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

Block· 10109 Risk - Risk ML & DS
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Hybrid (Remote (US / Canada))graduate co-opPosted 4mo ago

About the role

Graduate research internship focused on building foundations of proactive intelligence and Customer World Models. End-to-end ownership of research problems, with potential production deployment and publications.

Responsibilities

  • Frame research questions, develop methods, run experiments, publish findings, and ship work into production systems used by millions of customers and sellers.
  • Work at the intersection of representation learning, foundation models, reinforcement learning, causal reasoning, agentic systems, and product intelligence.
  • Explore areas including Customer World Models, Proactive Intelligence, Agentic Decision Systems, Learning from Feedback Loops, and Evaluation and Measurement.
  • Contribute to building systems that understand people, learn from experience, and improve over time.

Qualifications

  • Currently enrolled in an MS or PhD program in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, Operations Research, or a related field, and returning to that program after the co-op.
  • Strong foundations in modern machine learning, including deep learning, optimization, representation learning, and foundation models.
  • Experience conducting independent research and translating ideas into working systems.
  • Fluency in Python and experience with PyTorch, JAX, or similar frameworks.
  • Evidence of research excellence through publications, open-source contributions, technical leadership, or equivalent work.

Skills

Required:PythonPyTorch / JAXIndependent researchPublications / Open-source contributionsFoundation models / representation learning

Benefits

  • Direct mentorship from researchers
  • Access to large-scale datasets, modern infrastructure, frontier models, and substantial compute resources
  • Opportunities to publish and contribute to open-source projects
  • Chance to shape foundational technology for Block products
  • Exposure to both scientific research and product deployment
Last updated Jul 8, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Block

Block builds technology to increase access to the global economy.

Made up of Square, Cash App, Afterpay, TIDAL, Bitkey, and Proto, Block, Inc. builds technology to increase access to the global economy.

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