Finding the Best MBA Internship Destinations in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest MBA job market has been rapidly expanding for years. The region is packed full of corporate giants, technology startups, and many more lucrative companies MBAs know fully-well, such as Starbucks, Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft.

Recently, the Seattle and much of the U.S. Pacific Northwest has become a headquarters for technology companies. Not only do more Pacific Northwest MBA graduates go into the technology than any other industry, but many of those graduates and interns are earning a higher salary than ever before. For example, at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, 58 percent of the most recent graduating class joined the technology industry, earning an average salary of $120,408.

Taking all of this into account, where are the best full-time, paid internship opportunities in the area? There are quite a few options with many companies hiring multiple interns in the area. Here are our top four picks.

 

The Best Pacific Northwest MBA Internships

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Amazon is one of the top MBA employers’ in the area. MBA interns at the company are invited to solve complex problems and are given ownership of large projects from day one. You’ll be expected to think strategically, make decisions, and to impact the customer experience significantly.

As an Amazon intern, you’ll have the opportunity to spend 10-12 weeks in one of six roles, including:

• Finance Leadership Development: MBA interns come in as Sr. Financial Analysts and then rotate through a variety of different roles.
• AWS CloudPath Manager: The Amazon Web Services internship focuses on the infrastructure side and includes multiple rotations.
• Retail Leadership Development: In this program, MBA interns work on solving large scale business problems including managing profit and loss, developing teams, and improving the customer experience.
• Program Manager: Interns focus on operational and logistic-related issues including identifying, prioritizing, and injecting process improvements into operations.
• Pathways Operations Manager: This field-based program is focused on fulfillment centers and transportation sites.
• Product Management: MBA interns in this program are cross-functional leaders who have the opportunity to own an entire product.

No matter the program, Amazon interns will be provided a strategic project that is data intensive, analytical, centered on real business, and representative of a full-time role. You can search more Amazon career opportunities on the company’s official website.

Microsoft is yet another premier company located in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Redmond, Washington. The company has an extensive internship program open to MBA students that’s designed to allow students to work while experiencing the culture, community, and more. Microsoft MBA interns receive competitive pay and have the opportunity to work with a team to deliver a project that matters.

• Supply Chain & Operations Management: MBA interns in this role will be responsible for optimizing efficiency and costs in the supply chain and operations.
• Finance: In this role, MBA interns enter as Finance Managers working on large-scale projects.
• Sales: Sales interns can work as an account executive, account technology strategist, technology solution professional, customer success manager, and more.

Other Microsoft opportunities can be found in marketing, services, IT operations, data and applied science, and more.

For MBA interns interested in a career in retail, Nordstrom is a very large employer in the Pacific Northwest. Each year, its internship program brings in MBA students from top-tier programs across the nation to work in teams across various functions including strategy, marketing, technology, and finance. In each role, students are provided an individual project that they complete throughout the internship before presenting to senior leadership at the end. Check out this experience from a Foster MBA.

MBA interns at Nordstrom receive a competitive salary, merchandise discounts, and more. Opportunities include:

• Retail Management: This program is designed to prepare MBA interns for an assistant department manager role.
• Finance: Finance interns work on strategic projects to go behind the scenes of the retail fashion industry.
• Merchandising & Planning: In this program, you’ll work side-by-side with the teams who buy and plan the product carried in Nordstrom stores.
• Software Engineering: Offers hands-on experience in coding, troubleshooting, and automation projects.

One of the top employers at the Foster School of Business, Accenture, offers a Summer Analyst Program for MBA students interested in a consulting career. MBA interns work with Accenture Strategy and in management consulting, to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of a full-time consultant. In addition, MBA interns will have the opportunity to network and interact with senior leaders. This is an internship opportunity that provides MBA students with a myriad of responsibilities from the start including conducting research, analyzing data, testing software, and writing reports.

Honorable Mentions

As for other internship opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, there are many companies that recruit MBA talent in the area including:

• Starbucks
• Deloitte Consulting
• Liberty Mutual
• Philips
• T-Mobile
• Hitachi Consulting
• ECG Management Consultants
• Intel
• Zillow
• Concur
• Salesforce

You can learn more about the top employers for University of Washington Foster MBA students here.

regions: Seattle

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