Graduate Program RSE

The core mission is to build the CSR approach for Newrest's new Lausanne site from the ground up, working under the QHSSE Manager. On a day-to-day level, this means tracking and analysing indicators such as food waste, waste volumes, energy and water use, and packaging. You would translate those figures into concrete actions: reducing waste at the source, improving sorting, testing alternatives to plastic and supporting a more plant-based offer. Part of the job also involves sourcing local, seasonal and responsible products together with the purchasing team and the kitchen. A second mission is cultural and relational. You would raise awareness among production and service teams, helping them adopt new practices in a busy kitchen environment where habits form quickly. This includes informal coaching, briefings and practical support on the floor rather than classroom-style training alone. On the reporting side, you would prepare CSR reports and contribute to client responses and tender documents, which gives the role a commercial dimension. Finally, you would monitor Swiss regulations and best practices, ensuring the site stays compliant and current. The overarching goal is to make sustainability part of how the kitchen operates from day one, rather than a reporting exercise added later.

This graduate programme is designed as a learning path as much as a job. You would gain hands-on experience in building a CSR management system from scratch, including indicator selection, data collection, dashboard design and reporting. Those skills transfer directly to sustainability roles in food service, retail, manufacturing or consulting, where measurement and reporting are core. The food and catering context offers specific expertise that is hard to acquire elsewhere: understanding food waste generation, menu engineering toward plant-based options, packaging substitution, and the realities of local and seasonal sourcing at scale. Working with the QHSSE Manager also exposes you to quality, hygiene and safety frameworks, which often overlap with environmental management systems in food operations. Mentoring and formal training are part of the offer, and the international group structure means exposure to Newrest's practices in other countries. You would also develop stakeholder skills, learning to speak credibly to chefs, buyers and management. Finally, contributing to client responses and tenders teaches you how sustainability commitments are translated into commercial language, a valuable competence for future roles.

The posting asks for a Master's or Bachelor's degree in sustainable development, environment, management, engineering or a related field, combined with a first internship or experience in CSR, ideally in catering, agri-food or industry. Comfort with numbers and monitoring tools such as Excel and dashboards is explicitly required, so demonstrable data skills matter as much as sustainability knowledge. On the personal side, the role calls for strong interpersonal ability: you need to be able to convince a kitchen team and a management group, which suggests resilience, pragmatism and clear communication. Autonomy and curiosity are named, along with a genuine desire to be on the ground rather than only in an office. Given the setting, fluency in French is essential and English at B2 level is required. A valid Swiss work permit or EU/EFTA nationality is a hard condition. Beyond the checklist, the strongest candidates will likely show some practical exposure to food waste, sorting or responsible purchasing projects, even small ones, and an ability to explain how they measured impact. Interest in Newrest's values of humility, simplicity, efficiency and responsibility would help align with the company culture.

Start by making the link between your studies and the operational realities of a kitchen. Rather than listing sustainability courses, show one or two projects where you measured something: food waste, energy use, sourcing decisions or a behaviour change among a team. Quantify where possible, even from an internship or a student project, because the role is built around indicators and follow-up. Address the two audiences named in the posting. Prepare examples of how you persuaded operational staff, not just managers, to adopt a new practice, and be ready to explain how you handled resistance. Since the job involves procurement and tenders, any exposure to supplier discussions, reporting or client questionnaires is worth highlighting. Mention your level of French and English clearly, and confirm your work permit status or EU/EFTA nationality, as this is a stated requirement. For the interview, research Newrest's activities in Switzerland and the specific challenge of opening a new site in Lausanne. Think about what you would measure in the first 30, 60 and 90 days, and bring a simple idea for a quick win on food waste or sorting. Showing familiarity with Newrest's values of humility, simplicity, efficiency and responsibility, and linking them to concrete behaviour, would set your application apart.

The role sits at the operational heart of Newrest's sustainability agenda in Switzerland, which for a catering company means the environmental footprint of food itself. The most immediate focus is likely food waste, measured per meal produced and tracked across the new Lausanne site, alongside waste sorting, energy and water consumption, and packaging reduction. These are the indicators explicitly listed in the posting, which suggests they form the backbone of the site's CSR reporting. Responsible sourcing is the second pillar. You would work with procurement and the kitchen on local, seasonal and responsible products, which connects directly to Newrest's broader commitments around social and environmental values mentioned in its company presentation. Plant-based menu development and alternatives to plastic are also on the table, both of which have a measurable carbon impact in food service. On the governance side, the role feeds into client responses and tenders, meaning the CSR data you produce has commercial weight. Newrest operates in a sector where clients, particularly airlines and large institutions, increasingly ask for sustainability evidence. Your work on regulations and best practices in Switzerland would help keep the site aligned with local requirements while supporting the group's continuous improvement approach.

The most immediate challenge is that the Lausanne site is new, so you are building the CSR framework without an existing baseline, existing data or established routines. Deciding what to measure, how often, and with which tools takes time, and early figures may be incomplete or noisy. Excel and dashboards are mentioned, which suggests you will spend real effort on data quality before any trend becomes meaningful. A second challenge is influence. Kitchens are fast, physical environments where staff focus on service deadlines, and sustainability actions can look like extra work. Convincing a chef to change a recipe, a supplier or a sorting routine requires credibility and persistence, not just arguments. The posting explicitly asks for someone who can persuade both a kitchen team and a management group, which hints at how central this skill is. Balancing commercial pressure with sustainability ambition is a third likely difficulty. Client tenders and cost targets may not always align with local sourcing or waste reduction investments, and you will need to present trade-offs clearly. Finally, working in French in a Swiss regulatory context while reporting in English adds a language and compliance layer that requires organisation.

No two days look the same in a site that is still being set up, and that variety is part of the job. A morning could start with a quick walk through the kitchen to check waste sorting stations and note what the previous service left behind, followed by time at a computer updating the food waste, energy or water dashboard in Excel. Later you might sit with the purchasing team to review a supplier list for local and seasonal products, or test a plant-based menu option with the chef. Afternoons often involve people rather than files: a short briefing with production staff on sorting rules, a meeting with the QHSSE Manager to align on priorities, or a call with a client or tender team asking for CSR data. Because the Lausanne site is new, part of the week is likely dedicated to building procedures and templates that do not exist yet, from waste measurement protocols to reporting formats. As the operation matures, the rhythm shifts toward monitoring and reporting, with more time spent analysing trends, preparing client responses and preparing for internal reviews. Expect regular presence on the floor, because the data you report comes from what happens during service, not from a desk alone.

The programme lasts 12 months and the posting states that there are prospects for growth within the group after completion. Because you would be building the Lausanne site's CSR approach from scratch, you would finish with a tangible project on your CV, including indicators, actions and reporting outputs. That kind of end-to-end ownership is uncommon for a first job and strengthens applications for CSR manager roles later. Within Newrest, possible next steps could include a permanent CSR or QHSSE position in Switzerland or abroad, since the group operates in more than 50 countries and runs multiple business lines. The international footprint means lateral moves into different catering segments, such as airline or remote site catering, are conceivable for someone who performs well. The mentor relationship and training component also suggest a structured review of your progress during the year. Beyond internal mobility, the skills gained in data tracking, responsible sourcing and stakeholder engagement are transferable to other food companies, institutions or consultancies. The main growth driver, however, is likely the visibility of the project: a successful launch of CSR practices at a new site gives you concrete results to discuss in any future interview.

Your closest working relationship would be with the Responsable QHSSE, who frames the site's quality, hygiene, safety, security and environment agenda and to whom you would report functionally. The kitchen brigade is the second key group: chefs and production staff who generate the waste, energy and water data you track and who need to buy into any change you propose. Their cooperation determines whether an action stays on paper or becomes routine. The purchasing team is a central partner for responsible sourcing, since local and seasonal products depend on supplier choices and contracts. On the service side, front-of-house staff influence packaging, sorting and how menu changes land with clients. You would also interact with site management, who weigh cost and operational constraints against sustainability proposals. Externally, you might support client-facing teams and tender writers who need CSR data and commitments, and occasionally exchange with suppliers or certification bodies. At group level, depending on how Newrest structures its CSR function, there could be contact with central sustainability colleagues in France or elsewhere. The role is therefore a connector between the kitchen floor, procurement, management and clients.