Spring 2027 Co-op, Global Regulatory Affairs – Strategy and Operations

Job description

Job Description 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. Your Impact The Vertex Global Regulatory Affairs – Strategy and Operations Co-Op is a 6-month experiential training program for students currently working towards an advanced degree in Health/Biotech Management, Business Analytics, Life Sciences, 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 Global Regulatory Affairs – Strategy and Operations functional areas and serve as a launchpad for your career. The application deadline for this co-op is November 15th, 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. Applicants can expect to receive an update about their application before or shortly after the application deadline. Ready to apply? Submit your application and let’s turn possibilities into reality! What you will be doing: Global Regulatory Affairs (GRA) is responsible for all interactions between Vertex and Health Authorities around the world. Part of this work involves bringing together a cross-functional team spanning all areas of pharmaceutical development to create an end-to-end pathway from discovery through approval and beyond. The Chief of Staff supports the Senior Vice President of GRA and the Regulatory Affairs Leadership Team (RALT) on strategic, operational, and organizational matters across GRA. Working under the guidance of the Chief of Staff, the co-op student will help organize, develop, and drive key activities across GRA, including but not limited to RALT operating rhythms, department activities, recurring reporting for leadership, and current strategic initiatives in the department. A core expectation of the role is building automated, AI-enabled processes that continue to run year-over-year. The role is intended to give a co-op student real exposure to how a senior leadership team in a global biotech sets priorities, tracks progress and communicates - with defined projects they own end to end, and a final presentation to the GRA leadership team. Potential projects and assignments may include, but are not limited to, those described below. Across all assignments, it is expected that automation/technology is leveraged: each recurring report/process should (1) run on a schedule with no or minimal manual involvement, (2) have a named owner in GRA, (3) include a short guide explaining how to maintain and adjust it, and (4) be tested through live cycles. Leadership team and departmental operating rhythm Build an automated annual operating calendar of recurring leadership team and departmental activities (e.g., leadership offsites, town halls, planning cycles, goal setting, budget milestones, newsletters, and survey cycles), linked to the materials needed to support each. The solution should be technology-enabled and robust (e.g., automated planning reminders at set lead times, run without manual rebuilding while allowing for changes) Support planning for recurring RALT meetings: maintain the forward agenda calendar, automate requests for topics and pre-reads, and use AI tools to draft pre-read summaries and meeting recaps for review Build a decision log and action tracker that automatically sends follow-ups to owners on open items and produces a regular status report Support planning and logistics for departmental activities (e.g., offsite meetings, town halls, and department meetings) Organize supporting materials into a structured repository with clear ownership and update conventions, to ensure materials remain current without manual clean-up Recurring reporting, metrics, and automation Support recurring leadership reports covering progress against annual goals (RALT, departmental, and cross-functional partners), current-state organizational charts, and related activities Maintain current-state organizational charts for GRA, including reporting line changes and integration-related moves, on a repeatable refresh cycle Contribute to monthly GRA newsletters, including milestone updates, organizational announcements, and reminders Illustrative end-to-end projects Examples of projects a co-op student could own for the full assignment, which would be confirmed with the student at the start of the term: GRA Annual Operating Calendar and Planning Playbook: Map every recurring GRA and RALT activity/report across the year against corporate activities, work backward to establish planning lead times and owners, and reorganize the supporting material into a structured, maintained location. For the reports and activities that occur on a set cadence – quarterly off-site meetings, goals progress, organizational changes and new starters/leavers (announcements, org charts), hiring updates, organizational health - automate updates, including mechanisms for collecting or implementing inputs with scheduled, tracked workflows that can be adjusted in real time. Transition Support: Work in close collaboration with Chief of Staff to support an active key transition project within GRA, through involvement in developing work products/plans, tracking key milestones, and building content to support integration activities, as needed. Deliverable is both the working transition plan and a reusable set of templates and trackers the department can apply to future transitions. The assignment will close with a final presentation of the student’s projects and recommendations to the GRA leadership team. What you will need to succeed: Required Currently enrolled in a business-focused graduate program (e.g., MBA, MS in Management, Business Analytics, or Health/Biotech Management); OR a science-focused graduate program (e.g., biology, chemistry, biochemistry, pharmaceutical sciences) with business as a minor or second degree Enrolled in a formal co-op or experiential learning program and available full-time in an on-site or hybrid capacity in Boston, for the full six-month assignment Advanced PowerPoint and Excel; comfortable building executive-ready slides and data views Demonstrated ability to use technology to simplify or automate repeatable work (e.g., workflow tools, AI assistants) Demonstrated ability to organize ambiguous work, collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders, and follow through without close supervision Strong written communication Sound judgment and discretion with confidential information Legal authorization to work in the United States, now and in the future. Please note that Vertex does not provide sponsorship for internships/co-ops or entry level roles within this part of the organization. You must be enrolled in an advanced degree program if graduating before June 2027. You must be available to work full-time, 40 hours per week from January – June 2027. Preferred Familiarity with Micros