AI Engineer Intern at USA Rare… · Utica-Rom…

Summary: USA Rare Earth, Inc. is on a mission to become the leading Western supplier of high value rare earth magnets and critical minerals. As an AI Engineer Intern, you'll work with business stakeholders and engineers to design and ship AI-powered tools that enhance operations and decision-making across the mining and processing business unit. Responsibilities: - Design and build LLM-powered agents that automate and augment business workflows, ranging from document handling and stakeholder communication to operational Q&A and data retrieval - Develop conversational interfaces over structured and unstructured data, enabling non-technical users to query operational and business data in plain English - Integrate external data sources (commodity markets, regulatory filings, industry benchmarks) into internal tools and reporting workflows - Collaborate with SMEs (engineers, metallurgists, and project managers) to translate domain knowledge into agent behavior, prompts, and retrieval pipelines - Contribute to a shared Python codebase, including object-oriented modules for process modeling and data transformation - Participate in sprint reviews and stakeholder demos, iterating rapidly based on feedback from end users Required Qualifications: - Currently enrolled in a BS (junior or senior standing) or MS program in Computer Science, Data Science, Software Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related field - Demonstrated experience shipping an AI/ML product or tool — portfolio, GitHub, or prior internship evidence required - Proficiency in Python, including working with APIs, data structures, and third-party libraries - Hands-on experience with at least one LLM framework or toolchain (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI/Anthropic APIs, Haystack) - Comfort working with structured data (SQL or Pandas) and unstructured data (PDFs, text corpora) - Strong written communication: you'll be writing prompts, specs, and documentation alongside code Preferred Qualifications: - Currently working on a PhD in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Software Engineering, or similar - Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, ChromaDB), or embedding pipelines - Familiarity with industrial, scientific, or time-series data (SCADA, historians, lab reports, assay data) - Background or coursework in a physical science or engineering discipline (e.g. mining, metallurgy, chemical engineering, geology, or similar) - Experience building multi-step or tool-using agents - Exposure to BI tools or data visualization (PowerBI, Streamlit) - Prior internship or project work in an industrial, energy, or materials company Required Skills: AI/ML product experience, Python, LLM frameworks Important Skills: SQL, Data visualization