Vertex Fall Co-op 2026, Operational Excellence, Vertex Manufacturing Center (VMC)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals•Boston, MA

13h•$20 - $35•Onsite

About The Position

Kickstart Your Career at Vertex! Are you ready to make a real impact? At Vertex, our mission is to tackle serious diseases and to change lives, for the better, for the future. Our aim is to give you the skills, insights, and career guidance to be an important part of that future; to turn your potential into progression. As a Vertex intern or co-op, you’ll work on meaningful projects, collaborate with talented teams, and learn from industry leaders. We’re passionate about innovation, inclusion, and supporting your growth—inside and outside the lab. Why Vertex? Real Projects: You’ll work on assignments that make a real impact, not just busy work. Mentorship & Networking: Connect with leaders and peers who want to see you succeed through professional networks, connections, and collaborations that will shape your longer-term career. Flexible & Supportive: We offer flexible work options with Flex @ Vertex and prioritize your wellbeing. Inclusive Culture: Collaboration and inclusion are embedded in everything we do. Career Launchpad: Build skills, explore career paths, and get guidance for your future career. Ready to apply? Submit your application and let’s turn possibilities into reality! Your Impact The Vertex Operational Excellence VMC Co-Op program is a 6-month experiential training program for students currently working towards undergraduate or advanced degree in Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, Operations Research, or other related fields. If you are passionate, collaborative, and growth-minded, a co-op at Vertex will help you gain meaningful experience in our VMC Operational Excellence functional areas and serve as a launchpad for your career. The application deadline for this role is April 3rd, 2026. Please note that Vertex reviews applications on a rolling basis and reserves the right to close this job posting prior to the listed deadline. Important Notice Regarding Internship and Co-op Inquiries At Vertex Pharmaceuticals, we are committed to providing a fair and structured recruitment process for all students interested in internship and co-op opportunities. To ensure consistency and equity, all student applications must go through our Early Talent Acquisition Team. Due to the high volume of interest, we are unable to respond to individual solicitation. Direct solicitation to Vertex employees- including senior leaders via email will result in removal from the recruiting process. We appreciate your enthusiasm and interest in Vertex. To be considered for internship or co-op roles, please apply directly through our official application channels. ( https://www.vrtx.com/careers/career-growth-and-opportunities/co-ops/ ) Thank you for respecting our process and helping us maintain a fair experience for all candidates. What you will be doing: Help us design the future of how science gets done. Join Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Operational Excellence team at our internal manufacturing site in Boston, where you’ll play a hands-on role improving performance across development and manufacturing. You will support core 2026 priorities focused on mapping value streams end-to-end, strengthening metrics/operational governance, and enabling data-driven continuous improvement. Working alongside cross-functional partners (e.g., formulation development, analytical development, manufacturing, supply chain, and quality), you’ll help translate process insights into practical improvements and clearer decision-making. This role is designed for a student who enjoys structured problem solving, process analysis, and building simple, useful digital/visual tools that help teams execute. This co-op will support initiatives that embed Value Stream Management into project prioritization and governance by mapping commercial and clinical value streams, connecting performance metrics, and enabling digital access to key information.

Requirements

Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in one of the following fields: Industrial Engineering Systems Engineering Operations Research Related engineering/science discipline
Junior, senior, or graduate student status preferred
Interest or experience with Lean/Six Sigma/Operational Excellence, including process mapping and/or value stream mapping.
Ability to build clear visuals and structured outputs (e.g. maps, readouts, roadmaps)
Familiarity with data visualization and reporting (e.g., Power BI, Tableau)
Experience working with data (e.g. Excel, SQL, Python/R) to clean, organize, and summarize information for stakeholders.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment.
Willingness to learn new tools and methodologies.
Curiosity and problem-solving mindset.
Comfortable asking clarifying questions, proposing design options and troubleshooting ambiguities.
Capacity to work full-time onsite in Boston, MA
Legal authorization to work in the United States, now and in the future.
You must be enrolled in an advanced degree program if graduating before December 2026
You must be available to work full-time, 40 hours per week from July – December 2026

Responsibilities

Support value stream mapping efforts by gathering process data and building current-state and future-state maps for commercial and clinical products with cross-functional stakeholders.
Translate mapping findings into prioritized constraints/waste themes to inform continuous improvement projects and governance discussions.
Develop and refresh performance dashboards that strengthen operational governance by providing an aligned view of performance and improvement opportunities.
Work with our VMC Operational Excellence team members to translate “Voice of the Scientist” input into useful knowledge hub features that help Scientists and Manufacturing personnel do their jobs better.
Build a user-friendly information hub using our graph database platform. You'll work with platform developers to solve technical issues and learn how to best use the system.