Summer Intern, PhD AI/ML Scientist at The… · Washington

Summary: The Washington Post is on a mission to reinvent how journalism is created, personalized, and delivered. As a PhD intern, you will work alongside scientists, engineers, and product partners to solve challenging problems at the intersection of machine learning and digital news consumption. Responsibilities: - Lead a full-cycle applied research project from problem definition to experiment to production-ready prototype - Conduct original research in machine learning, generative AI, NLP, recommender systems, RL, causal inference, or information retrieval - Work with large-scale behavioral, content, and interaction datasets to uncover insights and build intelligent systems - Develop novel algorithms for: Retrieval-augmented generation and grounding, Multi-turn and agentic search, Personalization and user modeling, Reinforcement learning for metering and pricing, Large-scale ranking and embeddings - Design and run A/B tests, offline evaluations, and model-driven product experiments - Collaborate closely with engineering, design, and product partners across the organization - Publish internal research and, where appropriate, externalize work at top conferences Required Qualifications: - Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, NLP, Information Retrieval, or a related field - Strong research background in one or more areas: LLMs/GenAI, NLP, IR/Search, Recommender Systems, RL, Causal Inference, Optimization, Graph ML, or Representation Learning - Proficiency in at least one ML-oriented programming language or framework: Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow - Experience handling large-scale datasets, distributed computing, or experimentation platforms - Ability to independently define research questions, design experiments, and synthesize findings - Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially in explaining complex technical ideas to non-technical audiences Preferred Qualifications: - Publications in machine learning, AI, NLP, IR, recommender systems, or related areas - Experience building or evaluating Conversational Systems, RAG systems, Fine-Tuning LLMs, Multiarm Bandits, and Reinforcement Learning - Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS), big-data technologies (e.g., Spark, Beam, BigQuery), and/or real-time serving systems - Strong interest in applying ML to real-world solutions that power personalization and audience engagement with journalism Required Skills: Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning, Large-scale Datasets Important Skills: Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Causal Inference, Graph ML Nice-to-Have Skills: Independent Research, Communication Benefits: Interns are paid hourly and expected to work 35-40 hours per week., We do not provide housing, but can suggest options upon request., Additionally, you'll be invited to exclusive events like our annual intern hackathon and lunch seminars from leaders across the company.