Location: Swissnex in San Francisco
Status: Full-time, 40 hours/week
Start Date: July 1st, 2026
Duration: 12 months
Reports to: Head of Communications

Do you want to join the global Swissnex network and build meaningful connections across startups, science, education, the arts, and innovation in both Silicon Valley and Switzerland? This is your chance!

The Communications Associate will play a crucial role in communicating about events and programs at the intersection of education, research, innovation, and the arts. This internship offers unique exposure to international experts and hands-on experience in the field of communications, including social media, PR/Press, and content design and production.

You will support day-to-day communications activity of a small team, including writing and scheduling all social media posts, updating the WordPress website, running analytics, maintaining and organizing our content library, supporting the management of our Editorial and Social Media calendars, and supporting a range of other activities for our fast-paced team.

To succeed as a Communications Associate, you should be a self-starter and willing to take on new and challenging responsibilities. As part of a small team with a bottom-up, informal culture, the Communications Associate can help shape communications and content production and outcomes, and learn from and collaborate with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders.

• Event & Programs Communications (60%)
• General Swissnex Communications (20%)
• Operational support, special projects, and other duties (20%)

• Excellent English communication skills (written and spoken)
• Demonstrated experience in social media content creation and interest in current storytelling trends
• Preference for candidates with experience in graphic design and/or video editing
• A person who identifies with terms like problem-solver, proactive, independent, self-motivated, collaborative, energetic, and detail-oriented
• Commitment to supporting a collaborative team environment
• A spirit of initiative, adaptability, responsiveness, and professionalism
• Team player with a creative, curious, and solution-oriented mindset
• Passion for bringing people together and designing experiences
• Flexibility to work evening hours as needed for events
• Comfortable standing for extended periods during events and able to lift up to 25 pounds as needed

• You are a Swiss citizen or have a valid Swiss work permit for the duration of the internship. Since we are based in the U.S., applicants with B permits that were issued for academic study are not eligible, regardless whether or not your permit says it is valid for work in Switzerland
• You have already received your Bachelors degree or will receive it within the first four months of the internship; OR you are currently enrolled in a university or university of applied sciences working towards a Master’s degree; AND your most recent completed degree (Bachelor/Master) is not older than one year at the beginning of the internship
• You have not gained professional experience in the field of your studies
• You have not had a previous internship within the Swiss Confederation

• 20 days of vacation, 12+ annual holidays, sick leave
• Opportunities for professional development
• Gain hands-on experience in one of the world’s most dynamic innovation hubs, expand your professional network across Switzerland and Silicon Valley, and develop event management skills in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Compensation: USD 3’600/month

Swissnex in San Francisco connects the dots between Switzerland and the West Coast of the USA in education, research, innovation, and the arts. We foster international collaboration and empower next generation innovators to create futures in which the planet and society thrives. In service of this goal, our dynamic and international team produces academic, corporate and creative industry programs, startup bootcamps, events and much more.

As an employer, we established a collaborative and purpose-driven team culture and care about an environment that encourages innovation, experimentation, and creative problem-solving. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce is essential for fostering creativity and achieving our organizational goals.

Learn more about Swissnex in San Francisco: https://swissnex.org/sanfrancisco

We look forward to receiving your application. Please apply through this link and include both your resume (CV) and a customized one-page cover letter in English that answers: 1) why you are interested in this position and why you want to work at Swissnex in San Francisco, and 2) the experiences, personal qualities or strengths that make you well-suited for the position.

Start your application HERE.

• Deadline to apply: March 22, 2026
• We follow up with every applicant

We are looking for an Academic Engagement Manager to join us starting as early as May 2026.

The Academic Engagement Manager will be part of the Academic Engagement team at Swissnex in India, which connects scientific communities in India and Switzerland through a wide range of approaches. Our work revolves around areas guided by a planetary thinking approach and encompasses sustainability, health as well as responsible digitisation and future technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum.

We are looking for a colleague with strong academic training, solid project management experience, keen attention to detail and a deep interest in learning, discovering and developing beyond their subject matter expertise.

Our work thrives on imaginative, self-driven, anticipatory and inclusive thinking. We are looking for someone with a curious mind who embraces this approach in their everyday work. The ideal candidate will contribute to the team’s projects with original ideas and work closely with the Head of Academic Engagement. A collaborative mindset is essential and you will be expected to share responsibilities for projects proactively rather than only executing assigned tasks.

You will join our team to build new approaches to address pressing topics such as the impact of AI on society, declining planetary health and to engage with emerging technologies such as quantum. We build these approaches using systems-level thinking that emphasises interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary formats. In your role, we expect you to take full ownership of your work, demonstrating both creativity and also the ability to organise, execute and document projects at a high standard.

Are you someone who likes translating complex, scientific ideas into clear, compelling visuals? Do layouts, colours and typography feel like tools to make metaphors come to life? Are you looking to push the boundaries of your visual thinking and gain international exposure?

In partnership with the Science Gallery Bengaluru (SGB), we are seeking a skilled design associate with unbounded creativity and a keen eye for detail. This is a unique opportunity to support two creative, scientific and forward-looking organisations. 80% of your commitment and output would be towards Swissnex in India and 20% towards Science Gallery Bengaluru.

Our goal at Swissnex in India is to connect the dots between India and Switzerland in education, research and innovation. Working closely with the Communications team, you will be responsible for building compelling narratives that reach the right people and showcase how people can engage with us as ecosystem experts. Whether it is designing a fundraising proposal or creating exciting campaigns for our programmes in science, technology, innovation and diplomacy, you will be at the forefront of our efforts to create visual content that resonates with our audiences.

At Science Gallery Bengaluru, you will support the larger team by contributing to various design collateral for exhibitions and public engagement programmes that turn scientific concepts into interactive, engaging experiments. 

If you’re a designer who draws inspiration from across disciplines and art forms, this role in India places you at the heart of our network—connecting you with subject matter and cultural experts spanning the startup ecosystem, academia, architecture, climate action, philanthropy and beyond.

This role is suited for someone with a high capacity for organisation and context switching. Our work thrives on proactive and inclusive thinking—collaborating closely with the team to understand the project needs and to find a creative solution.

Apply now if you’re eager to create something exciting every day. 

Do you believe the next global breakthrough will come through startup innovation?

The Innovation team at Swissnex in India is supporting our global mission to reshape how we address sustainability, planetary health and emerging digital technologies through cross-border exchange. We are looking for a talented Startup & Innovation Associate to add to our team in Bengaluru. 

India is one of the world’s most dynamic innovation markets, offering scale, speed and ground for experimentation for Swiss startups looking to internationalise. We help them analyse the ecosystem, strategise go-to-market approaches and adapt their business model based on targeted customer feedback. 

Apart from direct market entry, we support Swiss businesses who are looking to India for inspiration by acting as their ears on the ground. By scouting for emerging technology and relevant partnership opportunities, we enable Swiss and Indian actors to build affordable and accessible products together, turning ambition into real progress.

Swissnex in India advances areas important to the future of both countries, such as healthtech, sustainability, and digital transformation. 

This role brings with it a high level of trust and ownership of the projects assigned to you. We value any new ideas you can bring to the table, along with any novel technical tools and platforms for stakeholder engagement. 

If this sounds like something you’re passionate about, apply to join our team! This is a great opportunity for highly motivated, open-minded graduates to advance a forward-thinking diplomatic mission with a focus on science, technology and innovation. 

Does scientific advancement make you feel hopeful about the future?

The Academic Engagement team at Swissnex in India is passionate about science, and we feel strongly about the power that it has to address complex global challenges. Your role, as an Academic Engagement Associate, would be to help us leverage this power across borders and disciplines. 

India offers Swiss researchers and institutions an ideal environment for collaboration at scale. Diverse user contexts, rapid innovation and strong digital infrastructure creates opportunities for joint research, field validation and long-term academic partnerships.

To that end, we connect scientific communities in India and Switzerland by actively engineering dialogues, designing collaborative projects and facilitating academic and research exchanges that address areas such as biodiversity, climate change, health, sustainability, digital transformation and emerging technologies. In practice, this means shaping conversations and workshops to target specific topics, co-creating or co-hosting programmes with partner institutions, and supporting opportunities like mobility and fellowship schemes to ensure that knowledge, ideas and talent flow effectively between both countries. 

Our engagement goes far beyond researchers and students, however. We work across sectors and geographies, designing formats that go beyond traditional academic exchange. For example, our engagement with the vocational education training sector is creating novel formats for Swiss stakeholders in education, research and innovation to experience other cultures and continents. Every initiative we are a part of builds on long-term partnerships and supports Swiss priorities.

This role is suited to individuals with a background in science, an eye for detail and a deep interest in learning, discovering and developing beyond their subject matter expertise. Our work thrives on creative, proactive and inclusive thinking—collaborating closely with the team to serve the broader Swissnex community.

If this sounds like you, apply to join our team! This is a great opportunity for highly motivated, open-minded graduates to advance a forward-thinking diplomatic mission with a focus on science, technology and innovation.