Research Intern – AI Incubation

What you can expect Zoom’s AI Incubation team is looking for a PhD Research Intern to dive into the next wave of LLM innovation. You will work alongside a world-class group of PhDs and applied scientists, contributing to high-impact projects in post-training, reinforcement learning (RL), and federated AI. As an intern, you won't just be watching from the sidelines. You will own a specific research project, conduct experiments at scale, and help develop the breakthroughs that power the next generation of the Zoom AI Companion. This is a unique opportunity to see how frontier AI research is translated into a product used by millions. About the team The AI Incubation team is a high-impact applied research group known for building one of the industry's best-performing federated AI systems. We operate at the frontier of: Agentic Intelligence: Moving beyond chat to models that "do." Federated AI: Privacy-preserving, edge-to-cloud learning across diverse model ecosystems (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google). Advanced Alignment: Pushing RLHF, DPO, and RLAIF to new heights of reasoning and reliability. Responsibilities Execute Research Projects: Design and implement experiments in areas like LLM fine-tuning, preference optimization (DPO/PPO), or distributed federated learning. Prototype & Evaluate: Build and benchmark new model architectures or training recipes to improve reasoning, personalization, and safety. Collaborate: Work closely with senior scientists to refine research hypotheses and troubleshoot large-scale training runs. Document & Present: Synthesize your findings into internal reports or potential publications, presenting your work to the broader AI organization. Stay Curious: Keep pace with the latest ArXiv drops and open-source developments to ensure our methods remain state-of-the-art. What we’re looking for Academic Background: Currently enrolled in a PhD Computer Science, ML, AI, or a related quantitative field. Technical Proficiency: Strong coding skills in PyTorch. Experience with libraries like Hugging Face Transformers, DeepSpeed, or FlashAttention is a major plus. Research Focus: Familiarity with at least one of the following: LLM post-training (SFT/RLHF), Federated Learning, Multimodal models, or Agentic workflows. Problem Solver: A track record of tackling open-ended research problems, evidenced by publications (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, etc.), high-quality open-source contributions, or advanced course projects. Communication: Ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly and collaborate in a fast-paced, iterative environment. Salary Range or On Target Earnings: Minimum: $66.50 Maximum: $106.50 In addition to the base salary and/or OTE listed Zoom has a Total Direct Compensation philosophy that takes into consideration; base salary, bonus and equity value. Note: Starting pay will be based on a number of factors and commensurate with qualifications & experience. We also have a location based compensation structure; there may be a different range for candidates in this and other locations. Ways of Working Our structured hybrid approach is centered around our offices and remote work environments. The work style of each role, Hybrid, Remote, or In-Person is indicated in the job description/posting. Benefits As part of our award-winning workplace culture and commitment to delivering happiness, our benefits program offers a variety of perks, benefits, and options to help employees maintain their physical, mental, emotional, and financial health; support work-life balance; and contribute to their community in meaningful ways. Click Learn for more information. About Us Zoomies help people stay connected so they can get more done together. We set out to build the best collaboration platform for the enterprise, and today help people communicate better with products like Zoom Contact Center, Zoom Phone, Zoom Events, Zoom Apps, Zoom Rooms, and Zoom Webinars. We’re problem-solvers, working at a fast pace to design solutions with ... (truncated, view full listing at source)