AI/ML PhD Intern
US$80 – US$90 / hr base salary
Posted 6 Oct 2026
Advertised as “AI/ML PhD Intern (Summer 2027)”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Management level
- Individual contributor
- Employment
- On-Site
- Contract
- Internship
| Base salary | US$80 – US$90 / hr |
|---|
Field of studyArtificial Intelligence, Machine learning
Study levelDoctorate
About the Role
At Sigma, we’re not just adding AI—we’re building the future of how people work with data. Our platform already lets users explore billions of rows of data in seconds with a spreadsheet-like interface, analyze and present their data in workbooks, and build data apps and workflows. Now we’re pushing further, applying AI to reshape how people build in Sigma, discover insights, and make smarter decisions—fast. You can learn more about our vision for AI/ML at Sigma in our blog post.
That’s where you come in. As an AI/ML PhD Intern, you’ll join a growing team focused on building the AI foundation that will power Sigma for the future. Your work will become an integral part of the workflow for the thousands of enterprises that run on Sigma. We're looking for PhD students that are passionate about the intersection of AI, business, and data.
What You’ll Do
- Conduct original AI/ML research in search, recommendations, natural language processing, agentic workflows and more
- Prototype and productionize AI systems that feel intuitive but do a lot under the hood
- Tackle novel UX problems at the intersection of AI, analytics, and data apps
- Contribute to the development of scalable AI/ML infrastructure for experimentation, training, and evaluation of large-scale models.
What You Bring
- Current PhD student studying AI/ML at a U.S. accredited university
- Deep understanding of machine learning, including deep learning algorithms, model architectures and optimization
- Baseline understanding of building and deploying production-grade AI/ML systems
- Knowledge of the full ML lifecycle: data curation, training, deployment, monitoring
- Desire to bridge research and application—bringing new AI ideas from concept to impactful deployment.
Bonus Points (or skills you’ll build here)
- You've built agents that can plan, reason, and use tools
- You’ve fine-tuned or trained foundation models (language or multimodal) for novel domains
- You know your way around cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- You’ve worked in a fast-moving startup or high-growth environment
Additional Job details
The hourly rate range for this position is $80-$90 an hour