PhD Machine Learning Intern – Summer 2025

The Dropbox Emerging Talent program shapes the future of work by empowering the next generation of innovators. We transform potential into impact by connecting exceptional early-career professionals with meaningful challenges that can touch hundreds of millions of lives. Our program allows interns and apprentices to work alongside industry experts, bringing fresh perspectives while solving interesting problems. We foster growth through hands-on learning, dedicated mentorship, and a vibrant community that supports your journey from day one. If you’re ready to launch your career in an environment that combines real-world impact with genuine connection, join our Emerging Talent program. We will be hiring for these departments in 2025: Engineering, Customer Experience, Sales, Legal, Office of the CEO

Role Description:

At Dropbox, interns don’t just watch from the sidelines—they’re integral members of the team. As a PhD Machine Learning intern, you’ll partner with world-class engineers and researchers in our New Initiatives organization, where you’ll tackle cutting-edge challenges at the intersection of frontier AI research and real-world application. Throughout your internship, you’ll receive mentorship, collaborate on impactful projects, and help shape the future of Dropbox’s AI strategy.

Within Dropbox, New Initiatives is all about innovation and exploration. Our group builds and experiments with next-generation AI-driven products—from advanced large language models and generative AI prototypes to brand-new user experiences that blend research breakthroughs with Dropbox’s core mission. If you thrive on exploring uncharted territory and rapidly iterating on new ideas, you’ll feel right at home here.

• High-Impact Work: You won’t just be observing; you’ll be contributing to AI initiatives that could shape the next phase of Dropbox’s products.
• Learn from Experts: Collaborate with a team of engineers, product managers, and researchers who have deep expertise in both ML and large-scale software systems.
• Innovative Culture: Push the boundaries of what AI can do. Dropbox fosters experimentation and creative problem-solving—especially in New Initiatives.
• Mentorship & Growth: Every intern is paired with a dedicated mentor to help guide projects, provide feedback, and ensure a meaningful learning experience.
• Community & Connection: Join an intern cohort, participate in social and professional development events, and build your network for the future.

Responsibilities:

• Explore & Prototype: Investigate cutting-edge research in areas like knowledge distillation, agentic AI, and multilingual LLMs, translating conceptual ideas into working demos or internal proofs of concept.
• Applied AI Research: Work on real-world challenges—e.g., how to efficiently summarize large collections of documents, build agentic workflows, or orchestrate advanced reasoning models—and apply novel techniques to solve them.
• Collaborate & Iterate: Partner closely with product managers, designers, and other engineers to brainstorm innovative applications, gather feedback, and iterate on prototypes.
• Experiment & Evaluate: Design experiments to test your hypotheses, evaluate AI model performance, and analyze user impact. You’ll move quickly, learning what works and discarding what doesn’t.
• Champion New Ideas: Help identify emerging trends in AI that could benefit Dropbox users, providing technical insight and feasibility assessments for future product initiatives.

Requirements:

• PhD Student in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related field, with a research focus on advanced AI (e.g., NLP, multimodal learning, LLMs, or similar).
• Graduation date in Spring 2026
• Proven experience in applied AI, through research publications, significant projects, or internships where you built or tested advanced ML solutions.
• Strong coding skills (e.g., Python), plus an ability to quickly prototype and iterate on cutting-edge ideas.
• Curiosity and drive to explore novel ML methodologies and translate them into practical applications that solve user needs.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Research background or publications in top-tier AI/ML conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR).
• Hands-on experience working with large language models, generative AI, or reinforcement learning.
• Familiarity with the end-to-end process of building AI prototypes: from data exploration and model iteration to evaluation and user testing.
• Passion for swiftly moving from idea to experiment, comfortable with ambiguous or evolving project goals.

We welcome candidates who are enthusiastic about pushing the frontiers of AI and applying research to real-world Dropbox challenges. If this sounds like you, we encourage you to apply—help us shape the future of work and collaboration through groundbreaking AI innovations.

Compensation:

US Pay Range $11,000—$12,000 USD

The rate listed above is the expected monthly rate for this role, subject to change.

Dropbox is a Virtual First company and is open to hiring candidates in all authorized locations.

Benefits:

Dropbox is committed to investing in the holistic health and wellbeing of all Dropboxers and their families.

Our benefits and perks programs include:

• Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
• Flexible Time Off/Paid Time Off, paid holidays, Company-wide PTO days, Volunteer time off
• Perks Allowance to be used on what matters most to you, whether that’s productivity, learning & development, wellness, co-working space

Additional benefits details are available upon request.

Dropbox is an equal opportunity employer. We are a welcoming place for everyone, and we do our best to make sure all people feel supported and connected at work.

Apply now >