Innovation Foundation Programme & Operations Intern

The Innovation Foundation is a social innovation lab on a single mission: to help underserved populations increase their employability and access to labour markets, so they can secure sustainable livelihoods. We don’t just run projects — we build and open-source a repeatable, responsible practice for working in complex labour-market systems, through our Scan – Build – Scale method.

None of it happens alone. Our work depends on getting the right people into the right roles at the right moment — the entrepreneurs who lead our Venture Teams, the Fellows seconded in to build alongside them, the practitioners we train and stay connected to, and the contributors who help us turn raw ideas into solution concepts. Behind every one of those moments is a quiet, load-bearing layer of coordination. That layer is this role.

This is not a fetch-the-coffee internship. You will sit across several of the Foundation’s core mechanisms at once, holding the operational spine that lets our programme leads stay focused on design and strategy. You will see how we actually work — on the ground, inside the system — from outreach right through to the social innovation lab.

You’ll provide programme and project-management support across four connected areas. Each one is a real workstream with real stakes — not busywork.

Fellows Programme Recruitment Support

Our Venture Teams turn solution concepts into working prototypes and, ultimately, MVPs. They’re built from Fellows seconded to us from The Adecco Group and partner organisations. As we staff up for a new project, you’ll hold the operational backbone of bringing the new Fellows in: managing applications, tracking candidates, nurturing the pipeline, and scheduling communications — so the right Fellows are in place in time for the build to begin.

Venture Lead Recruitment Support

Each Venture Team is led by an experienced entrepreneur recruited from outside the Foundation — its “CEO” for the life of the project. This is an external, longer recruitment cycle. You’ll support it end to end: communicating with applicants, keeping a clear picture of how many we have and where they’re coming from, and managing the comms and scheduling that keep the process moving.

Nurturing the Foundry community & pipeline

The Foundry is our cohort-based practitioner programme — how we share the Scan – Build – Scale method. Your focus here is support with nurturing and recruitment: tracking what’s happening across our network and when, keeping our alumni warm and connected, and building the pipeline for the next Foundry cohort. You free the team to stay on the design of the experience by holding the relationship and tracking layer around it.

Ideation Session Support

For our new project, you’ll join the team organising the ideation sessions — where ideas are generated, tested, and shaped into the solution concepts that go on to our Venture Teams. This gives you a ground-level view of how we design in practice: how we work within the system to move from a raw idea to something a team can build.

The Impact You'll Make

When the coordination layer holds, everything above it moves faster and lands better. Fellows and Venture Leads arrive on time, so projects start strong. Our practitioner community stays connected, so the next cohort builds on the last. Ideas move cleanly from a session into a team’s hands. Your work is the difference between a system that strains and one that flows — and it touches nearly every part of how the Foundation delivers on its mission.

You’re organised in a way that makes other people calmer. You like holding many threads at once and you don’t drop them. You’re a clear, warm communicator — comfortable writing to applicants, chasing a reply, and keeping a tracker honest. You’re curious about social impact and genuinely interested in how change actually gets made, not just talked about. You’re proactive: you spot the thing that’s about to slip and you handle it. And you’re comfortable with ambiguity, because not everything here is fully mapped yet — some of it, you’ll help map.

• Strong organisation and attention to detail — you keep things on track without being chased.
• Clear, considerate written communication, especially with external contacts.
• Comfort with tools for tracking, scheduling and coordination (or the appetite to learn fast).
• A proactive, ask-don’t-assume mindset and a willingness to take ownership of the details.
• Genuine interest in social impact, innovation, and the future of work.
• Professional fluency in English; other languages a plus

What You'll Gain: 

Access across the whole Foundation

By working across multiple streams and project areas, you’ll see the inner workings of how we actually do things — from the outreach side through to the social innovation lab. Few roles, at any level, get this wide a view.

Real experience in the social impact space

Genuine, hands-on experience working inside the Foundation and close to our central design work — the kind of exposure that’s hard to find and easy to build a career on.

A fast-track route into the Foundry

A direct, free-flowing path into the Foundry pipeline. The work you do here puts you in a strong position to step into our practitioner programme.

A direct line to senior leadership

Monthly check-ins with senior leadership giving you visibility, mentorship, and a real seat in the conversation. 

It’s an exciting time to be part of our team. At the Adecco Group, our purpose – making the future work for everyone – inspires and connects us all. Through our three global business units (GBU) – Adecco, Akkodis and LHH - we deliver expertise in talent and technology, enabling organizations to succeed and people to thrive.

We’re proud to be a global thought-leader and care about doing the best job we can to ensure better futures for everyone. We do this by building our Future@Work strategy as a united team of 40,000+ colleagues with a collective spirit working in over 60 countries globally. We embody our core values: Courage, Collaboration, Customer at the Heart,  Inclusion, and Passion in everything we do.

Growth and Development

You will have the opportunity to grow across a variety of interesting jobs and careers over our extensive portfolio of global brands. We empower our colleagues to work in the smartest, most efficient ways, achieving total balance between their jobs and their lives. We offer world-class resources for upskilling and development, satisfying your curiosity while sharing skills, knowledge, and expertise to grow together. Here, you can be yourself, and we aim to build on the attributes that make you, you.

We believe that having an understanding of the hiring process helps you to prepare, feel, and be, at your best. As a global, multi brand organization with multiple different roles, our application process can vary.

On our career site, you will find some of the key steps you can expect to guide you along the way.

Inclusion

We believe in talent, not labels. We focus on the diverse and unique skills our people bring. Our culture of belonging and purpose ensures everyone can thrive and feel engaged. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to equity, equal opportunity, inclusion, and diversity.

Interview Process

Our interview process includes an initial phone screening, followed by a virtual round of interviews with Hiring Manager, HR team and senior leaders. This process helps us understand your fit within our team and allows you to ask questions about the role and our company. If you are a visionary leader with a passion for learning and development, we invite you to join us in making the future work for everyone.

Accommodations

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any additional accommodations or support due to a disability or other special circumstances, please let us know by contacting us. We will work with you to ensure your needs are met throughout the hiring process.

Posting date: 23-06-2026