AI & Intelligence Internship - Winter/Spring '27

APCO; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 49,594,000 - 55,104,000; Full time

Job summary

APCO seeks seniors and graduates for a full-time paid internship in AI, research, and data science at APCO's Washington, DC office. Interns contribute to building ML models, AI agents, and intelligent systems for advocacy campaigns, policy initiatives, and reputation management.

40 hours/week with hybrid work options. The role sits in APCO's AI & Intelligence team, collaborating with strategists, account teams, and creatives on client deliverables for corporations, governments, and advocacy

Qualifications

• Recent graduate or senior in CS, data science, engineering, or related field.
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks; NLP libraries preferred.
• Interest in AI, data science, or computational modeling.
• Experience with proprietary AI platforms for advisory work.
• Comfort collaborating with non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with statistics, survey methods, or social media listening preferred.
• Available to work 40 hours per week.
• Requires US Work Authorization (no CPT/OPT).

Responsibilities

• Assist in building, training, and evaluating ML models using Python and libraries (scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Support development of AI agents for content generation, sentiment analysis, and predictive analytics.
• Analyze structured and unstructured data from social media, news, and government sources.
• Train AI models on project datasets including social media data, stakeholder communications, and desk research.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate AI into campaign strategies for clients and internal initiatives.
• Contribute to Intelligence & AI solutions, including dashboards and data lakes with real-time feeds.
• Support creation of AI dashboards and tools for tracking metrics.
• Document model performance, results, and workflows.
• Research emerging AI tools and ethical considerations.
• Brainstorming and planning around AI applications for client and internal projects.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Python

NLP

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Team collaboration

Statistics

Survey methodology

Social media listening

Multitasking

Independent work

Education

CS/Data Science/Engineering degree

Tools

scikit-learn

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Job description

APCO is seeking seniors and recent graduates to join our full-time, paid internship program focused on artificial intelligence, research and data science. Our interns experience on-the-job training and will be embedded with one or more of our North American office teams. Interns are treated as professional staff, participate in team meetings, actively contribute ideas, and support the development and deployment of AI-powered solutions across client work and internal initiatives.

This internship is part of APCO’s AI & Intelligence team. The intern will help build and test machine learning models, train AI agents, and contribute to the development of intelligent systems that enhance campaign performance, audience targeting, and strategic decision-making specifically for advocacy campaigns, policy initiatives, and reputation management efforts.

This internship will sit in APCO's Washington, DC office.

Responsibilities:

• Assist in building, training, and evaluating machine learning models using Python and relevant libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch)
• Support the development and fine-tuning of AI agents for tasks such as content generation, sentiment analysis, and predictive analytics including policy document analysis, stakeholder mapping, message optimization, and regulatory intelligence gathering
• Clean, organize, and analyze structured and unstructured datasets to extract insights from sources including social media platforms, news outlets, government databases, survey responses, and client-specific data repositories across energy, financial services, healthcare, technology, and other key sectors
• Train AI models on project specific datasets including social media data analysis, stakeholder communications, desk research reports, survey reports
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate AI solutions into broader campaign strategies working directly with strategists, account teams, and creative professionals on client deliverables for corporations, governments, and advocacy organizations
• Contribute to APCO’s custom Intelligence & AI solutions development, including bespoke "decision support command centers" for clients, integrating secure, proprietary data lakes with real-time feeds and custom dashboards
• Support the creation of AI-powered dashboards and tools for tracking project specific metrics
• Document model performance, testing results, and technical workflows
• Conduct research on emerging AI tools, techniques, and ethical considerations
• Contribute to brainstorming sessions and strategic planning around AI applications for client projects and internal strategic initiatives
• Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Recent college graduate or senior in class standing, preferably in computer science, data science, engineering, or a related field
• Some proficiency in Python and familiarity with machine learning frameworks with preferred experience in natural language processing libraries
• Demonstrated interest in artificial intelligence, data science, or computational modeling
• Interest in working with proprietary AI platforms and contributing to the development of custom intelligence solutions for high-stakes strategic advisory work
• Comfort in a fast-paced environment collaborating with a distributed team including working with non-technical stakeholders such as strategists, policy experts, and campaign managers
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills with ability to translate complex technical concepts for strategy and advocacy applications
• Organized and attentive to detail
• Coursework or experience in statistics, survey methodology, or social science research methods or social media listening preferred
• Able to multi-task and approach assignments independently
• Interest in current events, political processes, corporate communications, and the intersection of technology with public discourse across multiple sectors is a plus
• Interest in contributing to cutting-edge AI applications that combine human expertise with machine intelligence to solve complex challenges in corporate reputation, crisis management, policy advocacy, and stakeholder engagement
• Available to work 40 hours per week
• Requires US Work Authorization, unable to consider candidates with CPT/OPT/Post-OPT status

What are the core working hours and will I need to be in an office?

Our interns work 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

We are committed to a hybrid and flexible working environment, and there may be days that you wish to work from home and days that we come together so that you get to explore more of our culture and meet other colleagues. You will be provided with a company laptop so that you are able to work from home and in the office easily.

Compensation:

This is a paid internship at a fixed hourly rate of $18.40.

When is the closing date for applications?

Applications will close on Friday, October 2nd.

Internship Dates:

Our program begins on Tuesday, January 12th and ends on Friday, May 21st 2027.

Careers at APCO

Through our recruitment, hiring and retention efforts, APCO is committed to building teams who bring the best possible expertise and robust perspectives to our clients. We embrace differences in experience, viewpoint and ideas, starting with our values and extending to our behaviors, policies and practices. We aim to create a positive work experience and welcoming environment where everyone feels they belong and can thrive.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourage applications from all qualified candidates regardless of race, national origin, citizenship, native language, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, religion, age, veteran status, neurodivergence, mental or physical disability, medical history, pregnancy, political belief or affiliation or any other characteristic protected by law.