Intern - Strategic Assets Recovery Program Coordinator

Job Summary

Global Product Regulatory Compliance at Coherent ensures that the company's diverse portfolio of products meet applicable regulations worldwide.

The team plays a critical role in enabling safe, compliant, and sustainable product commercialization by minimizing hazardous substances, ensuring electromagnetic compatibility, and maintaining robust quality and regulatory systems aligned with global standards.

Interns gain hands-on exposure to real-world regulatory strategy, cross-functional collaboration, and the practical application of compliance, sustainability, and quality principles in a global manufacturing environment.

We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Strategic Assets Recovery Research Intern to join Coherent's Product Regulatory Compliance team for Summer 2026.

This internship supports a high-impact, currently unfunded initiative to evaluate whether Coherent's retired manufacturing and test equipment can be repositioned from a regulatory end-of-life obligation into a managed asset class delivering financial, environmental, and supply-chain value.

The intern will contribute to the development of a circular value-recovery platform that prioritizes internal reuse, refurbishment, and high-yield recovery of precious and critical materials-including gold and rare earth elements.

Working alongside compliance, sustainability, and supply-chain stakeholders, the intern will help assess feasibility, recovery economics, and ESG value creation aligned with Scope 3 emissions reduction goals.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities


* Conduct an initial feasibility assessment of treating retired manufacturing and test equipment as a managed asset class rather than generic e-waste


* Evaluate value-recovery pathways, including internal reuse, refurbishment, and material recovery of precious and critical materials


* Assess recovery economics, logistics, and operational practicality, including downstream processing considerations


* Support analysis of ESG and Scope 3 value creation, including avoided-emissions potential and material recovery metrics


* Identify risk controls and compliance considerations associated with alternative end-of-life routing


* Compile findings into a final feasibility report with data-driven recommendations for potential implementation at Coherent

Education & Experience


* Education Level Required: Bachelor's, or Master's (PhD candidates also considered)


* Preferred candidates:
+ Rising Juniors or Seniors (completed 2-3 years by start date), or
+ Graduate students in relevant fields


* Preferred Majors:
+ Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Materials, Industrial)
+ Supply Chain, Operations, or Industrial Engineering
+ Environmental Science, Sustainability, or Materials Science
+ Business Analytics or Economics with technical exposure


* Relevant coursework or experience in product lifecycle management, s...