Applied Research Intern, Proactive Intelligence & Customer World Models (PhD / Graduate Co-op)

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    Block

    10,001+ employeesFounded 2009Oakland, CaliforniaFinancial Services
    Actively hiringPaidRemote-friendlyFall 2026Financial Services
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    Best applied by Dec 6

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    About the role#

    We are hiring graduate research interns to build the foundations of proactive intelligence. You will own a research problem end-to-end, from framing the question and developing methods to running experiments and publishing your findings. Successful projects may be shipped into production systems used by millions of customers and sellers. You will work at the intersection of representation learning, foundation models, reinforcement learning, causal reasoning, and agentic systems.

    What you'll do#

    • Build rich representations of customers using event streams, financial activity, and behavioral data.
    • Develop systems that anticipate customer needs and initiate helpful actions before being asked.
    • Create agents that reason over customer world models to take actions in real environments.
    • Design methods that allow intelligence to improve continuously from real-world outcomes.
    • Build evaluation frameworks to measure system performance, trust, and customer value.

    What you'll need#

    • Current enrollment in an MS or PhD program in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, or Operations Research (with plans to return to your program after the co-op).
    • Strong foundations in modern machine learning, including deep learning, optimization, and representation learning.
    • Experience conducting independent research and translating ideas into working systems.
    • Fluency in Python with experience in PyTorch, JAX, or similar frameworks.
    • Evidence of research excellence through publications, technical leadership, or open-source contributions.

    Location & details#

    • Term: Fall 2026 (8 months, starting September 2026).
    • Modality: Remote.
    • Employment: Full-time, paid internship.

    About Block

    Block is a financial services company founded in 2009. It operates as a public company with a global presence. The organization employs over 10,000 people across various corporate functions including finance, engineering, and information security. Its headquarters are located in Oakland, California.

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