Product Management Intern at Parallel Systems

Job description

Parallel Systems is pioneering autonomous battery-electric rail vehicles designed to transform freight transportation by shifting portions of the $900 billion U.S. trucking industry onto rail. Our innovative technology offers cleaner, safer, and more efficient logistics solutions. Join our dynamic team and help shape a smarter, greener future for global freight. Product Management Intern Parallel Systems is seeking a Product Intern to help shape the software platform that our team, operators, and rail partners use to run an autonomous freight network. This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to own a real product problem, not shadow one. You will sit at the intersection of engineering, operations, and customers. You will talk to users, dig into data, define requirements, and work side by side with software engineers to scope and ship a feature on our platform. The right person is technical enough to earn engineers' trust, curious enough to understand how rail and logistics actually work, and comfortable bringing structure to ambiguous problems. What You Will Work On You will own a specific product problem on our software platform, scoped to team priorities. Example areas include: User and customer research: interviewing operators, rail partners, and internal teams to understand workflows and pain points Requirements and specs: turning research into clear problem statements, user stories, and requirements engineers can build from Feature delivery: working with engineering and design to scope, prioritize, build, and launch a feature on the platform Fleet operations workflows: improving how users monitor, dispatch, and manage vehicles and freight through our tools Data and metrics: defining success metrics, querying fleet and usage data, and turning findings into product decisions Roadmap input: assessing opportunities, competitive landscape, and tradeoffs to inform what the team builds next You will work through a structured product lifecycle: discovery, problem definition, requirements, delivery with engineering, launch, and measuring results. What to Expect Weeks 1-2: Onboarding, overview of our vehicles, operations, and software platform, shadowing engineers and operators, and tool and data access setup Weeks 3-4: Project assignment, user interviews and discovery, and a written problem statement reviewed with your mentor Weeks 5-7: Requirements and spec writing, prioritization with engineering, and early design or prototype reviews Weeks 8-10: Supporting build and testing with the engineering team, user feedback sessions, and iteration on scope Weeks 11-12: Launch or handoff, measurement of early results, documentation of findings and recommended next steps, and a presentation to the broader team Progress will be tracked through weekly check-ins with your mentor, spec and design reviews, and feedback from engineering, operations, and users. Basic Requirements Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field Hands-on product, engineering, or startup experience through internships, student teams, research, or personal projects Enough technical fluency to read code, understand system architecture, and discuss tradeoffs with engineers Experience working with data, such as writing SQL or analyzing data in Python or spreadsheets Strong written communication, including the ability to write clear, concise specs and documents Ability to bring structure to ambiguous problems and drive work forward with limited direction Excitement about working in a hard-tech environment where software meets physical vehicles and real operations Preferred Qualifications Prior software engineering or product management internship, or experience shipping a software product at a startup or on a student team Experience conducting user interviews or usability testing and translating findings into requirements Experience building prototypes or simple apps, or comfort with design tools such as Figma Familiarity with B2B, enterprise, or operations software Interest in logistics, transportation, rail, robotics, or industrial technology Experience from hands-on extracurricular engineering teams such as Formula SAE, robotics, autonomous systems teams, or similar Strong documentation habits and attention to detail Please note the hourly range in the job posting reflects the new hire hourly range across levels that would be applicable to the position. Final compensation will be commensurate with the candidate’s final level. Also, this range represents base compensation only and does not include equity or benefits, if applicable. Target Hourly Range: $50 — $50 USD Parallel Systems is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any discriminatory factor protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. We work to build an inclusive environment in which all people can come to do their best work. Parallel Systems is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Parallel Systems will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact your recruiter.

Requirements

Must-haves

The right person is technical enough to earn engineers' trust, curious enough to understand how rail and logistics actually work, and comfortable bringing structure to ambiguous problems.
What You Will Work On
You will own a specific product problem on our software platform, scoped to team priorities. Example areas include:
User and customer research: interviewing operators, rail partners, and internal teams to understand workflows and pain points
Requirements and specs: turning research into clear problem statements, user stories, and requirements engineers can build from
Feature delivery: working with engineering and design to scope, prioritize, build, and launch a feature on the platform
Fleet operations workflows: improving how users monitor, dispatch, and manage vehicles and freight through our tools
Data and metrics: defining success metrics, querying fleet and usage data, and turning findings into product decisions
Roadmap input: assessing opportunities, competitive landscape, and tradeoffs to inform what the team builds next
You will work through a structured product lifecycle: discovery, problem definition, requirements, delivery with engineering, launch, and measuring results.
What to Expect
Weeks 1-2: Onboarding, overview of our vehicles, operations, and software platform, shadowing engineers and operators, and tool and data access setup
Weeks 3-4: Project assignment, user interviews and discovery, and a written problem statement reviewed with your mentor
Weeks 5-7: Requirements and spec writing, prioritization with engineering, and early design or prototype reviews
Weeks 8-10: Supporting build and testing with the engineering team, user feedback sessions, and iteration on scope
Weeks 11-12: Launch or handoff, measurement of early results, documentation of findings and recommended next steps, and a presentation to the broader team
Progress will be tracked through weekly check-ins with your mentor, spec and design reviews, and feedback from engineering, operations, and users.

Nice-to-haves

Prior software engineering or product management internship, or experience shipping a software product at a startup or on a student team
Experience conducting user interviews or usability testing and translating findings into requirements
Experience building prototypes or simple apps, or comfort with design tools such as Figma
Familiarity with B2B, enterprise, or operations software
Interest in logistics, transportation, rail, robotics, or industrial technology
Experience from hands-on extracurricular engineering teams such as Formula SAE, robotics, autonomous systems teams, or similar
Strong documentation habits and attention to detail

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

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