AI Foundations - Research Scientist - Research Internship - 2027

IBM; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 83,000; Part time

Job summary

IBM Research is seeking an AI Research Scientist Intern to join its Foundations team in Boston. You will explore training algorithms, fine-tuning, RL, and inference-time scaling for multi-modal models and language, code, and other modalities.

You will work on end-to-end research within a collaborative environment bridging science and engineering. You will contribute to foundational research, participate in small mentored teams, and aim to publish results and file patents while advancing IBM's

Qualifications

• Experience with modern ML research and deep understanding of LLMs/VLMs and transformers.
• Proficiency in Python for prototyping and ML system experiments.
• Ability to design, run, and interpret rigorous experiments in ML research.

Responsibilities

• Identify core challenges and design novel prototype solutions.
• Validate approaches through rigorous experimentation and benchmarks.
• Disseminate results through publications and patent filings; mentor teams.

Skills

LLMs

VLMs

Transformer architectures

Python

Experiment design

Publications

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Master's Degree

Tools

PyTorch

Job description

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, reinforcement learning, 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.

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 conduct foundational research in critical areas such as novel training algorithms, efficient fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, and inference-time scaling for multi-modal models. 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.

Required education

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred education

Master's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• Research Experience with Modern ML: Hands-on experience with and a deep theoretical understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs), Vision-Language Models (VLMs), and Transformer-based architectures.
• 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 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 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.

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