Innovation & Exploration Junior Associate

Innovation & Exploration Junior Associate Turn real restaurant insights into hands-on experiments and scalable solutions, helping sunday make digital payments simpler to adopt across Europe. Apply to this job 👋 À propos de nous sunday is building the fastest, simplest way to pay in restaurants. With a quick scan of a QR code, diners can pay, tip, and leave in about 10 seconds. We believe great products should feel obvious, not complicated, and we focus relentlessly on keeping things simple while earning trust from restaurants and guests at every interaction. Today, sunday powers payments in thousands of restaurants across the US, UK, and France, helping operators turn tables faster, increase tips, and unlock valuable insights. We push ourselves to go beyond what’s expected, building with ownership, moving fast, and scaling with ambition as we tackle our biggest growth opportunity in the US. About the Role As an EU Innovation & Exploration Junior Associate, you’ll join sunday’s European Innovation Lab within the Central Operations team. Your mission will be to help us understand and solve the biggest barriers to the adoption of sunday in restaurants. You’ll work at the intersection of field operations, Product, Data and Strategy, starting with real-world observations and ending with experiments, evidence and scalable solutions. This is not a traditional internship focused on observation or coordination. You’ll spend significant time in restaurants with owners, managers, staff and guests. You’ll identify friction points, formulate hypotheses, support the design of prototypes and help run experiments in the field. This is a hands-on internship within the European Innovation & Exploration Lab, focused on turning field observations into experiments, evidence and scalable solutions. In this role, you’ll take ideas from ambiguity to evidence. You’ll learn through doing and help us decide what to continue, pivot, scale or stop. You’ll report to the EU Innovation & Exploration Lead and work closely with Country Operations, Product, Data and Commercial teams. With the support of the team, you’ll have the opportunity to own selected topics from the first observation in the field to the final recommendation. This internship is a great opportunity for an entrepreneurial person who wants to learn quickly, operate close to customers and have a direct impact on how sunday evolves operationally and how it impacts restaurants. At the end of the internship, there may be an opportunity to join sunday full-time, depending on your performance, mutual fit and business needs. Duration: 6 months, starting 1st of January 2027 Key Responsibilities Stay close to the field: Spend time in restaurants with owners, managers, staff and guests to understand how sunday is used in real-life conditions and where friction occurs. Identify adoption barriers: Observe and analyse the operational, behavioural and product-related issues that may prevent restaurants and guests from fully adopting sunday. Turn observations into hypotheses: Structure your field learnings, identify root causes and help translate observations into clear problems, opportunities and testable ideas. Support the design of experiments: Help imagine practical pilots, prototypes and operational tests that can help us understand which levers could improve adoption. Run experiments in the field: Coordinate with restaurant teams and internal stakeholders to launch tests, monitor their progress and make sure experiments are executed properly. Own selected topics end-to-end: With the support of the Innovation & Exploration Lead, take ownership of selected experiments from defining the objective and success criteria to analysing the results and sharing a recommendation. Create evidence through execution: Analyse what worked and what did not, combine qualitative and quantitative insights, and help the team learn quickly from each experiment. Report clearly on your findings: Prepare concise and structured updates on ongoing tests, key learnings, next steps and recommendations on what to continue, pivot, scale or stop. Help scale what works: Work with Product, Data, Operations and Commercial teams to turn validated experiments into repeatable processes, product improvements or commercial initiatives. About You You are smart, ambitious and highly autonomous. You have already experienced a demanding professional environment and want an internship where you can operate at a much higher level than a typical intern. What we are looking for You are a final-year student looking for an end-of-studies internship, in a top tier Business or Engineering school. You are available for a full-time internship in Paris for approximately six months. You have a strong bias for action. When you see a problem, your instinct is to understand it and look for ways to solve it. You are comfortable working in ambiguous situations and creating structure where there is none. You are analytical and methodical, with the ability to draw clear conclusions from qualitative and quantitative insights. You are curious about how products, businesses and operational systems work in the real world. You are energised by spending time with clients and operational teams in the field. You are comfortable taking initiative and moving a project forward, even when you do not have all the answers. You communicate clearly and can adapt your message to different audiences, from restaurant teams to internal stakeholders. You are organised and rigorous when tracking actions, results and learnings. You are comfortable testing ideas, learning quickly from results and changing direction when needed. You are comfortable using AI and modern tools to investigate problems, accelerate execution and improve the quality of your work. You are fluent in French and comfortable working in English. Nice to have Previous experience in a startup or another highly entrepreneurial environment. Experience in an operations-heavy, field-based or client-facing role. Experience running a student project, association, entrepreneurial initiative or side project. Previous exposure to experiments, pilots, user research or operational improvement projects. Familiarity with the hospitality or restaurant industry. Experience using data analysis, reporting or automation tools. Experience working with Product, Data, Operations or Commercial teams. What We Offer A unique learning experience, surrounded by exceptional people and with supportive guidance to help you build your career A great office in the heart of Paris (10th arrondissement) with a balance of in-person and remote work 1,250€ Ticket Restaurant 50% of your public transportation covered 🐾 Steps in our Recruitment Process Share your story: Application with resume Let's get to know each other through a phone screen interview Meet with the hiring manager Impress your future colleagues with a case study Meet with a Leader Reference Checks (3 most recent managers) Offer: we want you Merci d’avoir pris le temps de postuler, nous avons hâte de faire votre connaissance! sunday est un employeur garantissant l’égalité des chances et ne pratique aucune discrimination. Tous les candidats qualifiés seront pris en considération sans distinction de race, croyance, couleur, sexe, orientation affective ou sexuelle, identité ou expression de genre, genre, origine ethnique, religion, origine nationale, ascendance, nationalité, âge, handicap, situation matrimoniale, statut de vétéran, informations génétiques ou tout autre critère protégé par la loi (sauf lorsqu’un critère constitue une exigence professionnelle essentielle). Department Operations Locations Paris, France Remote status Hybrid Employment type Internship Team EU Innovation & Exploration Lab