Navigating Summer Internship Opportunities at e.l.f. Beauty and The Estée Lauder Companies

Embarking on a summer internship is a crucial step for students aiming to gain real-world experience and insights into their desired fields. Both e.l.f. Beauty and The Estée Lauder Companies offer a variety of summer internship programs designed to provide students with challenging, engaging experiences and the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge in a corporate setting. This article explores the diverse internship opportunities available at these leading beauty companies, highlighting the unique aspects of each program and the skills and experiences students can gain.

e.l.f. Beauty: An Overview

e.l.f. stands with every eye, lip, face and paw. The company’s deep commitment to clean, cruelty-free beauty at an incredible value has fueled the success of its flagship brand, e.l.f. Cosmetics, since 2004, and driven its portfolio expansion. Today, the multi-brand portfolio includes e.l.f. Cosmetics, e.l.f. SKIN, pioneering clean beauty brand Well People, Keys Soulcare-a groundbreaking lifestyle beauty brand created with Alicia Keys-and Naturium, which offers high-performance, biocompatible, clinically effective, and accessible skincare.

In the Fiscal year 25, e.l.f. had net sales of $1 Billion, with business performance described as extraordinary, marked by 26 consecutive quarters of net sales growth. The company is the #2 mass cosmetics brand in the US and the fastest-growing mass cosmetics brand among the top 5. e.l.f. Beauty's total compensation philosophy offers every full-time new hire competitive pay and benefits, bonus eligibility (200% of target over the last four fiscal years), equity, flexible time off, year-round half-day Fridays, and a hybrid 3-day in-office, 2-day at-home work environment.

Internship Opportunities at e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. Beauty is known for redefining what accessible, high-performing beauty can look like, leading the industry with innovation, transparency, and a bold, inclusive vision. Several internship opportunities are available, catering to various interests and skill sets.

Brand Marketing Internship

The Brand Marketing Summer e.l.f.tern will support the concepting and execution of 360° product campaigns across channels, helping bring brand stories to life in a culturally relevant, on-brand, and impactful way. This role offers hands-on exposure to campaign development, cross-functional collaboration, and brand storytelling at a fast-moving, consumer-first beauty brand.

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Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Internship

e.l.f. Beauty seeks a Summer Intern, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to support day-to-day execution across PR, social, events, partnerships, and affiliates. This role is ideal for someone interested in how integrated campaigns come together behind the scenes-combining culture, creators, community, and data to deliver consistent brand moments across channels.

Marketing Insights Internship

e.l.f. Beauty is seeking a Summer Intern, Marketing Insights to support consumer and market research efforts across the beauty industry. This role focuses on analyzing consumer behavior, tracking emerging trends, and translating data into actionable insights that inform marketing, product, and strategic decision-making.

Corporate Communications Internship

e.l.f. Cosmetics is seeking a Summer Intern, Corporate Communications to support media materials, community engagement, reporting, and event execution across key corporate initiatives. In this role, you’ll contribute to how e.l.f. shows up externally through storytelling, community management, and culturally relevant communications.

Graphic Design Internship

e.l.f. Cosmetics is seeking a Summer Intern, Graphic Design to support the digital design team across seasonal campaigns and major project launches. In this role, you’ll help bring creative concepts to life through design work for real campaigns and activations, gaining hands-on experience in a fast-paced, collaborative creative environment.

Packaging Design Internship

The Packaging Design Summer e.l.f.tern will support the Packaging Design team across all e.l.f. Beauty brands, contributing to the development of thoughtful, brand-right packaging for cosmetics and skincare.

Amazon Internship (Naturium)

Naturium is seeking a Summer Intern, Amazon, to support marketing and e-commerce initiatives on the Amazon platform. This role offers hands-on exposure to product page optimization, 360-degree campaign support, performance analysis, and cross-functional collaboration.

Lifecycle Analytics Internship

e.l.f. Cosmetics is seeking a Summer Intern, Lifecycle Analytics to support competitive analysis and performance reporting across lifecycle marketing channels. In this role, you’ll assist with campaign preparation, organization, QA support, and cross-functional coordination to help ensure lifecycle initiatives launch smoothly and on time.

Loyalty & CRM Internship

The Summer Intern, Loyalty & CRM will support Beauty Squad operations with a primary focus on gamification, community engagement, and personalized customer journeys.

Content & Live Shopping Internship

This role is ideal for someone excited about the intersection of content, creators, LIVE shopping, and digital commerce.

Community Management Internship

The Summer Intern, Community Management will support day-to-day community engagement across e.l.f.’s social platforms, helping the brand show up in real time through thoughtful, responsive, and culturally aware interactions.

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Influencer & PR Marketing Internship (Naturium)

Naturium is seeking a Summer Intern, Influencer & PR Marketing to support influencer campaigns, earned media initiatives, and brand activations across key launches and moments.

Influencer Marketing Internship

e.l.f. Cosmetics is seeking a Summer Intern, Influencer Marketing to support influencer campaigns, PR moments, and brand activations across Integrated Marketing Communications. In this role, you’ll gain hands-on experience helping execute influencer programs, supporting creator send-outs, and tracking campaign performance, all while staying tapped into the latest beauty trends and cultural moments.

Graphic Design, Visual Merchandising Internship

e.l.f. Beauty is seeking a Summer Intern, Graphic Design, Visual Merchandising to support the Visual Merchandising and Design team in creating retail displays and graphics that shoppers see in stores.

Order & Sample Operations Internship

Cosmetics is looking for a Summer Intern, Order & Sample Operations to support the sample request process across all brands. In this role, you’ll help manage incoming requests, track inventory and shipments, and ensure samples are delivered accurately and on time.

Social Media & Community Management Intern

The ELF Beauty Social Media & Community Management Intern will support the daily management and growth of Keys Soulcare’s (KSC) social media channels. You’ll help track trends, analyze social conversations, manage influencer and campaign databases, and assist with influencer gifting and event coordination, including Lightworker Office Tours.

Social Media Intern

ELF Beauty is seeking a Social Media Intern to join the Social Media team. In this role, you’ll assist in creating content, scheduling posts, and sourcing engaging user-generated content (UGC) that brings our brand to life across social channels.

People & Talent Acquisition Intern

The ELF Beauty People & Talent Acquisition Intern will support the People & Talent Acquisition team by assisting with a variety of administrative tasks, recruitment-related projects, and onboarding initiatives.

Sales Intern

The ELF Beauty Sales Intern will assist the Account Managers in bringing e.l.f. Cosmetics and e.l.f. SKIN to life at Canadian Retailers. The role supports all customer management functions and assists in the strategy business planning for retailers in partnership with the Account Managers. This includes planning and implementing merchandising decisions, display initiatives, and sampling / marketing activations along with owning administrative functions of the account.

Product Development Intern

The Summer Intern, Product Development will support the Product Development team with research, evaluation, and organization related to shade assortments and product archives. This role provides exposure to the early stages of product development, with a focus on color cosmetics, global shade strategy, and hands-on support within the Product Development (PD) environment.

The Estée Lauder Companies: A World of Opportunities

The Estée Lauder Companies provides a multitude of internship opportunities for students at various levels of their education, offering the opportunity to think critically in real-world corporate situations. Students have the opportunity to apply for openings in corporate functions or at one of the brands, and they will be assigned based on their academic backgrounds and interests once they are accepted into the program.

Key Internship Programs

The R&D and Packaging STEM Summer Internship Program (10-weeks): Offers high-performing Engineering/Life Sciences students real-life work experience.
The CEO Presidential Internship Program: Designed for students at different stages of their education, with three levels available.
10-week Summer Internship Program: This program offers participants challenging and engaging experiences within critical business functions, including Marketing, Online, Finance, Supply Chain, Human Resources, Data Analytics, and Creative. Participants work under the guidance and sponsorship of a key executive.

Internship Tracks within The Estée Lauder Companies

Creative: Creative interns participate in the ideation of new concepts and content, visualizing new stores and product merchandising. They learn how to execute design direction while working with Creative Directors, Designers, Visual Merchandisers, Store Designers, and Copywriters.
Global Communications: Global Communications interns support digital/social efforts, collaborating with digital agencies, spearheading social media monitoring, brainstorming content ideas, and analyzing social media reports. They may attend content development and social media planning meetings to support creative strategy for corporate campaigns.
Data Analytics: The Data Analytics track focuses on the evolving role of data insights and analytics in consumer growth and marketing strategies. Data Analytics interns are offered technically challenging roles in the Enterprise Marketing & Data division, with a focus on data science, data analytics, and customer relationship management. Candidates should be comfortable working with large complex data sets and translating them into business insights.
Finance & Strategy: The Finance & Strategy Leadership Program (FASLEAP) MBA Summer Internship is for high-potential MBA candidates interested in a career in Strategic Finance. As an MBA summer intern, you will have the opportunity to collaborate on projects that will support the team in reaching established goals and objectives directly relating to the success of the business. As a Global Finance intern, you will assist with projects instrumental to the Global Finance function that are aligned to strategic business priorities, with mentorship from seasoned executives.
Human Resources (HR): Human Resources (HR) internships promote continuous leadership development, hands-on practical experience, group networking opportunities, and strategic thinking initiatives to optimize participants' learning and career growth. HR Business Partner (HRBP)/Employee Services (ESO) interns work on projects related to employee needs for those working in the brands or corporate functions.
Global Supply Chain: The Estée Lauder Companies’ Global Supply Chain consists of a vast network of suppliers. The Global Supply Chain summer internship program is based in one of 3 locations: Bristol, Pennsylvania; Melville, New York (Long Island); or New York City.
Information Technology (IT): As an Information Technology intern, you may serve in a variety of roles, helping teams deliver best-in-class technological solutions to the business and customers. Responsibilities may include learning how to generate actionable insights through dashboards and views, mixing sales data, market shares, product ratings information, and social data.
Marketing: As a Marketing intern, you will gain exposure to a specific area of marketing at either the brand or corporate level, developing skills through digital, product marketing, or consumer insight projects.
ELC Online: As an intern in ELC Online, the online division of The Estée Lauder Companies, you will be surrounded by passionate individuals dedicated to setting the industry standard for prestige beauty e-commerce.
Research & Development (R&D): The Research & Development & Packaging STEM Summer Internship Program blends an extensive overview of the cosmetic industry with real-world R&D experience. As an R&D intern, you will have the opportunity to collaborate on projects that will support the team in reaching established goals and objectives directly relating to the success of the business. You may also have ownership of high-priority projects instrumental to the R&D function and business, working in collaboration with multiple teams and functions within the organization. You will gain exposure to state-of-the-art research, equipment, and skills training. Note: R&D roles are based in the Melville, NY facility.

Application Information

Applications for the Lauder Summer Internship Program are typically open until early October. For example, applications for the 2026 Lauder Summer Internship Program are open until October 8, 2025.

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