Waste Management Graduate Intern

New York City Housing Authority

Waste Management Department – Spring 2026 Internship (College Aide)

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the nation’s largest and the city’s largest landlord with over 11,000 employees who manage and maintain nearly 200 developments that house over 400,000 residents which also administering the country’s largest Section 8 program.

The Waste Management Department as part of Operations Support Services monitors the daily and weekly reporting by each consolidation’s supervisors on their waste and recycling compliance including Paragraph 45 of the HUD Agreement.  Utilizing a growing data warehouse and process standardization, multiple divisions work to resolve escalations, facilitate clean waste flow, administer recycling programs, publish annual reports, broaden long-term agenda planning, repair compactors, and collect waste or recycling to supplement DSNY where needed.

Our mission is to continue centralizing and improving the direct support and information which verifies NYCHA’s continuing commitment to cleanliness, daily material flow, and best practices.

Title: Waste Management Graduate Intern (1 position)

Terms: 

Rate: $22/hr. This job is for Spring 2026 to Spring 2027 with required breaks between each of the three terms as detailed in the start and end dates below and the expected graduation date to fall within the Spring 2027 range below.

Location: This will begin as an in-person job at the Queens 24-02 49th Ave office with opportunities and phases of working from home when authorized.  There will also be opportunities and an expectation to make occasional visits to developments or other locations within New York City on field days with potential accommodations.

Workdays: Please see 4 date ranges below for full details.  Three days per week to be determined by discussion between candidate and managers, taking school schedule into account. Maximum work hours: 20 hours per week. Typically, two days of 9am to 5pm with an unpaid lunch hour and one day of 9am to 4pm with an unpaid lunch hour.

Spring 2026: Earliest start date: April 13, 2026 to June 4, 2026. 20 hours per week typically split between 3 days of 7 (9 am to 5 pm), 7 (9 am to 5 pm), and 6 hours (9 am to 4 pm) with an unpaid lunch hour in accommodation of class schedule.

Summer 2026: June 8, 2026 until August 28, 2026 are when workdays will broaden to 35 hours weekly. 9am to 5 pm Monday to Friday each weekday with unpaid lunch hour. 

Fall 2026: August 31, 2026 to December 24, 2026. Return to 20 hours per week taking school schedule into account.

Spring 2027: December 24, 2026 to June 4, 2027.  Return to 20 hours per week taking school schedule into account as Candidate nears expected graduation date or in future.

Academics: Candidate should be in a graduate program for a Master’s degree or equivalent at the time of application with an expected graduation date in 2027 or later.

About our projects: 

Our group is seeking motivated and experienced Graduate Student(s) to assist the Waste Management Department with multiple projects:

• Work Process and Data Warehousing Upgrades 
• With the Department’s scope, initiatives, and overall data responsibility growing while also interweaving especially for deliverables, the primary duty of this position is to work with the Operations Support Manager. 

• Together, the goal will be to analyze each work process, speak with stakeholders especially within the department, help plan ways to automate or improve each process, make the data more accessible for any team member without a manual data product, and improve the overall data integrity of consolidation submissions, inspections, and other action items.
  
  The scope of this will expand across multiple initiatives of our department such as Scorecard inspection data for a dashboard (probably PowerBI), cataloging photos from multiple initiatives, setting up advanced vetting, and also routing data. 

There may also be ad-hoc projects and other work that the Graduate Intern provides administrative support under the direction of team members such as Managers, City Research Scientist, and Senior Operations Analysts including these active projects and programs:

• Site Visits: Going to developments, preparing reference documents, performing data analysis, and creating reports both before and after field visits to developments to assess waste management operations and ensure compliance to active programs and initiatives.
• Newsletters: Write quarterly memos about internal updates
• Rear Loader Division: Analysis support for NYCHA-owned garbage trucks collecting from select locations to supplement Department of Sanitation service.
• Scorecard Division: Analysis or field support for our inspection division as needed for HUD monitor compliance
• Compliance or assistance for ongoing operations, which may include sustainability programs.
• Individual Waste Management Action Plans for each consolidation. These materials are group-oriented, at the intersection of management, urban design, operations, sustainability, geographic information systems, geospatial analysis, and data analysis. The work will include exposure to the inner workings of the Authority and engagement with Property Managers, Property Superintendents, and their respective subordinates and may occur once a week.

While assignment to specific projects is at the department’s discretion and needs, the intern’s preference for type of work in-office or field and subject matter is taken into consideration.

About you:

The Intern(s) will work with Operations team members to analyze, improve, and communicate both field work and data work within the Waste Management Department across its many initiatives and reporting obligations.  An interest or affinity with project management but also the subject matters of waste management, public housing, and urban studies is not only preferred but can enhance this opportunity to gain functional experience for nearly 14 months.

What you will do:

• Work with Operations Support Manager to analyze any given departmental work process, speak with stakeholders especially within the department, help plan ways to automate or improve each process, make the data more accessible for any team member without a manual data product, and improve the overall data integrity of consolidation submissions, inspections, and other action items.
• Perform field visits with another team member as part of the IAPs, general Operations work, or other initiatives to take notes, speak with staff, make updates or uploads afterwards, and attend any ongoing meetings
• Analyze data in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Sharepoint, and on occasion GIS or vehicle data to provide insight and assess effectiveness of waste management operations and at times, present and express these findings in meetings with Powerpoint
• Correspond via e-mails, chat, phone calls, and video calls
• Work on diagrams, graphics, and other administrative work as needed and taught
• Support ad-hoc projects as needed.

Key competencies:

Required skills:

• Familiarity with business analysis, data analysis, project management, and process improvement concepts whether within coursework or externally
• Knowledge of Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook.
• An interest in housing, waste management, sustainability, or other related topics.
• Ability to ask questions and communicate to quickly understand an issue
• Able to adapt, prioritize, and carry out multiple tasks within a weekly timeframe
• Ability to liaise with internal and external stakeholders and build positive relationships 
• Ability to diagnose problems accurately; evaluate and develop alternative courses of action; and recommend and/or implement creative and effective solutions.

Additional preferred skills:

• Microsoft Power Automate and SharePoint Lists
• Overall GIS or ArcGIS knowledge including ArcGIS Field Maps app
• ArcGIS Pro and Python Jupyter Notebooks within ArcGIS Pro.
• R/RStudio.
• Interest in graphic design.

To apply:

Email a single merged PDF of the following information to waste.mgmt@nycha.nyc.gov with the subject line “Waste Management Graduate Intern 2026”:

• One-page resume.
• Half page UNIQUE writing sample for this position about improving data collection, cleanup, and accessibility in your experience or in the future

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

About the hiring process 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information. Selected candidates will be subject to the City hiring process, which includes a standard drug screening prior to hiring.