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Business Development & Strategy Intern (All Genders)

Düsseldorf Area
Full-time
Intern / Student

Overview

Duration: 6 months / Start Date: ASAP

Build in one of the most important industries of the next decade 

Europe is rethinking how it secures critical raw materials. Rare earth elements and other strategic metals are essential for electric mobility, electronics, renewable energy, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing, yet supply chains remain concentrated and recycling rates are still low. SPRIND’s Tech Metal Transformation Challenge was launched exactly to accelerate breakthrough solutions in this space.

BIOWEG is building one of those solutions. 

We are a German deep tech company combining biotechnology, green chemistry, and advanced materials to create sustainable alternatives to fossil-based ingredients and to unlock new circular value chains. Together with TU Berlin, BIOWEG is part of BIOPEPLEACH, a team selected in the SPRIND Tech Metal Transformation Challenge to advance a water-based platform for recovering rare earth elements from complex waste streams. 

This is not a conventional internship. This is a front-row seat to how Europe builds the next generation of industrial, resource-secure, circular technologies.


Your mission 

As a Business Development & Strategy Intern, you will support BIOWEG’s work on a novel water-based technology platform for recovering rare earth elements from complex waste streams, developed in collaboration with TU Berlin. You will work closely with the founder and leadership team on strategic analysis, market intelligence, customer and partner mapping, and business-building priorities. 

Your work will help answer questions such as: 
  • Where are the biggest commercial entry points for rare earth recovery?
  • Which waste streams, customers, and partners matter most?
  • How should a breakthrough technology position itself in the market?
  • What is the right go-to-market path for a platform that can reshape industrial recycling?
  • How do you translate cutting-edge science into a compelling business case for industry and investors?

Your Role

  • Conduct high-quality market research on rare earth elements, critical metals, recycling, and strategic raw material value chains
  • Analyze market size, growth drivers, customer segments, policy and regulatory trends, and competitive dynamics
  • Benchmark incumbent and emerging players to identify white spaces and BIOWEG’s strategic differentiation
  • Support the development of go-to-market hypotheses, partnership models, and customer engagement strategies
  • Prepare strategy decks, market maps, briefing notes, and decision documents for management and external stakeholders
  • Contribute to business plans, techno-economic thinking, and commercialization narratives
  • Help identify high-priority opportunities across customers, channels, industrial partners, and future applications
  • Support preparation for investor, grant, partner, and executive-level discussions
  • Work on special projects directly with leadership in a fast-moving deep tech environment

Your Profile

We are looking for candidates with strong horsepower, curiosity, and ambition. You may be a great fit if you are: 
  • Currently pursuing an MBA, Master’s, or equivalent graduate degree in Business, Management, Industrial Engineering, Business Chemistry, Economics, Sustainability, or a related field
  • Interested in careers in strategy, venture capital, deep tech, industrial innovation, climate tech, or entrepreneurship
  • Analytically very strong and comfortable structuring ambiguous problems
  • Able to turn research into clear insights and recommendations
  • Excited by science-heavy businesses and industrial transformation
  • Confident working in Excel and PowerPoint
  • An excellent communicator in English; German is a plus
  • Experience in consulting, venture building, business development, strategic marketing, corporate strategy, or startup environments is a strong plus but mindset matters more than pedigree

What makes an outstanding candidate 

  • You are excited by industries that matter globally, not just locally
  • You want to work on real strategic questions, not only presentation support
  • You are comfortable switching between market detail and big-picture thinking
  • You enjoy founder-level intensity and ownership
  • You want an internship that will stand out on a CV because it is genuinely hard, relevant, and rare

Why Us?

BIOWEG already develops high-performance, bio-based and biodegradable ingredients that replace fossil-based materials. Its platform has been scaled from pilot toward industrial deployment, and the company is now extending that platform logic into one of the most strategically important areas in Europe: the recovery of rare earth elements and critical metals from waste streams.  

If you want to work on a problem that combines industrial relevance, scientific edge, geopolitical importance, and venture-scale upside, this is the place.

What We Offer

  • A rare platform: Work on one of the most important industrial themes of the coming decade: critical raw materials, circular supply chains, and strategic technology independence. The SPRIND challenge specifically targets breakthrough, modular end-to-end solutions for converting complex waste into functional metal products
  • Real exposure: You will work closely with BIOWEG’s founder and leadership team on live strategic topics, not simulated case studies
  • Deeptech + business: You will operate at the intersection of science, commercialization, and investor logic
  • Investor-backed environment: Join a company backed by top-tier investors and public innovation capital, with the ambition to build category-defining industrial technology in Europe
  • Ownership: From day one, you will take responsibility for meaningful workstreams and contribute to decisions that matter
  • Career signal: This role is particularly attractive for candidates targeting future careers in top-tier consulting, venture capital (climate and deep tech), founders associate, chief of staff roles or corporate strategy and innovation

About us

BIOWEG is a purpose-driven company developing bio-based alternatives to fossil-based ingredients using Biotech and Green Chemistry. 

We create sustainable products that match or even outperform fossil-based alternatives while remaining price competitive. Our main products, MicBeads (sensory micropowder) and RheoWeg (rheology modifier), are used by leading cosmetics and chemical companies. 

We are driving to create a better world and a lasting, sustainable impact. Join our diverse and relentless team to revolutionize and drive green innovation across multiple industries.