---
title: 'Internship - Software Engineering at Robotics and AI Institute'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/internship-software-engineering-robotics-and-ai-institute-zurich-7qf8sd6xz80h'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Internship - Software Engineering at Robotics and AI Institute

- **Company:** Robotics and AI Institute
- **Location:** Zurich, Switzerland
- **Employment:** internship
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-25
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/rai/46c744a8-2817-4453-8b3b-20b6d0ea1ed9

## Job description

## Our Mission

Our mission is to solve the most important and fundamental challenges in AI and Robotics to enable future generations of intelligent machines that will help us all live better lives.

## What we are looking for

Master's students looking to work full-time for an extended period (~6 months) in an invigorating environment where researchers and engineers are building the future of robotics infrastructure and systems. If you have a deep passion for writing clean, performant software and want to build the computational foundations that power advanced robotics, you will want to join us! Prior robotics experience is not required—we are looking for exceptional software talent with strong fundamentals in system design and numerical or algorithmic computation. Depending on your background, your project will focus on one of two primary tracks: On-Robot Deployment or Off-Robot Training Infrastructure.

## What You'll Do

Track A: On-Robot Deployment

- Write robust, low-latency modern C++ code for real-time execution directly on robotic hardware

- Implement and optimize for embedded platforms like the Jetson family of devices

- Profile, benchmark, and eliminate performance bottlenecks in resource-constrained Linux environments

- Design and build clean software components using modern software engineering practices and ROS 2

Track B: Off-Robot Training Infrastructure

- Design and build scalable software infrastructure for GPU based simulation and model training

- Optimize parallel compute pipelines, rendering processes, and data ingestion to accelerate research cycles

- Implement SOTA reinforcement learning algorithms to improve training performance

## What You'll Need

- Currently pursuing a Master's (MS) degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Computational Science & Engineering, or a related field

- Prior software engineering experience (e.g., industry internships, significant open-source contributions, or complex project work)

- For On-Robot Deployment: Exceptional core software engineering foundations in Modern C++, system architecture, data structures, and memory management (C++ or another systems language is strictly required for this track)

- For Off-Robot Infrastructure: Strong systems programming skills (C++, Python, etc.) with a deep interest in high-performance computing, distributed systems, or large-scale data processing. Experience with high level GPU programming languages (Warp, Jax) is a plus.

Areas of Special Interest

While strong core software engineering fundamentals in systems programming are required, no specific domain expertise beyond that is necessary. However, if you happen to possess experience in any single one of the following areas, it would be a massive plus and highly relevant to our current projects:

- Hardware Acceleration & Graphics: Experience with GPU programming, CUDA, parallel processing, or rendering pipelines (e.g., Gaussian splatting).

- Physics & Simulation: Familiarity with computational physics, contact models, rigid body dynamics, or physics engines (e.g., Nvidia Newton).

- Machine Learning Systems: Experience optimizing or implementing embedded neural network inference and hardware-level ML acceleration.

- Reinforcement Learning Algorithms: Experience working with and implementing RL algorithms from state of the art papers.

We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

## About Robotics and AI Institute

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: A research institute founded by Boston Dynamics’ founder Marc Raibert, dedicated to advancing fundamental robotics and AI to create smarter, more capable robots for real-world applications.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Research Institute)
- **Headquarters**: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (main campus in Kendall Square); additional office in Zurich, Switzerland
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (inferred as 2022 based on Marc Raibert’s departure from Boston Dynamics)
- **Founders**: Marc Raibert

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Robotics research, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering
- Target customers: Academic partners, industry collaborators, and the broader robotics ecosystem (B2B / institutional)
- Mission or purpose statement: “Create future generations of robots” that are smarter, more agile, dexterous, and easier to use – increasing productivity, freeing people from dangerous work, caring for the disabled, and helping people live better lives.

## Products & Services
The institute does not sell commercial products; instead it produces open research and technology in five core areas:
- **Dexterous Manipulation**: Algorithms, data, and hardware for dynamic manipulation of physical objects (assembly, repair, transport).
- **Advanced Learning for Control**: Reinforcement learning, AI-directed long-horizon tasks, incremental learning, and adaptation to novel environments.
- **Data-Driven AI Models for Physical Robot Interaction**: Foundation models that combine data-driven learning with principled physics models for complex physical tasks (precision assembly, force-mediated behavior).
- **Navigation in Challenging Environments**: Advanced sensors and semantic understanding for wheeled, humanoid, and quadruped robots to navigate factories, cities, and homes.
- **Ethics of Robots in Society**: Research on the social, legal, and ethical contexts of integrating robots into daily life.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (non-commercial research institute)
- **Key Metric**: Not disclosed (no revenue or funding rounds reported)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly listed; led by Marc Raibert (founder of Boston Dynamics) with a team of seasoned robotics professionals
- **Growth Signals**: Expanding team with open positions in research and engineering (internships and full-time) across two locations; active hiring for autonomous agent engineering, software engineering, sensor calibration & integration

## Competitive Advantages
- **Founder pedigree**: Marc Raibert’s track record with Boston Dynamics (Spot, Atlas, Handle) gives the institute deep credibility and access to top talent.
- **Focus on fundamental challenges**: Targets the hardest unsolved problems in robotics (dexterity, long-horizon control, force-mediated AI) rather than incremental improvements.
- **Collaborative environment**: Blends academic research freedom with industry-level resources and structure, enabling cross-functional teams to tackle tough problems.

## Strategic Focus
- Advance five core research areas simultaneously to create “future generations of robots”
- Bridge the gap between current AI models and real-world physical interaction (force control, tight tolerances)
- Build ethical frameworks alongside technical breakthroughs to ensure responsible integration of robots into society

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a “collaborative research environment” where team members learn from diverse experts and work on cross-functional challenges.
- **Locations**: Main campus in Cambridge, MA (Kendall Square) and Zurich, Switzerland (Oerlikon robotics & AI hub). Both are vibrant tech ecosystems.
- **Benefits**: Competitive packages including medical, dental, vision insurance, 401(k) with matching, and 12 weeks parental leave.
- **Work style**: Roles are on-site (internships and full-time positions specify on-site in Zurich or Cambridge). No explicit remote policy mentioned.
- **Engineering culture**: Teams span AI, robotics, computing, machine learning, perception, software, mechanical, and electrical engineering – offering exposure to full-stack robot development.

## Sources
1. [RAI Institute Careers Page](https://rai-inst.com/careers/)
2. [RAI Institute Home Page](https://rai-inst.com/)
3. [RAI Institute Jobs on Lever](https://jobs.lever.co/rai)
4. [RAI Institute Leadership Overview](https://rai-inst.com/about/leadership-overview/)
5. [RAI Institute Research Areas](https://rai-inst.com/research/)

## Other roles at Robotics and AI Institute

- [Machine Learning Engineer (Robotics and AI Institute LLC):](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-robotics-and-ai-institute-llc-robotics-and-ai-rwtjvcg62yyt) — Cambridge, MA
- [Autonomous Agent Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/autonomous-agent-engineering-intern-robotics-and-ai-institute-zurich-0ehkqjraddj9) — Zurich, Switzerland
- [Sensor Calibration & Integration Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/sensor-calibration-integration-intern-robotics-and-ai-institute-zurich-v135hwcaw2er) — Zurich, Switzerland
- [Internship](https://feeny.ai/job/internship-robotics-and-ai-institute-zurich-q044a2zp6k1a) — Zurich, Switzerland