Founder's Intern - Special Projects

ROLE: FOUNDER’S INTERN – SPECIAL PROJECTS

LOCATION: CHENNAI

With campuses in Austin and Chennai, Illumine Industries Pvt. Ltd. (Illumine-i) is a young multinational firm engineering sustainable living solutions. We are a team of engineers and creative thinkers, working towards the development of renewable power plants, energy-efficient buildings with competent construction methodologies, clean transportation, and high-potent agriculture & manufacturing technologies.

You can learn more about us at: https://www.illuminei.com/lyf

The Big Picture

Founders rarely have the luxury of focusing on just one thing.

At Illumine-i, our founder works across strategy, sales, delivery, product, engineering services, software, hardware sourcing, and new business initiatives. As a Founder’s Intern - Special Projects, you’ll work closely with him on the research, coordination, follow-ups, and problem-solving that keep these different threads moving.

No two weeks will look exactly the same. You could be researching a new market one day, preparing for an important conversation the next, and helping track a project that needs to move forward the day after.

The role is designed to give you both breadth and ownership - while you’ll support a range of priorities, you’ll also take ownership of 1–2 specific areas where you can build deeper expertise over time.

What you can expect as a Founder’s Intern at Illumine-i:

• •Research & Insights: Conduct research on competitors, vendors, markets, technologies, and other topics based on the priorities of the week
• •Meeting Support: Help prepare context and information before important meetings and track action items and follow-ups afterward
• •Project Coordination: Keep track of open tasks, timelines, follow-ups, and dependencies across different initiatives
• •Content & Documentation: Create first drafts of summaries, one-pagers, outreach material, presentations, and other documents for review and refinement
• •Founder Support: Assist with day-to-day coordination, follow-ups, and other high-priority tasks that help move projects forward
• •Owned Projects: Take ownership of 1–2 assigned areas, building deeper knowledge and becoming the go-to person for those specific threads
• •Problem Solving: Step into whatever is blocking progress and help find information, coordinate people, or move the task towards completion

Essential Qualifications include:

• •Currently pursuing or recently completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in any relevant discipline
• •Strong research, analytical, and problem-solving abilities
• •Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• •Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities
• •Comfortable working independently and taking ownership without constant supervision
• •Ability to quickly understand new topics and switch between different types of work
• •Curiosity about startups, businesses, technology, and how companies are built

Great to have:

• •Prior experience in internships involving research, strategy, business development, operations, or special projects
• •Comfort working with spreadsheets, presentations, and productivity tools
• •Interest in startups, entrepreneurship, technology, or emerging businesses
• •Ability to understand technical or engineering-related information and simplify it when needed
• •Strong interpersonal skills and a bias towards getting things done

This internship is an opportunity to work close to the action and understand how different parts of a growing business come together. If you enjoy figuring things out, asking good questions, taking ownership, and learning across functions rather than staying inside one box, this role could be a great fit.