AI Intern

Job Description

About Cultivarium

Cultivarium is a Focused Research Organization (FRO) and a Frontier Research Contractor with a mission to accelerate the adoption of novel microorganisms for biotechnology. We are dedicated to creating tangible solutions for a ‘moonshot’ project, operating as a close-knit, driven team of scientists and engineers. Our goal is to build technological infrastructure for the cultivation of non-model microorganisms, opening new avenues for science, technology, medicine, and agriculture.

The Opportunity: AI Intern at Cultivarium

We are seeking an AI Intern to help build, fine-tune, and evaluate vision language models (VLMs) in a dynamic scientific research environment. This position offers a unique opportunity for an intern to operate at the intersection of AI and biology, spanning topics such as experimental research, scientific documentation, and lab automation.

Compensation & Duration:

• This is a paid internship with an hourly rate of $25–$35, depending on experience and qualifications.
• The length of the internship is 3 months with the possibility of extension.

What You’ll Do & Impact:

You will create significant impact by leveraging your technical skills to develop machine vision applications that utilize Large Language Models (LLMs), VLMs, and/or Vision Language Action models (VLAs). Your contributions will assist in the automated documentation of laboratory procedures and their translation into robotic actions. Your focus will be on understanding basic experimental procedures, designing and labeling critical training datasets, fine-tuning and comparing models, and evaluating model performance.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Work closely with project manager, engineers, and scientists to architect, build, and annotate training datasets for an experimental research setting.
• Fine-tune VLMs and evaluate/compare model performance.
• Identify model limitations and opportunities for improvement.
• Write clean, maintainable, and testable code, following best practices.
• Summarize and present your work to your supervisor and team members.
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness through actions, interactions, and communications with others.

Who We’re Looking For:

Basic Qualifications:

• Relevant expertise in VLMs, machine vision, Vision Language Action (VLA) models, object recognition/detection, computer vision, large language models (LLMs), building custom agents, robotics.
• Experience with video dataset annotation via platforms such as Roboflow or V7.
• Experience with fine-tuning and evaluating VLMs such as Qwen, ViTPose++, YOLO, and DETR on performance metrics such as mAP50 and latency.
• Coding ability in Python.
• Strong interest in Biology and an eagerness to develop subject matter expertise in laboratory equipment and techniques.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic environment and adapt quickly to evolving needs.
• Skilled in creative problem-solving, with keen attention to detail and a collaborative approach.
• Ability to prioritize tasks effectively, communicate clearly with colleagues, and consistently meet deadlines.
• Authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.

Advanced Qualifications:

• Graduated or pursuing a Master’s degree in computer science, data science, machine learning, or a related field.
• Track record of success on ML competition platforms such as Kaggle.
• Hands-on experience with experimental equipment and protocols in Biology at the undergraduate level.

Why Cultivarium?

Cultivarium aims to help fill a structural gap in today’s R&D system. We enable fundamental research that requires unusual levels of scale and coordination that is not yet rapidly monetizable by industry. We’re bringing together top talent from academia, industry, and startups to build a new model for innovative R&D, ultimately defining and launching high-impact scientific or technical research and development opportunities as Focused Research Organizations.

Equal Employment Opportunity & AI Disclosure:

Cultivarium, LLC is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws or prohibited by Company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.