Confectionery Innovation Intern

ZURU; Auckland; On-site; NZD 28,000 - 34,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fresh fruit

Coffee

Job summary

ZURU's Confectionery Team is seeking an Intern to contribute to the development of innovative candy with global reach. You’ll explore trends, gather consumer insights, and collaborate with Supply Chain, Regulatory, Commercial, Design and Marketing to move ideas from concept to market.

During a three-month program from mid November 2026 to mid February 2027, you’ll support launch planning, maintain specs, coordinate timelines, and help streamline processes.

Job description

ZURU's Confectionery Team

As an intern in our Confectionery team, you'll gain hands-on experience contributing to the development of innovative confectionery products with global reach. From identifying emerging candy trends and uncovering fresh consumer insights, to collaborating with teams across Supply Chain, Regulatory, Commercial, Design and Marketing, you'll play a key role in bringing new gummy and novelty candy ideas to life. Your perspective will directly influence product innovation, while your strong organisational skills and collaborative approach will help streamline processes, strengthen feedback loops, and accelerate the journey from concept to market.

What You'll Work On

Confectionery Competitive Landscape & Category Deep Dive. Over your three months you'll build a structured analysis of our novelty, sour and aerated candy competitors across key markets - mapping pricing, pack formats, flavour ranges and retail channels to identify the white space we could be playing in. Your findings will feed directly into future new product development strategy and market prioritisation.

Launch Execution & Operations. You'll also be the operational backbone for new product launches, supporting the Product Manager across several markets at once. That means coordinating launch timelines, tracking regulatory compliance milestones, managing distributor communications and sample shipments, maintaining master spec sheets, and keeping launches on track from pre-market planning through to go-live. You'll own the documentation and process improvements that take friction out of every launch that follows.

You will also:

• Be set up to win with a two-day induction to get you up to speed on everything ZURU

• Learn how our people continue to shift the needle through regular learning sessions with key business leaders

• Experience ZURU's playful side by dabbling in content creation (#dayinthelife) and attending social events

• And so much more!

Our summer internship programme will run from mid November 2026 - mid February 2027.

About You

We don't ask to see your grades, and we take on students from a range of different backgrounds and degrees. What we care about is sharing our internship experience with students who have a natural inclination to go above and beyond, who demonstrate grit and dedication, and most importantly, who radiate positivity and humility.

ZURU is a special place to work, and we live by our unique set of values, the ZURU DNA (you can find out more about our ZURU DNA on our careers page).

Please note that while we don't have a formalised graduate programme, there may be opportunities to stay on post-internship depending on business needs.

About ZURU

ZURU is on a mission to disrupt across industries, challenge the status quo and catalyst change through radical innovation and automation advances. This is in play in different pillars of the company: ZURU Toys are re-imagining what it means to play; ZURU Tech is shaping a better future by leading the next building revolution; ZURU Edge is pioneering new generation FMCG brands to better serve modern consumers.

Founded in 2003 by EY Entrepreneur of the Year and World Entrepreneur Hall of Fame brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, ZURU has quickly grown to a team of over 5000 direct and indirect members across more than 30 international locations.

One of the largest toy companies in the world, globally recognised and award-winning brands include Bunch O Balloons, Mini Brands, XSHOT, Rainbocorns and Smashers. Our global FMCG brands include MONDAY Haircare, Rascals, BONKERS, and Gumi Yum Surprise.

LIFE@ZURU

We recognise that ZURU's success stems from our people and you can only be at your best when you are looking after yourself. ZURU encourages all our team members to invest in their wellbeing by providing an array of benefits and tools.

WHAT WE OFFER

Culture for Growth

Global Opportunities

Surrounded by an A Player Team

Competitive Remuneration

Lots of fresh fruit, coffee, pals fridge and more

ZURU - Tomorrow Reimagined