Emerging Tech Research Intern

Trace3; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 25,000 - 37,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision plans

401(k) match

Competitive compensation

Training programs

Office snacks

Collaborative culture

Paid time off

Job summary

Trace3 is seeking an Innovation Research Intern to scout emerging startups and support client research within its Innovation team. You will perform secondary research, assess evidence, and organize vendor data to inform enterprise IT decisions.

Under the SVP guidance, you will learn to verify sources, build longlists, and prepare insights for workshops. The internship emphasizes collaboration, critical thinking, and practical exposure to cloud, security, and AI topics.

Qualifications

• Enrollment in the senior year of an undergraduate program or Masters program.
• Field of study relevant to Innovation Research internship (IT, CS, cybersecurity, business or related).
• Excellent secondary research skills including source evaluation and attribution.
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent technical documentation and artifact creation skills.
• Proficiency with spreadsheets, presentation tools, and collaborative documents.
• GPA 3.0 or better; transcript may be required.
• Academic or professional/internship experience in a professional setting is a plus.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, or applied AI is a plus.
• Ability to work independently and take direction.
• Self-motivation with a customer mindset and desire to help people.
• Enthusiasm for technical problem solving and critical thinking.
• Ability to learn and research in a dynamic environment.
• Availability to work 40 hours per week.

Responsibilities

• Scout emerging vendors across Security, Data, AI, Developer Operations, and others.
• Conduct secondary research to analyze investments in startups and identify trends.
• Apply deductive and inductive reasoning to verify data against sources.
• Interpret data to extract meaningful insights and cite sources for each statement.
• Maintain a vendor pipeline with category, product summary, funding stage, investors and leadership.
• Support quality checks by verifying figures, names and citations; keep trackers current.
• Observe technical reviews and prepare notes with takeaways and questions.
• Assist researchers with client research requests, such as building vendor longlists and competitive comparisons.
• Support client workshop preparation with background research.
• Complete a capstone research project and present findings to the team.
• All client content is reviewed and approved by a Researcher or Innovation Principal.
• May perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Communication skills

Self-motivated

Independence

Problem solving

Technical writing

Office tools

Cloud/AI familiarity

Education

Senior year undergraduate

Masters program

Tools

AI research tools

Job description

Trace3 is seeking an Innovation Research Intern to scout emerging startups and support client research within its Innovation team. You will perform secondary research, assess evidence, and organize vendor data to inform enterprise IT decisions.

Under the SVP guidance, you will learn to verify sources, build longlists, and prepare insights for workshops. The internship emphasizes collaboration, critical thinking, and practical exposure to cloud, security, and AI topics.