---
title: 'Intern, Software Engineering at Profluent'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/intern-software-engineering-profluent-emeryville-a5w9x433j908'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Intern, Software Engineering at Profluent

- **Company:** Profluent
- **Location:** Emeryville, CA
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-02
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/profluent/jobs/5441955008

## Job description

Profluent is the frontier AI lab for biology. Profluent builds powerful foundation models for all of life's molecules, unlocking solutions that transform medicine, agriculture, and beyond. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Emeryville, CA, Profluent is backed by leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Spark Capital, Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, AIX Ventures, and Convergent Ventures and has raised over $150M to date.

We’re looking for a Software Engineering Intern to help build the tools and data systems behind Profluent’s AI-driven protein design cycle. Our models propose new proteins, scientists test them, and experimental results inform what we design next. Your work will help connect those steps and make the resulting data useful for both scientists and machine learning teams.

This is an opportunity to take a focused software project from idea to a tool that scientists use in their research. For example, you might build a tool for exploring protein designs or an interactive dashboard that helps researchers make sense of screening results. You’ll get feedback from the scientists using your work and present what you built at the end of the internship.

## Responsibilities

- Design and build software that helps scientists explore protein designs, plan experiments, or visualize results
- Develop intuitive user interfaces and the APIs and data services that support them
- Collaborate with scientists, engineers, and machine learning researchers to understand their needs and improve your work through feedback
- Write well-tested code, document your work, and present your project to the team

## Qualifications

- Enrolled in a BS, MS, or PhD program in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Bioengineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with AI-assisted tools for writing, testing, and debugging software
- Experience with one or more of the following: web applications, data visualization, APIs, databases, or scientific computing
- Curiosity about AI and biology, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to work independently and collaboratively; prior biology experience is not required

Internship Details

- Typical duration: 12 weeks, with flexible start dates
- Hybrid: 2–3 days on-site per week at our Emeryville, CA headquarters
- Opportunity to ship your work and make a lasting impact on how Profluent designs and tests proteins

## What We Offer at Profluent

- Work on meaningful software projects at the frontier of AI and biology
- Mentorship from experienced software engineers and close collaboration with scientists and machine learning researchers
- A dynamic, mission-driven environment with the resources of a fast-growing, well-funded startup
- Competitive internship compensation

NOTICE TO STAFFING AND SEARCH FIRMS: Profluent does not accept unsolicited candidate submissions. We ask that agencies refrain from sending resumes to our careers inbox, hiring managers, or any Profluent employee. Any resume submitted without a signed agreement and an active search request from our Talent team will be treated as the property of Profluent, and no placement fee will be owed.

## About Profluent

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Profluent is an AI-first protein design company that develops deep generative models to design and validate novel, functional proteins for biomedicine, agriculture, and other industries.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B; total funding $150M)
- **Headquarters**: Emeryville, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Ali Madani (CEO), Alexander Meeske

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Genetic Medicine
- **Target customers**: B2B – pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, agricultural companies, and research institutions
- **Mission statement**: "Decode the language of life with AI" – using AI to author new biology and create solutions that transform medicine, agriculture, and beyond.

## Products & Services
- **OpenCRISPR**: The world's first AI-designed gene editor, made open-source to accelerate genome editing research. Based on a novel nuclease generated by Profluent's generative AI.
- **AI Protein Design Platform**: A proprietary platform that writes proteins from scratch or by reimagining natural scaffolds, enabling rapid design of proteins for therapeutic, industrial, and agricultural applications.
- **Partnerships (e.g., Eli Lilly)**: Collaborations to develop AI-designed recombinases for genetic medicine, with deal value up to $2.25 billion.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric (Total Funding)**: $150M raised across multiple rounds (Seed $9M in 2022, Venture Round $35M in 2024, Series B $106M in 2025)
- **Notable Investors**: Altimeter Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Spark Capital, Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, AIX Ventures, Convergent Ventures
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew 78.4% YoY (53 employees as of mid-2026)
  - Published generative AI research in Nature (July 2025)
  - Secured a landmark partnership with Eli Lilly (up to $2.25B in milestones)
  - LinkedIn followers grew 67.8% in the past year (11,906 followers)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Pioneering AI-first protein design**: One of the few companies translating large language models (LLMs) to biology, with demonstrated ability to create functional gene editors from scratch.
- **Open-source gene editing**: OpenCRISPR-1 provides a freely available AI-designed nuclease, establishing thought leadership and potential ecosystem lock-in.
- **Cross-disciplinary team**: Combines top ML talent (from Salesforce, Meta, Amazon) with leading biologists (from CRISPR pioneers, UCSF, Harvard, Arc Institute).
- **Published in top journals**: Nature publication validates the scientific rigor of their approach.

## Strategic Focus
- Advance AI-designed recombinases for in vivo gene editing through the Lilly partnership
- Expand platform to design enzymes, antibodies, and industrial proteins
- Continue open-source releases to drive adoption and attract top research talent
- Scale headcount across ML, biology, and bioinformatics functions

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Mission**: Opportunity to work at the frontier of AI and biology, authoring new proteins that can transform medicine and agriculture. Team culture emphasizes curiosity, societal impact, and breakthrough science.
- **Work Policy**: Hybrid – most roles require 2-3 days on-site at the Emeryville, CA headquarters. Some lab-based roles (e.g., in vivo pharmacology, LNP formulation) are fully on-site.
- **Team mix**: Diverse backgrounds spanning ML science, structural biology, software engineering, and drug discovery. Flat structure with direct access to founders and top domain experts.
- **Notable perks**: Backed by top-tier investors; highly collaborative environment; opportunities to publish and release open-source work.
- **Growth trajectory**: Fast-growing company (78% headcount increase in last year) with substantial funding runway and a high-profile pharma partnership, offering strong career progression.

## Sources
1. [profluent.bio](https://www.profluent.bio/)
2. [Greenhouse Jobs at Profluent](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/profluent)
3. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/profluent-bio)
4. [CB Insights Profile](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/profluent-bio)

## Other roles at Profluent

- [Scientist II, Screening](https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-ii-screening-profluent-emeryville-w8cwf0b9p33k) — Emeryville, CA
- [Associate Scientist/Scientist I,  Molecular Function](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-scientist-scientist-i-molecular-function-profluent-emeryville-rnr5zg7jejfc) — Emeryville, CA
- [Creative Director](https://feeny.ai/job/creative-director-profluent-emeryville-cv94hk1w8crp) — Emeryville, CA
- [Intern, Computational Research](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-computational-research-profluent-emeryville-6yfqayz8phk6) — Emeryville, CA
- [Senior Research Associate - Technology Development](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-research-associate-technology-development-profluent-emeryville-hqzxycy3vt8b) — Emeryville, CA
- [Senior IT Operations Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-it-operations-engineer-profluent-emeryville-58byesg33whn) — Emeryville, CA
- [Scientist I/Scientist II, tLNP Formulation and Delivery](https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-i-scientist-ii-tlnp-formulation-and-delivery-profluent-emeryville-1ybymn72weq1) — Emeryville, CA
- [Software Engineer, Machine Learning Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-machine-learning-platform-profluent-emeryville-hywmbz47mnac) — Emeryville, CA
- [Machine Learning Scientist, Pretraining](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-scientist-pretraining-profluent-emeryville-rj16p67r3h9c) — Emeryville, CA
- [Executive Director / Vice President, Biology & Translational Pharmacology](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-director-vice-president-biology-translational-pharmacology-profluent-rr9mkm28evx8) — Emeryville, CA