Current PhD, Applied Research Internship Program - Summer 2026 at Capital One

New York, New York, United States

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Not SpecifiedCompensation

InternshipExperience Level

InternshipJob Type

NoVisa

Banking, Financial ServicesIndustries

Requirements

Currently enrolled in an accredited PhD Program
Completed 2nd year of PhD coursework by program start date (e.g., 2nd year of PhD program completed by program start date OR qualifies, at minimum, as a 2nd year in PhD program because of completed Master’s)
Located in the continental United States with in-person attendance at assigned location (in accordance with Capital One’s hybrid working model)
Preferred Qualifications
Completed 3rd or 4th year of PhD Program
PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computer Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering or related fields
Programming experience (e.g. Python) and experience with at least one deep learning framework (e.g. PyTorch)
Publications in leading conferences such as ICLR, NeurIPs, ICML, ACL, NAACL, EMNLP, KDD, or CVPR
Focused area of research in one of the following: Foundation Models (Language, Vision, Graphs, Time Series), including finetuning and pre-training; LLMs (Agentic AI, Reasoning, Test Time Compute Models, Mixture of Experts); Reinforcement Learning (World Models, Reasoning, GRPO, PPO, RLHF); Causal Inference; User Behavior Modeling; Model Inference Optimization; Interpretability, Responsible/Trustworthy AI Models

Responsibilities

Join Capital One for a full-time, 12 week, summer applied research experience, discovering solutions to real world, large-scale problems
Engage in high impact applied research with the goal of taking the latest AI developments and pushing them into the next generation of customer experiences, or contributing to publications in this field
Partner with a cross-functional team of applied researchers, data scientists, software engineers, machine learning engineers and product managers to test and design AI-powered products that change how customers interact with their money
Leverage a broad stack of technologies — Pytorch, AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, Lightning, VectorDBs, and more — to reveal the insights hidden within huge volumes of numeric and textual data
Flex your interpersonal skills to translate the complexity of your work into tangible business goals
Partner with leading researchers to publish papers at top academic conferences
Develop professionally through networking sessions, technical deep dives and executive sessions

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

Machine LearningAIComputer ScienceApplied MathematicsElectrical Engineering

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

Is this internship paid?

Yes, this is a paid internship.

What are the location requirements for this internship?

Participation requires being located in the continental United States with in-person attendance at your assigned location, following Capital One’s hybrid working model.

What are the basic qualifications for this role?

Candidates must be currently enrolled in an accredited PhD program and have completed the 2nd year of PhD coursework by the program start date.

What is the AI Foundations team like at Capital One?

The AI Foundations team is at the center of bringing Capital One's AI vision to life, touching every aspect of the research life cycle from partnering with academia to building production systems, and working with product, technology, and business leaders to apply state-of-the-art AI.

What makes a strong candidate for this internship?

Strong candidates have completed the 3rd or 4th year of their PhD in fields like Computer Science or Machine Learning, programming experience in Python, experience with deep learning frameworks like PyTorch, publications in top conferences, and research focus in areas like Foundation Models, LLMs, or Reinforcement Learning.

Capital One

Offers diverse financial products and services

About Capital One

Capital One provides a variety of financial services aimed at making banking accessible and easy for everyone. The company offers products such as credit cards, savings accounts, car loans, and business checking accounts, catering to both individual consumers and small businesses primarily in the United States. Capital One's approach includes user-friendly banking solutions with no fees or minimums for checking accounts, allowing customers to manage their finances more effectively. They generate revenue through interest on loans, credit card fees, and investment banking services. What sets Capital One apart from its competitors is its strong commitment to financial inclusion and literacy, demonstrated through community partnerships and educational initiatives, such as collaborations with Khan Academy. The company's goal is to create a more inclusive financial system and empower customers with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed financial decisions.

McLean, VirginiaHeadquarters

2014Year Founded

$15.9MTotal Funding

IPOCompany Stage

Fintech, Financial ServicesIndustries

10,001+Employees

Current PhD, Applied Research Internship Program - Summer 2026 at Capital One

Requirements

Responsibilities

Skills

Questions & Answers

Capital One

About Capital One

Benefits

Medical, Dental, & Vision coverage

Onsite Health Centers

Prescription saving with network of local pharmacies

Stock Purchase Plan

Education Assistance

401(k)

Flexible Spending Accounts

Life and Disability insurance

Generous paid time off + corporate & floating holidays

Registered dieticians on site, cooking classes and free virtual fitness classes

Employee Assistance Program

Risks

Increased competition in subscription management tools may dilute Capital One's advantage.

Over-reliance on partnerships could expose Capital One to technological risks.

Departure of key personnel like Joe Rodriguez may affect risk management continuity.

Differentiation

Capital One offers user-friendly banking with no fees or minimums for checking accounts.

The company partners with Khan Academy to provide financial literacy education.

Capital One is the first major U.S. bank to offer subscription management tools.

Upsides

Capital One's mobile app is a model for secure, user-friendly digital banking.

Data sharing with Worldpay enhances payment security and fraud prevention.

Partnerships with fintechs like Minna Technologies improve customer experience.

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