roadmap including cost-benefit analysis and estimated CO2 savings. Your work will support Roche’s sustainability ambitions by reducing Scope 3 emissions, advancing circularity, and strengthening Roche’s position in sustainable tendering. This internship offers a unique opportunity to help shape a pioneering circularity pilot for healthcare in the Middle East.

Your Responsibilities

• Identify and assess local waste management and recycling partners capable of handling specialized plastic granulation and material resale.

• Research regional waste-classification and environmental regulations and create a regulatory heatmap showing the boundary between medical waste and recyclable materials.

• Conduct customer outreach and support a Green Lab interest survey to understand willingness for co-funded logistics and pallet or box reuse solutions.

• Analyze Roche’s product portfolio to identify the top high-volume plastic components with potential for mechanical or chemical recycling.

• Review Roche’s internal processes and standard operating procedures related to waste collection and take-back requirements.

• Develop a business case and step-by-step roadmap for a 1-year pilot, including projected cost-benefit analysis and estimated CO2 savings.

• Support the exploration of delivery-box reuse and other practical approaches to reduce space constraints in laboratory waste handling.

• Work across internal and external stakeholders to translate research findings into a realistic regional implementation concept.

Who You Are

• You are enrolled or have completed your studies at a university, preferably in the field of Environmental Science, Sustainability Management, Chemical or Environmental Engineering, Supply Chain & Logistics, Business Administration with a focus on Circular Economy, or Public Policy with an environmental regulatory focus within the last 12 months

• You are proficient in Excel (able to apply formulas, pivot tables and V-lookup) and comfortable working with waste volume or operational data

• You are familiar with circular economy principles, basic life cycle assessment concepts, technical writing, and regulatory interpretation

• You are able to structure complex sustainability and logistics topics into practical and actionable steps

• You are confident in communicating with a broad range of stakeholders, including customers, waste vendors, and internal teams

• You are proactive, adaptable, and collaborative

• You are fluent in English and Arabic, with a proactive, adaptable, and collaborative way of working

Important notes

• The internship is expected to start between 1 and 16 July 2026 and will last at least 3 months

• Only UAE based candidates with valid residency permit will be considered for this internship

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.