IT Consulting Internship (W/M)

Welcome to CNS!

CNS Communications is an independent IT infrastructure consulting and engineering firm with more than 20 years of expertise in networking, automation, cloud, collaboration, cybersecurity, and observability.

As recognized specialists in network automation and trusted partners in infrastructure transformation, we help large enterprises and mid-sized organizations modernize, optimize, and secure their IT environments.

Today, CNS brings together over 200 professionals across eight locations worldwide: Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Marseille, Kuala Lumpur, Bucharest, and Montreal. In 2024, the company achieved €21 million in revenue.

Our Ambition

At CNS, we continue to push the boundaries of innovation in areas such as automation, cloud technologies, observability, and cybersecurity, while strengthening our position as a trusted strategic consulting partner.

Your Internship Experience

We are committed to developing final-year interns into future CNS consultants.

To ensure a well-rounded experience, all internships are structured around a unique:

50% Project Work | 50% Client-Facing Experience

This year, we are offering several exciting internship opportunities. Choose the topic that best matches your interests and career aspirations.

Internship Topic #1

Thought Leadership, Market Intelligence & Strategic Insights

Context

Each year, CNS runs its Perspective program, an internal and external thought leadership initiative designed to formalize and share the company's vision across its areas of expertise.

The Program Serves Two Purposes:

• Helping our consultants deepen their understanding of industry trends and CNS viewpoints.
• Showcasing CNS's consulting expertise and strategic vision to clients.
  
  

Your Role

Working Closely With Our Expertise & Innovation Team, You Will Contribute To The Preparation Of a Perspective Session Scheduled For Publication Between June And July In One Of The Following Domains:

• Cybersecurity
• Virtualization & Containerization
• Artificial Intelligence
  
  

Your Work Will Focus On Four Key Pillars:

Knowledge Simplification & Content Creation

Translate complex technical concepts, technologies, and market trends into clear and engaging content for a diverse audience of executives, IT professionals, and technical experts.

Market Research & Competitive Analysis

Identify key market players, emerging solutions, major industry trends, regulatory developments, and vendor strategies through structured research and analysis.

Customer Insights

Collect and analyze customer feedback, business challenges, and operational requirements to ensure recommendations remain grounded in real-world needs.

CNS Strategic Positioning

Help shape CNS's perspective and recommendations by transforming research findings into actionable conclusions and well-supported points of view.

What You'll Deliver

• Executive-ready presentation materials
• Market intelligence reports
• Strategic recommendations
• Potential participation in the final Perspective session
  
  

This internship offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen your analytical thinking, communication, research, and consulting skills.

Client Project Exposure

Alongside your primary assignment, you will contribute to ongoing client engagements, which may include:

• Infrastructure and security audits
• Troubleshooting and incident resolution
• Consulting missions
• Solution and architecture design
  
  

Internship Topic #2

Exploring Sovereign Alternatives to Big Tech Collaboration Platforms

Context

The collaboration software market is largely dominated by major U.S. vendors such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco.

At the same time, a growing ecosystem of alternative collaboration platforms has emerged in recent years, often offering stronger guarantees around data sovereignty and digital independence.

Recent geopolitical developments have accelerated interest in these solutions, making sovereignty a strategic consideration for many organizations.

Your Role

Working closely with our Digital Workplace team, your responsibilities will include:

• Identifying relevant alternative collaboration platforms
• Conducting functional comparisons against market-leading solutions
• Performing cost and economic analyses
• Benchmarking the most promising solutions
• Presenting findings and recommendations throughout the project lifecycle
  
  

Client Project Exposure

You will also take part in live customer engagements involving:

• Audits
• Technical troubleshooting
• Consulting assignments
• Digital workplace architecture initiatives
  
  

Internship Topic #3

Cloud Native Security

Context

As organizations accelerate their cloud adoption journeys, securing cloud-native environments has become a critical business challenge.

This internship focuses on developing both expertise and tooling dedicated to securing modern cloud platforms.

Your Role

Working Alongside Our Cybersecurity Team, You Will:

Develop expertise in cloud-native technologies, including:

• Kubernetes
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
• CNAPP, CWPP, and CSPM platforms
• Public and sovereign cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.)
  
  

Perform market research and evaluation of leading CNAPP solutions, including:

• Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud
• SentinelOne
• Upwind
• Wiz
• Sysdig
  
  

Also, design and develop a Kubernetes security auditing tool

Desired Skills

• Cybersecurity fundamentals
• Kubernetes
• Information Security Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC)
• Software development
  
  

Client Project Exposure

You Will Also Support Ongoing Client Engagements, Including:

• Security assessments and audits
• Troubleshooting activities
• Security consulting assignments
• Architecture and design initiatives
  
  

Internship Topic #4

GRCaaS (Governance, Risk & Compliance as a Service)

Context

The objective of this internship is to design and enhance a centralized Information Security Management platform built on an existing solution such as CISO Assistant.

Your Role

Working closely with our Cybersecurity team, you will contribute to the development of a unified security governance platform.

Platform Design & Enhancement

Configure and extend the platform to provide a centralized view and management framework across areas such as:

• Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)
• Vulnerability Management
• Penetration Testing
• Project and Application Risk Assessments
• Information Security Policies
• Application Security (AppSec)
• Regulatory Compliance
• Remediation Tracking
• Security Operations (SOC)
• Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
  
  

User Experience & Reporting

Design tailored interfaces for multiple stakeholders, including:

• Service providers
• Customer reporting dashboards
• Risk management teams
• Compliance auditors
• Security leadership teams
  
  

AI Integration

Explore and implement AI-driven capabilities to streamline workflows, enhance efficiency, and improve collaboration across the platform's various security functions.

Desired Skills

• Cybersecurity
• Information Security Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC)
• Software development
  
  

Client Project Exposure

In addition to your core project, you will contribute to client-facing assignments such as:

• Security audits
• Technical investigations
• Consulting engagements
• Security and infrastructure architecture projects
  
  

Internship Topic #5

Building and Deploying Generative AI at CNS: AI Platform, AI Agents, Use Cases & Innovation for Employees and Clients

Context & Objectives

At CNS, Artificial Intelligence has become a major strategic focus.

Join the CNS AI team and develop expertise across the full spectrum of Generative AI topics, both internally and in client-facing environments. Contribute to transforming our organization through AI-powered solutions accessible to all employees, while helping deliver innovative AI services that support the success of our clients projects.

Your Role

You will work closely with the CNS Artificial Intelligence team.

Your Main Responsibilities Will Include:

• Exploring advanced Generative AI topics, including:
• AI Agents
• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• Open-Source Models
• Multi-Agent Orchestration
  
  

• Contributing to the evolution of the CNS internal AI platform by participating in discussions and implementations related to:
• Architecture
• Security
• Observability
• Governance
• Industrialization and scalability
• Designing and developing AI agents and high-value use cases for both CNS teams and our clients, with the goal of automating, simplifying, and accelerating day-to-day activities
  
  

• Investigating emerging security challenges related to AI agents, including:
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Permissions management
• Governance frameworks
• Monitoring and supervision
  
  

• Supporting AI adoption across CNS by actively contributing to the internal AI community, creating knowledge-sharing materials, and promoting AI best practices among employees.
• Exploring the AI infrastructures of tomorrow by evaluating the hardware and software offerings of major industry players such as:
• NVIDIA
• Cisco
• HPE
• Aruba
• Dell
• and others
  

Conducting continuous technology watch activities and sharing relevant innovations and market developments with the team.

Desired Profile

A foundational understanding of Generative AI concepts is required. However, above all, we are looking for a curious, proactive, and highly motivated individual who is eager to learn and quickly adapt to new technologies and challenges.

The Successful Candidate Will Also Be Expected To:

• Document their progress and findings thoroughly
• Share knowledge and contribute to team learning
• Demonstrate strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Work effectively within a collaborative team environment
• Show autonomy, initiative, and a strong sense of ownership
  
  

Internship Topic #6

Infrastructure Observability

Context & Objectives

You will join the Observability Team, which is responsible for developing expertise around infrastructure monitoring and observability solutions, as well as supporting the upskilling of CNS consultants.

The objective is to establish internal monitoring standards and tools that facilitate the integration, validation, and testing of new technologies within laboratory and proof-of-concept environments.

Your Role

You will work closely with the Observability Team.

Your Main Responsibilities Will Include:

• Enhancing and expanding the CNS Observability Lab.
• Defining infrastructure monitoring architectures and standardization frameworks covering:
• Network environments
• Systems and platforms
  
  

• Implementing components that enable monitoring, telemetry collection, and data ingestion, including technologies such as:
• OpenTelemetry
• and related observability frameworks
• Collaborating with the IT department to define and establish a company-wide monitoring standard.
• Integrating laboratory platforms and technical environments into the centralized monitoring ecosystem.
• Deploying, evaluating, and testing multiple modern observability solutions.
• Contributing to internal Artificial Intelligence initiatives related to monitoring and observability.
  
  
Preferred Skills

Knowledge or experience in the following areas would be highly valued:

Monitoring & Observability


• Metrics, logs, traces, and telemetry
• Monitoring platforms and observability ecosystems

Network Infrastructure

• Cisco
• Fortinet
• Meraki
  
  

Systems & Cloud

• Windows
• Linux
• Microsoft Azure
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  
  

DevOps & Automation

• Infrastructure automation
• CI/CD concepts
• Scripting and operational tooling
  
  

Client Project Exposure

In parallel with your internship assignment, you will participate in ongoing client engagements alongside one or more CNS consultants.

Depending On Project Opportunities, These Assignments May Include:

• Infrastructure and security audits
• Troubleshooting and incident resolution
• Consulting engagements
• Architecture and design projects
  
  

What We Offer

A dynamic environment within a fast-growing consulting firm

Meaningful responsibilities and real client exposure from day one

A unique opportunity to develop both technical expertise and consulting skills

Direct collaboration with experienced consultants and recognized subject matter experts

A supportive, people-first culture where expertise, innovation, teamwork, and good humor go hand in hand

• An initial HR interview to learn more about your background, ambitions, and career goals.
• A discussion with one of our future Mentor to introduce you to our business activities and help you envision your future within the CNS ecosystem.
• A final meeting with our Practice Manager, where we will discuss CNS's vision, strategic objectives, and future challenges, giving you the opportunity to confirm your interest in joining us.
  
  

Join CNS and be part of our growth journey!

For readability purposes only, masculine pronouns may be used throughout this document and are intended to refer to all genders.