Research Scientist - R&D Internship - 2027 Yorktown Heights & Cambridge

IBM
IBM

Intern

Remote

Posted on Oct 10, 2026
Introduction

Join the pioneering Software Innovation Lab team at IBM Software and contribute to shaping the future foundations of artificial intelligence. Our group of scientists and engineers are dedicated to conducting end-to-end research that delivers real-world AI impact through a rigorous, responsible, and open innovation framework. We are the R&D team that is the innovation engine of IBM Software. We are shaping the technologies that IBM customers rely on – today and in the future. As an intern, you will advance state-of-the-art agent architectures and domain-specific models for business processes, IT and industrial automation, and software engineering across distributed and non-distributed environments, while developing responsible AI systems and enterprise-grade benchmarks that help enterprises personalize services, automate operations, optimize workflows, predict demand, and deliver effective outcomes. With a culture built on curiosity, creativity, and collaboration, this role offers the opportunity to grow your career while contributing to breakthroughs that transform industries and change the world.

Your role and responsibilities

As an AI Research Scientist Intern, you will engage in the full research lifecycle to pioneer new advancements in artificial intelligence. Your role will involve identifying core challenges, designing novel prototype solutions, and validating them through rigorous experimentation. You will help advance our research in foundation models and multimodal AI, business process intelligence and automation, IT and industrial automation, AI for software engineering, reliable and scalable agentic systems, AI security and trustworthiness, enterprise knowledge graphs, continual agent learning and adaptation, and knowledge-guided workflow orchestration. Collaborating in small, mentored teams, you will be responsible for shepherding projects from ideation to completion. A key objective is to disseminate significant results through publications in leading conferences and patent applications, contributing to both the academic community and IBM's open innovation initiatives.

Program Dates: Internship start dates vary based on your academic calendar.
• Semester System: May 24, 2027 – August 13, 2027
• Quarter System: June 14, 2027 – September 3, 2027
Candidates must be available to participate for the full duration of the internship corresponding to their academic schedule.

Location Flexibility: By applying to this requisition, you acknowledge and agree to be considered for any of the listed locations associated with this position and are willing to work at the location where you are ultimately assigned.

Required education
High School Diploma/GED
Preferred education
Doctorate Degree
Required technical and professional expertise
  • Research Experience in Modern AI and Systems: Hands-on experience and theoretical foundations in one or more of the following areas: foundation and multimodal models, agentic systems, AI for software engineering, knowledge graphs, continual learning, process intelligence, or distributed systems.
  • Strong Programming & Prototyping Skills: Proficiency in Python for rapid prototyping, experimental setup, and implementing large-scale machine learning systems.
  • Rigorous Analytical & Problem-Solving Abilities: Demonstrated strength in quantitative analysis, designing experiments, and deconstructing complex research problems.
  • Proven Research & Communication Skills: A track record of innovation (evidenced by peer-reviewed publications or strong preprints) and the ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts in both writing and presentations.
  • Collaborative Research Mindset: A team-oriented approach with a commitment to rigorous, reproducible, and well-documented research practices.
Preferred technical and professional experience
  • Research Excellence: Strong publication record in top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, AAAI).
  • Technical Proficiency: Advanced expertise in ML frameworks (PyTorch) and full-cycle development of algorithms and systems.
  • Specialized Skills: Hands-on experience with generative AI (LLMs) and multimodal models, from training to testing.
  • Communication: Demonstrated ability to present complex research and build high-impact technical demonstrations.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Software infuses core business operations with intelligence—from machine learning to generative AI—to help make organizations more responsive, productive, and resilient. IBM Software helps clients put AI into action now to create real value with trust, speed, and confidence across digital labor, IT automation, application modernization, security, and sustainability. Critical to this is the ability to make use of all data, because AI is only as good as the data that fuels it. In most organizations data is spread across multiple clouds, on premises, in private datacenters, and at the edge. IBM’s AI and data platform scales and accelerates the impact of AI with trusted data, and provides leading capabilities to train, tune and deploy AI across business. IBM’s hybrid cloud platform is one of the most comprehensive and consistent approach to development, security, and operations across hybrid environments—a flexible foundation for leveraging data, wherever it resides, to extend AI deep into a business.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

ABOUT IBM

IBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

Supplemental 1 employees may be eligible for up to 8 paid holidays, minimum of 56 hours paid sick time and the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan. IBM offers paid family medical leave and disability benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law.
This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 15 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role.
We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.

THIS POSTING IS NOT FOR A CURRENT VACANCY BUT THE EMPLOYER IS SEEKING RESUMES TO REVIEW IN THE FUTURE WHEN JOBS BECOME AVAILABLE.

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