Nature, Mission and Sustainability, MBA Intern – Danone

Location: White Plains, NY or Louisville, CO

Overview: 

The Mission and Sustainability (M&S) team develops and enables the implementation of all of Danone North America’s mission and sustainability efforts. To deliver on Danone’s mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible, we must connect several integrated impact efforts across:

• Nature (e.g., regenerative agriculture, water, carbon, circularity, etc.)
• Health (e.g., nutrition, transparent and responsible marketing, positive impact of food on health, etc.)
• Communities (e.g., human rights, thriving communities, future skilling our value chain, etc.)

The M&S team provides strategic oversight, direction, and governance across these topics for Danone North America and ensures a deep collaboration with our Global Danone counterparts. We partner with multiple cross-functional internal stakeholders (e.g., procurement, sales, research and innovation, etc.) and external stakeholders to deliver on our strategy. The team is integrated into the heart of the business and sits within the Enterprise Strategy and Transformation Team (ES&T) in North America.

Roles/Responsibilities: 

The MBA Intern will support and own delivery of key Nature deliverables, which would likely include topics such as the below, based on needs of the team at the time:

• Develop rigorous quantitative modeling and qualitative problems solving to refine strategies and tactics for delivering on DNA’s Nature pillar (levers, goals, KPIs) and implementation roadmaps (programs, roles/responsibilities, financials, measurement).
• Collaborate with multiple cross-functional senior stakeholders (e.g., Public Affairs, , Research and Innovation, Procurement, Brand teams, Analytics and Insights, etc.) to identify and co-create solutions and influence P&L and implementation roadmap
• Collaborate with M&S Director of Nature and other cross-functional leaders to ensure strategies and roadmaps are communicated, tracked, and updated across the business
• Assist in financial analysis, competitive analysis, pricing analysis and category analysis. Identifying key trends and brand implications.
• Lead research and case studies to inform deep understanding of key Nature topics (e.g., carbon accounting, innovative materials, circularity, regenerative agriculture practices) to improve strategy development and execution

Collaborate with M&S Director on Partnerships and Impact Measurement and other cross-functional leaders to ensure strategies and roadmaps are communicated, tracked, and updated across the business through a strategic review process

Qualifications: 

Key Experience:

• 5-7 years of relevant experience, with minimum 2-4 years at a top-tier strategy consulting or social impact consulting firm, in an internal strategy or mission/impact team, or other relevant CPG industry experience; and/or banking, sustainable finance, or ESG
• B.S./B.A. (required) in Business or Social Impact/Sustainability, or related field
• MBA (preferred) in Strategy and/or Social Impact/Sustainability

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (required):

• Strong problem-solving capabilities to generate actionable insights from a wide array of qualitative and quantitative inputs and data in the spirit of “getting to the answer”
• Ability to set the strategic framework for what data and analyses are needed to answer a “big picture” question, and fluency in Excel and with modeling to deliver on the analyses and generate senior leadership presentations and communications
• Able to flex between “leader” and “do-er” across topics and needs; proactive and independent
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, particularly in developing presentations and directly leading action-oriented conversations with the C-Suite
• Significant subject matter expertise in carbon/decarbonization and at least 1 other nature topic, either directly through technical/programmatic work or through an advisory role
• Experience in developing and implementing sophisticated impact measurement frameworks
• Fluency in applying commercial and private-sector skills (strategy, market analysis, financial modeling, etc.) to social sector Nature contexts
• Demonstrated track record leading cross-functional teams and understanding and problem-solving for competing needs and roles by building deep relationships and influencing the outcomes
• Flexible/adaptable in a highly dynamic business environment with competing priorities (i.e., impeccable time management, organizational and prioritization skills); comfortable with ambiguity