15 Software Research Internships for Undergraduates
- Stephen Turban
- 23 hours ago
- 12 min read
If you are serious about pursuing software engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence, or any technically rigorous field after college, a software research internship during your undergraduate years is one of the smartest investments you can make. These internships place you inside real research and development environments, working alongside engineers, researchers, and faculty who are actively contributing to the field. That kind of access is rare at the undergraduate level and tends to yield experience difficult to replicate through coursework alone.
Why should I do a software research internship in college?
Working in a real software research environment develops skills that go well beyond what a classroom or university lab can offer. You learn how to identify meaningful research problems, engage seriously with existing technical literature, design and implement solutions, and contribute to work that advances the field in some measurable way.
These are exactly the skills that graduate programs in computer science and top technology companies will expect of you, and developing them during your undergraduate years gives you a measurable advantage. A research internship under professional supervision also gives your graduate school and job applications something specific and credible to stand on. It demonstrates technical initiative, independent thinking, and the ability to produce original work that stands out clearly.
With that, here are 15 software research internships for undergraduates worth considering.
If you’re looking for remote internships, check out our blog here.
Key takeaways
These 15 internships span machine learning, AI research, cybersecurity, fintech, space systems, agentic computing, cryptography, and full-stack engineering, so undergraduates with a range of software and research interests can find a relevant opportunity.
Compensation varies widely, from hourly rates of $30 to $61 (Trumid, SummitTX, Adobe Research) to monthly stipends of $6,000 to $13,270 (BrowserOS, Dex, Microsoft Research), making several of these internships among the most financially competitive placements available to undergraduates.
Several internships offer direct research mentorship with a path toward publication, including Adobe Research, Microsoft Research, GPTZero, and Cloudflare Research, making them particularly strong for students considering graduate school in computer science or AI.
Programs vary significantly in team size and structure, from large cohort programs, such as SpaceX and Microsoft Research, to small founding-team environments, such as BrowserOS and Dex, so students can choose based on whether they prefer structured mentorship or early-stage startup exposure.
Most internships use rolling admissions without fixed deadlines, so students should apply as early as possible, particularly for competitive placements at SpaceX (applications typically open the previous August) and Adobe Research, which fills positions on an ongoing basis.
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid available.
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November).
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks. Open to undergraduates and gap year students!
Ladder University Internship Program places you in a selective, virtual internship with startups and nonprofits from around the world, making it a great summer internship for college students looking for flexible, meaningful work. You’ll take on a project that the organization genuinely needs - whether that’s in education, tech, marketing, or social impact - and work closely with your manager to see it through. By the end of the term, you’ll present your work to stakeholders, gaining practical project management, collaboration, and communication skills. Because the internship is remote, it fits easily into a summer schedule while offering global exposure and professional connections.
Location: BrowserOS, San Francisco, CA
Stipend: $6,000 – $10,000 monthly stipend
Acceptance size/cohort size: Not specified; small-team environment
Dates: Summer term, typically June – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; recommended to apply by March 1
Eligibility: Sophomore and above; proficiency in TypeScript and machine learning
This internship places you at the forefront of the burgeoning field of agentic computing within a Y Combinator-backed startup environment. You will contribute to the development of an open-source browser designed to function as an operating system for generalist AI agents. The role involves training and fine-tuning Large Action Models to improve the capability of software-based autonomous assistants. You can expect to work directly with the founding team, gaining high-level professional exposure to state-of-the-art machine learning frameworks and TypeScript-based systems. This position is ideal for undergraduates seeking software research internships that offer significant autonomy and the chance to shape the direction of a novel, open-source platform.
Location: Trumid, New York City, NY
Stipend: $30 – $38 hourly pay range
Acceptance size/cohort size: Small, high-impact summer cohort
Dates: June – August (8-10 week duration)
Application Deadline: Not specified; typically early spring
Eligibility: Undergraduates within two years of graduation (pursuing STEM degrees like Computer Science or AI/ML)
This internship offers a hybrid experience in which you apply artificial intelligence to optimize real-world workflows in the fintech sector. Working across both the Technology Operations and Human Resources departments, you will identify high-friction tasks and build AI-powered prototypes to reduce manual effort at scale. You are encouraged to be an "AI radar" for the firm, researching emerging tools and sharing how new developments could transform internal IT and employee management systems. The role requires hands-on experience with Python or TypeScript, as well as familiarity with AI-native tools such as Claude or Cursor.
Location: Abaka, Palo Alto, CA.
Stipend: Not specified; paid internship based on academic level.
Acceptance size/cohort size: Not specified; specialized research team.
Dates: Summer term, typically June – August.
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions.
Eligibility: Pursuing a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science or related STEM fields.
At Abaka, you will engage in the research and implementation of deep learning algorithms focused on model training and optimization. The position requires you to support development across several advanced domains, including computer vision, 3D perception, and multimodal learning environments. You will be responsible for building scalable data processing pipelines that handle diverse datasets, including video, text, and audio. This role encourages you to stay current with the latest peer-reviewed literature in NLP and MLOps to prototype innovative ideas effectively.
Location: Dex, San Francisco, CA.
Stipend: $6,000 – $10,000 monthly stipend
Acceptance size/cohort size: Small, agile founding team
Dates: Summer term, typically June – August.
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early applications encouraged for YC-backed roles.
Eligibility: Open to all school years; requires a strong foundation in Python and TypeScript.
This internship offers a rare opportunity to join a small, fast-moving team that is reimagining the browser as an intelligent workspace. You will focus on building browser-native AI and multi-agent systems that utilize sophisticated tool-calling and context-handling capabilities. Key projects include developing self-updating memory stores for agents and systems that interpret DOM snapshots and user inputs to automate complex workflows. By working directly with the founders, you will gain significant exposure to the process of bringing novel research approaches into production. This role is a premier choice among software research internships for undergraduates who are interested in reinforcement learning environments and the practical application of Large Language Models.
Location: Toronto, Canada, or New York City, NY (Hybrid)
Stipend: Competitive salary provided
Acceptance size/cohort size: Highly selective; working directly with the CTO and AI Research Lead
Dates: Summer term, typically May – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early application is recommended
Eligibility: Candidates with a history of ML research and proficiency in Python and PyTorch; must have a valid visa for the US or Canada
This internship offers the opportunity to join the leading AI detection platform, where you will build systems designed to verify the origin and factuality of digital information. Depending on your background, the role can focus on ML engineering or publication-oriented research, including designing and fine-tuning state-of-the-art large language models. You will likely develop AI agents and retrieval-augmented language models while building scalable training and inference systems. The program provides mentorship from a world-class team with backgrounds at Meta, Perplexity, and leading research labs like the Vector Institute.
Location: SummitTX Capital, New York, NY
Stipend: $40 – $50 hourly base compensation; eligible for overtime
Acceptance size/cohort size: Specialized intake for the central research team
Dates: Summer term, typically June – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early application recommended for financial research cycles
Eligibility: Currently pursuing a BS or MS in Data Science, Data Engineering, Statistics, or related STEM fields
This position offers you the chance to work at a multi-strategy hedge fund where you will help build and scale a systematic data platform powering alpha research. You will engage in end-to-end model development, including data acquisition, backtesting, and deployment within a professional financial environment. The role involves utilizing a modern tech stack featuring Databricks, Spark, and Python to operationalize ELT workflows and maintain research-grade datasets. You will partner directly with portfolio managers to translate complex investment hypotheses into testable research artifacts and clear visualizations.
Location: Dorsia, New York City, NY, or Miami, FL
Stipend: $40k–$60k pro-rated
Acceptance size/cohort size: Small, high-performance engineering team
Dates: June 1 – August 7
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early application is encouraged
Eligibility: Pursuing a Bachelor’s in Computer Science or a related field; must have completed junior-level coursework.
This role invites you to join a fast-paced hospitality-tech startup backed by over $50M in funding from premier investors and industry partners. As an intern, you will contribute to both core product platform initiatives and exploratory R&D efforts, working directly alongside Product and Design teams. You will gain hands-on experience in software development and engineering fundamentals by implementing application features and participating in rigorous code reviews. The position requires foundational knowledge of software engineering principles and proficiency with modern AI-assisted development tools like Cursor or GitHub Copilot.
Location: SpaceX, Hawthorne, CA (Headquarters); potentially Redmond, WA or Brownsville, TX
Stipend: Hourly compensation provided; relocation stipends and housing assistance are generally available
Acceptance size/cohort size: Highly competitive; large annual intake across multiple departments
Dates: Summer, Fall, or Spring terms (12-16 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; applications for summer typically open the previous August
Eligibility: Currently enrolled in an accredited university or a recent graduate, pursuing a degree in Computer Science or a related engineering field
Interning at SpaceX allows you to work on software systems that directly facilitate the exploration of space and the expansion of global connectivity. You will be integrated into teams responsible for flight software, ground systems, or enterprise platforms, contributing to mission-critical code used in Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink programs. The work often involves developing real-time control systems, high-performance simulation tools, or large-scale data infrastructures that require extreme reliability and efficiency. This experience is widely regarded for its high rigor of professional experience, as you are given ownership of significant projects that undergo rigorous testing and deployment.
Location: Domyn, New York, NY (Additional locations in Milan and India)
Stipend: Paid internship based on regional standards
Acceptance size/cohort size: Small, specialized research-focused cohort
Dates: Summer term, typically June – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Strong background in computer science or machine learning; proficiency in Python
This position involves contributing to the development of core AI systems specifically designed for regulated industries like financial services and government. You will work alongside the research team to design experiments and implement machine learning models that address complex, real-world tasks within the financial domain. The role requires you to evaluate model behavior and support the creation of scalable pipelines, ensuring all solutions adhere to responsible AI standards. Given Domyn's focus on composable AI architecture and large-scale supercomputing, you will gain exposure to high-level technical infrastructure and proprietary governed solutions.
Location: Adobe Research, San Jose, CA (Multiple US locations available)
Stipend: $45.00 – $61.00 hourly pay range
Acceptance size/cohort size: Highly selective; interns work under a dedicated research mentor
Dates: Summer term, typically May – August
Application Deadline: Ongoing/Rolling admissions based on hiring needs
Eligibility: Current PhD or Master’s students; exceptional undergraduates are also considered
This prestigious internship allows you to work within Adobe Research labs to invent the future of creative and intelligent technologies. Under the guidance of a professional mentor, you will pursue a specific research problem to develop new algorithms and demonstration prototypes that may lead to an academic publication. The program covers a broad range of domains, including computer vision, natural language processing, human-computer interaction, and document intelligence. Adobe emphasizes long-term collaboration, often seeking to foster relationships that can contribute to a student's thesis work beyond the initial internship period.
Location: Snyk, Boston, MA
Stipend: Competitive hourly pay; includes wellness and education allowances
Acceptance size/cohort size: Part of a global cohort of early-career talent
Dates: Summer term, typically June – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; typically opens in late autumn
Eligibility: Current students with familiarity with TypeScript or Go and foundational knowledge of relational databases
As an intern at Snyk, you will contribute to an AI-native developer security platform that helps millions of users secure their software. You will work across the full stack and the entire development lifecycle, maintaining and extending core services that find and fix vulnerabilities in code and cloud infrastructure. The role emphasizes code quality through active participation in peer reviews and the application of modern engineering best practices. Beyond technical tasks, you will participate in "Impact" events and network with a global cohort to build professional soft skills. This position is a high-utility choice for those seeking software research internships for undergraduates that focus on the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and scalable cloud services.
Location: Cloudflare, Austin, TX
Stipend: Competitive hourly pay; relocation assistance may be available
Acceptance size/cohort size: Small, elite research groups within a larger summer cohort
Dates: Summer term (12-week commitment), typically June – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early spring application is highly encouraged
Eligibility: Students at all levels (Undergraduate, Master’s, or PhD) returning to a program after the internship
This internship places you within Cloudflare’s Research Team to solve high-impact problems involving the security, privacy, and scalability of the global Internet. You will engage in a variety of technical tasks, including protocol design, data analysis, and implementing cryptographic primitives using systems-level languages such as Rust, Go, or C. The program encourages you to contribute to open-source software and Internet standards while exploring cutting-edge applications of machine learning for network optimization. For students interested in software research internships for undergraduates, Cloudflare offers an environment where you can work on "normalized" Internet problems and help build a more resilient and transparent digital infrastructure.
Location: Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA
Stipend: $5,610 – $13,270 monthly base pay (varies by level and location)
Acceptance size/cohort size: Highly selective; interns are paired with individual world-class mentors
Dates: Typically 12 weeks during the summer; year-round options available
Application Deadline: Ongoing until filled; minimum posting period of 5 days
Eligibility: Currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD program in Computer Science or a related STEM field; requires at least one year of deep learning and LLM training experience
This internship places you within the AI Frontier Lab, where you will focus on advancing the state of the art in agentic model capabilities. You will work on creating models that can reliably perform tasks across digital systems, leveraging both text-based environments, such as APIs, and visual environments, such as GUI applications. Research areas of particular interest include reinforcement learning for logical reasoning, synthetic environment creation, and the exploration of scaling laws between test-time and training-time computation. You will be expected to work with leading scientists to develop original research suitable for publication in top-tier venues such as NeurIPS or ICLR. For students seeking software research internships for undergraduates and graduates that involve shipping technology into a global ecosystem, this role offers a direct path to influencing foundational models like Phi-4 and AutoGen.
Location: Ripple (GTreasury), Chicago, IL
Stipend: Competitive salary provided
Acceptance size/cohort size: Not specified; specialized project-based intake
Dates: 12 weeks during the summer (starting May or June)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early application is recommended
Eligibility: Currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree in Computer Science or a related field; intent to return to school after the internship
This internship offers an opportunity to work on modernizing a critical internal SSO application within Ripple’s newly acquired treasury command center, GTreasury. You will take full ownership of migrating a legacy ASP.NET Web Forms system to a modern ASP.NET Core Web API with a React frontend. Key responsibilities include replacing file-based logging with structured logging using Serilog, migrating raw SQL queries to Entity Framework Core, and rebuilding SAML 2.0 token creation. This role is highly technical, focusing on real-world outcomes with actual users, and provides a deep dive into integrating traditional and digital assets.
Frequently asked questions
What software research internships are available for undergraduates?
Options include academic and research-lab internships, such as Adobe Research and Microsoft Research, AI and machine learning internships, such as BrowserOS, Dex, GPTZero, and Abaka, fintech and data engineering internships, such as Trumid and SummitTX, cybersecurity and infrastructure internships, such as Snyk and Cloudflare Research, and flexible virtual placements, such as Ladder University Internship.
Which software research internships offer the highest compensation?
Microsoft Research offers $5,610 to $13,270 per month depending on level, BrowserOS and Dex offer $6,000 to $10,000 per month, SummitTX pays $40 to $50 per hour, and Adobe Research pays $45 to $61 per hour, making these among the most financially competitive options on the list.
Which internships are best for undergraduates interested in AI and machine learning research?
Adobe Research, Microsoft Research, GPTZero, Abaka, and BrowserOS all offer structured AI and ML research experiences, with Adobe and Microsoft specifically offering mentorship toward academic publications at top venues.
Are there software research internships open to students outside the United States?
Ladder University Internship is fully remote and open to students anywhere in the world, GPTZero accepts candidates with valid US or Canadian visas, and Domyn has offices in New York, Milan, and India, offering international placement options.
Which internships are best for students considering graduate school in computer science?
Adobe Research, Microsoft Research, GPTZero, and Cloudflare Research all offer direct research mentorship and pathways toward publication, which are among the strongest credentials a student can build for graduate school applications in computer science or AI.
When should I apply to software research internships for undergraduates?
SpaceX typically opens summer applications the previous August, Microsoft Research and Adobe Research fill positions on a rolling basis throughout the year, and most other internships, such as BrowserOS, GPTZero, and Cloudflare, recommend applying by early spring for summer positions.
One other option – Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research, consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4,000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here, check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a graduate of Harvard College, where he earned an A.B. in Statistics. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.