AI/ML PhD Intern (Summer 2027)

Location: San Francisco, CA Department: Engineering

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

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work at Sigma Computing.

Note: We have an in-office work environment in all our offices in SF, NYC, and London.

About us

Sigma is the AI Apps and agentic analytics platform built on the cloud data warehouse. Business and technical teams use Sigma to explore live data, build intelligent applications, and automate critical workflows all without moving data or breaking governance. Sigma supports a spreadsheet interface, SQL, Python, and native AI in a single governed workspace, giving every team the speed to act and IT the control to scale. Sigma is trusted by more than 2,000 customers, including AMD, Duolingo, Colgate-Palmolive, and JPMorgan Chase.

Sigma announced its $80M in Series E financing in May 2026. The round was led by Princeville Capital, with new strategic investors Databricks Ventures, ServiceNow Ventures, and Workday Ventures participating alongside returning investors Altimeter Capital, Avenir Growth Capital, D1 Capital Partners, K5 Global, NewView Capital, Spark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, and XN. This milestone follows Sigma reaching $200M in annual recurring revenue in April 2026, with more than 100% year-over-year growth and 1.1 million new active users added in the latest fiscal year.

Come join us!

Benefits For Our Full-Time Employees

Equity

Generous health benefits

Flexible time off policy. Take the time off you need!

Paid bonding time for all new parents

Traditional and Roth 401k

Commuter and FSA benefits

Lunch Program

Dog friendly office

Sigma is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a smart and strong team regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, veteran, or any other protected status. We look forward to learning how your experience can enable all of us to grow.

Note: We have an in-office work environment in all our offices in SF, NYC, London and Sydney. All roles have a 25% travel expectation unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Our Privacy Practices

When you submit a job application on this site, Sigma processes your personal data for the purposes of evaluating your candidacy for employment at Sigma and as otherwise needed throughout the recruitment and hiring process. Please review Sigma’s Candidate Privacy Notice for more details. Please note that your personal data may be transferred to a country other than the one in which it was provided (including to the USA, the UK, and Canada, Australia).

Sigma’s use of AI

This hiring process utilizes artificial intelligence tools to assist in candidate screening and assessment. Our AI tools are designed to complement, not replace, human decision-making.