AI Foundations - Software Engineer - Research Internship

Position: AI Foundations - Software Engineer - Research Internship: 2026
Introduction

IBM Research takes responsibility for technology and its role in society. Working in IBM Research means you'll join a team who invent what's next in computing, always choosing the big, urgent and mind-bending work that endures and shapes generations. Our passion for discovery, and excitement for defining the future of tech, is what builds our strong culture around solving problems for clients and seeing the real world impact that you can make.

IBM's product and technology landscape includes Research, Software, and Infrastructure. Entering this domain positions you at the heart of IBM, where growth and innovation thrive.

Your role and responsibilities

Join the pioneering AI Foundations Research team at IBM Research and contribute to shaping the future foundations of artificial intelligence. Our group of scientists, engineers, and designers is dedicated to conducting end-to-end research that delivers real-world AI impact through a rigorous, responsible, and open innovation framework. We are the team behind IBM's Granite open-source models, and our work spans multi-modal (vision, speech, language, code) and multi-lingual systems, data quality, data generation, novel model architectures, training recipes, governance and trustworthiness, and programming models for interacting with models.

As an intern, you will explore cutting-edge research areas, including new algorithms for training, fine-tuning, and inference time scaling, alongside pioneering work in generative computing and generative programming for language, code, and other modalities, all within a collaborative environment that bridges fundamental science and transformative engineering.

As an AI Software Engineer 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 develop the robust, scalable infrastructure that powers cutting-edge AI research. Collaborating in small, expert-led teams, you will drive projects from concept to completion - transforming novel algorithms into high-performance, reusable code within modern, distributed frameworks, while contributing to IBM's open innovation initiatives.

Required education

High School Diploma/GED

Preferred education

Bachelor's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

* Foundational ML Knowledge:
Familiarity with core concepts of modern AI, including Transformer architectures and Large Language Models (LLMs). Hands-on class or project experience is a plus.

* Programming Proficiency:

Experience with Python for software development, scripting, or prototyping.

* Problem-Solving:
Strong analytical and quantitative skills with an ability to break down complex problems.

* Communication:
Ability to clearly explain technical concepts and work collaboratively within a team.

* Learning Mindset: A strong interest in AI research and a commitment to building high-quality, well-tested code.

Preferred technical and professional experience

* Technical Proficiency:
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.

* Communication:
Ability to present complex research and build high-impact technical demonstrations.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Research is the organic growth engine of IBM and an innovation engine for our customers and partners. As part of this mission, IBM Research anticipates and examines 'What's Next in Computing' to ultimately create and integrate the technologies the world relies upon to solve big challenges and unlock new opportunities. We create and pioneer new markets for IBM, our partners and customers as exemplified in our ongoing quest to reach practical and large-scale quantum computing.

Across IBM Research, we realize the power and potential to accelerate discovery with our partners and clients by combining the power of high performance computing, AI, and Quantum, all integrated through the hybrid cloud.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never…