Software Engineer Intern
ConductorAI· startup· Computer Software· Sep 17, 2026 · 1mo ago
New York City
Hybrid
Internship
Intern
$53K–$90K est.
Job description
INTRODUCTION
We value candidates who have significant experience with managing complexity, working independently, and are motivated by hard problems.
WHAT WE OFFER
- The ability to have real impact on mission-critical workflows
- The chance to use state-of-the-art tech to solve novel problems with mission partners
- The opportunity to define your role through time as we grow
- Competitive salary and equity upside with annual merit refreshes based on impact
Position Overview
As a Software Engineer Intern, you’ll work alongside our engineering team to build ConductorAI’s core application: a user-facing web platform for large-scale document search, review, and AI-powered workflows. You’ll contribute to real production systems, including document-processing pipelines, agentic workflow execution, database scaling, and applications that push state-of-the-art LLMs to their limits.
This is a product engineering role as much as a systems role. You’ll help design and build intuitive interfaces for complex, document-centric workflows and see how the software you build is used to solve real problems across defense, government, and regulated commercial environments.
You won’t be confined to low-stakes intern projects. You’ll be trusted with meaningful work on our product’s critical path and given the opportunity to own features from problem definition through implementation. You’ll work closely with experienced engineers who will provide mentorship and technical guidance while giving you the autonomy to experiment, learn quickly, and take on increasingly challenging problems.
We’re looking for interns with strong computer science fundamentals, a generalist mindset, and the curiosity and drive to learn new technologies quickly. You’ll join a small, tight-knit technical team where interns work directly alongside full-time engineers and have meaningful visibility into how an early-stage company builds products, makes technical decisions, and scales.
This internship is intended to be a pathway to future opportunities at ConductorAI. Strong performers may have the opportunity to return for additional internships or co-ops or join the team full-time after graduation.
Location
This internship is open to candidates based in the US, with a strong preference for candidates who can work from our NYC or DC offices for the summer.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Build and improve search, review, and AI-powered agents for accuracy and consistency
- Build polished, reliable user-facing features in our Next.js/React application
- Develop backend APIs, data models, and workflow execution paths that support responsive frontend experiences
- Write high-quality, maintainable code alongside a small team of experienced engineers
- Contribute to the design and architecture of production systems
- Own meaningful features and technical problems from initial idea through implementation
- Work closely with engineers, product teammates, and users to understand problems and help translate them into product improvements
- Learn quickly, ask thoughtful questions, and take increasing ownership as you become familiar with our product and codebase
QUALIFICATIONS
- US citizenship required; this role supports work subject to US government contract obligations and export control regulations (ITAR/EAR)
- Currently pursuing or recently completed a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field
- Strong computer science fundamentals and demonstrated software engineering ability through internships, coursework, research, projects, or other experience
- Proficiency in at least one modern programming language, with an ability and willingness to work across our Python and TypeScript/React stack
- Strong problem-solving skills and an ability to learn unfamiliar technologies quickly
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Product-minded approach with an interest in building software that is intuitive and useful
- Proactive, high-ownership mindset and willingness to tackle challenging, ambiguous problems
NICE TO HAVES
- Previous software engineering internship or meaningful experience building and shipping software
- Experience with Python, TypeScript, React, or Next.js
- Experience building with LLMs, AI agents, RAG, or other AI engineering techniques
- Experience with backend systems, APIs, databases, or distributed systems
- Familiarity with document processing or search/retrieval systems
- Experience contributing to open-source software, research, technical clubs, hackathons, or substantial personal projects
- Experience working in a startup or other fast-paced technical environment
- Interest in defense, intelligence, national security, or other complex operational domains
- Active or current security clearance
Application prep
Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.
Keywords to mirror
ainext.jsreactpythontypescript
- Platform
- ashby
- Effort
- quick