Strategy & Business Development MBA Internship - Summer 2025

Our mission at Whole Foods Market is to nourish people and the planet, but also- future talent. We are excited to offer our 2025 Summer Internship Program to purpose-driven students seeking to make a difference in their work and in their community. Our internship program is based in Austin, Texas, down the street from our original Whole Foods Market store. Our interns don’t get us coffee; instead, they enjoy free coffee and tea while working on meaningful projects that impact our internal and external stakeholders.

About the Team: 

The Strategic Business Planning team helps shape the future of Whole Foods Market by working with leaders across the company to develop a portfolio of long-term growth initiatives that drive financial value in alignment with our Core Values and Leadership Principles. The team leads the company’s annual planning process and presents recommendations to the CEO and Executive Team, manages ongoing business reporting, and facilitates execution of Whole Foods Market’s 1- and 3-year strategies. As an intern on the Strategic Business Planning team, you'll have direct exposure to high-impact initiatives and senior leadership across various departments, offering a unique opportunity to contribute to the company’s strategic direction. 

Intern Responsibilities May Include: 

• Project-manage key annual planning processes, spearheading effective communication, maintaining documentation, and driving alignment across cross-functional teams. 
• Collaborate with stakeholders to collect data and insights to evaluate strategic choices, understand trade-offs and prioritization across projects, and generate recommendations to inform the execution of an enterprise strategy. 
• Develop strategic, analytical, and financial frameworks to conduct analyses and influence enterprise decisions, taking initiative to improve existing processes. 
• Prepare “executive ready” presentations and project deliverables for various levels of leadership. 
• Support responses to executive inquiries and escalations. 

You Will Bring:  

• Strong oral, written, and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate complex ideas in a simple way and tailor communication to specific situations and audiences. 
• Effective program management and organizational skills, with proven ability to partner with a variety of cross-functional stakeholders to deliver business outcomes. 
• Quantitative and financial analysis skills with experience determining insights to inform key business decisions; connects customer analytics to financial outcomes. 
• Comfort working with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment, taking the lead to drive business outcomes through critical thinking and strategic frameworks. 
• Intermediate experience with Excel and PowerPoint required. 

Education & Experience: 

• Current 1st year MBA Student preferred. 
• Background in management consulting, program or project management, strategic/business planning, or strategic/financial analysis. 
• Experience in CPG, retail, or e-commerce industries a plus. 

Internship Program Details: 

Our Summer 2025 Internships are paid for 10-weeks, full-time (40 hours/week) between June 2, 2025-August 8, 2025. The internships will be based in Austin, Texas and are not open to remote candidates at this time. 

Program Highlights:  

Weekly Summer Event Series: Weekly events for interns to connect with one another and get immersed in the Whole Foods Market culture. Previous events have included distribution center tours, cheese tastings, volunteering at the Central Texas Food Bank, supplier visits, women in leadership panel and more! 

Intern Buddy: Opportunity to be paired with a Whole Foods Market team member outside of our team that can be a go to resource during your summer. 

Team Member Coffee Chats: Network 1:1 with Whole Foods Market team members in your field or area of interest for a 20 – 30-minute coffee chat. 

Internship Expo: End of internship presentations where you can share what projects you worked on during the summer with the entire company! 

Application Review: Our internship applications will be open in November 2024. We will review applications on a rolling basis so next steps and interviews may not be communicated until December 2024.