PhD Machine Learning Internship 2026 (USA)

With more than 550 million users around the world and 300 billion ideas saved, Pinterest Machine Learning interns help build personalized experiences to help Pinners create a life they love. With just over 3,000 global employees, our teams are small, mighty, and still growing. At Pinterest, you’ll experience hands-on access to an incredible vault of data and contribute large-scale recommendation systems in ways you won’t find anywhere else.

As a machine learning intern at Pinterest, you'll work on tackling new challenges in machine learning and artificial intelligence. You'll conduct research that can be applied across Pinterest engineering teams and engage in external collaborations and mentoring, while also performing research in any of the following areas: image recognition, user modeling, recommender systems,search, ads, ranking, natural language processing, neural networks, personalization, graph representation learning, and big data analytics.

Note to applicants:

By applying to this role, you will be considered for multiple intern roles open across our various ML teams. Please only apply once within the USA or Canada as multiple applications may delay our recruitment process.

Internships are 12 weeks paid, with fixed start dates in May or June to accommodate varying school calendars. Depending on the team, our summer internships will be located either remote or hybrid in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York or Seattle offices.

We offer 2 internship start dates:

• May 18, 2026 - August 7, 2026
• June 15, 2026 - September 4, 2026 

What you’ll do:

• Lead your own project start to finish to contribute in cutting-edge research in machine learning and artificial intelligence that can be applied to Pinterest problems
• Collect, analyze, and synthesize findings from data and build intelligent data-driven models
• Write clean, efficient, and sustainable code
• Use machine learning, natural language processing, and graph analysis to solve modeling and ranking problems across discovery, ads and search
• Scope and independently solve moderately complex problems
• Demonstrate accountability for the quality and completion of your tasks and projects, collaborating with your team and seeking guidance as needed.

What we’re looking for:

• Working towards a PhD in Computer Science, ML, NLP, Statistics, Information Sciences or related field
• Proficiency in at least one systems language (Java, C++, Python) or one ML framework (Tensorflow, Pytorch, MLFlow)
• Experience with big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop/Spark) and scalable realtime systems that process stream data
• Experience in research and in solving analytical problems
• Strong communicator and team player with the ability to find solutions for open-ended problems.
• Preferred Qualifications:
  • Publications in machine learning, AI, data science, data analytics, statistics, or related technical fields
  • Interest in research and in applying ML to impactful real-world problems on the Pinterest product

Why Intern at Pinterest?

• Meaningful Work: Contribute to projects that impact millions of users worldwide.
• Mentorship: Learn from and be guided by experienced engineers and researchers in the field.
• Growth and Development: Participate in professional development workshops and networking events to build your skills and connections.

In-Office Requirement Statement:

• We let the type of work you do guide the collaboration style. That means we’re not always working in an office, but we continue to gather for key moments of collaboration and connection
• This role may require you to be located near an office for in-person collaboration, and therefore may need to be located a commutable distance from one of our Pinterest offices.
  
  

At Pinterest we believe the workplace should be equitable, inclusive, and inspiring for every employee. In an effort to provide greater transparency, we are sharing the base salary range for this position. Final salary is based on a number of factors including location, travel, relevant prior experience, or particular skills and expertise.

Information regarding the culture at Pinterest and benefits available for this position can be found here.

US based applicants only

The salary for this position is $12,100 monthly.

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