Project Management and Portfolio Intern

Location: Milan, Italy

Job Summary

Do you enjoy turning complex data into clear business decisions while collaborating with teams across R&D, Commercial, and Operations?

Join our Strategic Enablement & Innovation Team at IFF, where we lead the end-to-end portfolio across R&D, Commercial, and Operations for the Food Biosciences business. As a Project Management and Portfolio Intern, you will own recurring portfolio and pipeline processes and contribute analysis and recommendations that guide decision-making across functions and regions. This is a hands-on role for someone who can take a loosely defined request, figure out what decision it supports, and deliver accurate, decision-ready work with minimal supervision.

This internship offers a unique opportunity to work closely with senior leaders and cross-functional teams, gaining hands-on experience in project management, data analysis, and strategic planning.

Where You'll Make a Difference

• Compile the monthly commercial pipeline review end-to-end: data extraction, quality checks, reconciliation against prior versions, and drafting the key messages.
• Maintain R&D stage-gate project records and dashboards for the governance meetings and proactively flag inconsistencies such as closed or terminated projects, projects moving stages, missing data, or conflicting sources.
• Lead quarterly regional and portfolio deep dives to identify gaps, overlaps, and opportunities, and present findings and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Provide project management support and analysis to strategic projects and business cases (e.g., market sizing, scenario analysis, financial assumptions).
• Partner with cross-functional teams (e.g., R&D, Applications, Marketing, Commercial, Operations) to gather and validate project data, including data mapping across systems such as Salesforce and SAP.
• Capture decisions and action items in governance meetings and follow up with owners through to closure.
• Document processes and keep work handover-ready so it carries on smoothly after the internship.

What Makes You the Right Fit

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a Master’s degree in Business, Operations, Supply Chain, Data Science, or a related field.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Proven ability to work independently, manage several deliverables with competing deadlines, and ask clarifying questions up front.
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with project management and data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI) is a plus.
• Experience with Salesforce or SAP is a plus.
• Strong attention to detail: you check your own work, reconcile numbers across sources, and explain any differences before sharing.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present findings clearly and concisely to senior stakeholders.
• Ability to connect data to business context and answer "so what?" with clear insights and recommendations.
• Interest in innovation, project management, portfolio strategy, operations and supply chain, sales, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Interest in food science, biotech, or B2B ingredients is a plus.
• Proficient in English, both written and spoken

What Success Looks Like

• By month 3: independently delivers the monthly pipeline review with minimal rework.
• By month 6: owns quarterly deep dives and proactively raises data issues and insights.
• By month 12: has contributed to at least one strategic project or business case and documented processes for handover.

What You’ll Gain

• Real-world experience in global project and portfolio management.
• Exposure to strategic decision-making and data-driven planning.
• Mentorship from experienced leaders across functions.
• Opportunity to contribute to impactful projects with visibility across the organization.

How Would You Stand Out?

• Experience with Power BI or other data visualization and reporting tools.
• Knowledge of Salesforce, SAP, or other enterprise business systems.
• Interest or exposure to food science, biotechnology, ingredients, or related B2B industries.

Why Choose Us?

• Gain real-world experience in global project and portfolio management.
• Work closely with senior leaders and highly experienced cross-functional teams.
• Develop valuable skills in business analysis, strategic planning, and stakeholder management.
• Contribute to projects that influence business decisions and innovation priorities.
• Receive mentoring and professional development opportunities throughout the internship.
• Build a strong foundation for a future career in project management, strategy, operations, or business leadership.

#LI-AF1

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more