Machine Learning Engineer Intern

Job Description

About the Company

DoorDash is a technology and logistics company committed to building the world’s most reliable on-demand logistics engine for delivery. Their core mission is to empower local economies by connecting consumers, merchants, and Dashers through a three-sided marketplace.

Starting with door-to-door food delivery, DoorDash aims to expand its services to become the go-to platform for any and all goods. The company is characterized by its rapid growth and constant change, offering team members opportunities to share unique perspectives, solve new challenges, and own their careers.

DoorDash emphasizes a culture of moving quickly, learning, and reiterating to make impactful decisions, all while displaying empathy for its diverse range of users. They are committed to supporting employee happiness, healthiness, and overall well-being, providing comprehensive benefits and perks such as premium healthcare, wellness expense reimbursement, and paid parental leave.

A strong commitment to Diversity and Inclusion is central to DoorDash’s values. They strive to grow and empower a more inclusive community within their company, industry, and the cities they serve. This is reflected in their hiring practices, which cultivate diverse teams from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. DoorDash believes that true innovation flourishes when everyone has room at the table and the necessary tools, resources, and opportunities to excel. They explicitly state a non-discrimination policy covering various protected categories and actively work to prevent subtle forms of inappropriate behavior. They encourage applications from individuals identifying as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, differently-abled, caretakers and parents, and veterans.

About the Job: Machine Learning Engineer Intern

This is an internship opportunity for a Machine Learning Engineer to join DoorDash’s fast-growing engineering team. The team is responsible for developing a 24×7 global infrastructure system that powers DoorDash’s marketplace, connecting consumers, merchants, and Dashers.

Role Overview:
As an ML Engineer Intern, you will be involved in tackling new challenges in machine learning and artificial intelligence. This includes conducting research that can be applied across various DoorDash engineering teams and engaging in external collaborations and mentoring. You will contribute to cutting-edge advancements and apply them to real-world problems.

Key Responsibilities and Contributions:
• Applying Cutting-Edge Research: Utilize advanced research in areas such as ML/AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Recommender Systems (RecSys), Ranking, Computer Vision, Causal Inference, Ad Tech, and Graph analysis to solve practical problems across DoorDash’s discovery, ads, forecasting, fulfillment, and search experiences.
• Research & Innovation: Contribute to and execute on research ideas that can be directly applied to improve the product experience at DoorDash.
• Data-Driven Model Building: Collect, analyze, and synthesize findings from data, using these insights to build relevant ML models.
• Code Quality: Write clean, efficient, and sustainable code.

Specific Research Areas for the Role:
Interns will perform research in any of the following fields:
• Auction
• Game theory
• Recommender systems
• Ranking
• AdTech
• Computer Vision
• Causal Inference
• Big data analytics

Internship Program Details:
• Duration: 12-week fall internship program.
• Timing: Running from September to December, with potential for extension into a spring internship.
• Locations: San Francisco, Sunnyvale, or Seattle offices.

Qualifications and Requirements:
• Education: Currently working towards a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Statistics, Information Sciences, or a related field.
• Graduation Window: Must be graduating between Winter 2026 and Summer 2027.
• Technical Skills: Mastery of at least one systems language (Java, C++, Python, Kotlin, GoLang) OR one ML framework (Tensorflow, Pytorch, MLFlow).
• Experience: Demonstrated experience in research and in solving analytical problems.
• Soft Skills: A strong communicator and team player with a passion for applied Machine Learning and the DoorDash product.
• Ideal (but not required): Prior work on publications in machine learning, AI, data science, data analytics, statistics, or related technical fields.

Compensation and Benefits:
• Base Pay (Weekly): The weekly pay range is $2,200—$2,200 USD. Actual pay is determined by job-related factors including education, work location, and market conditions.
• Additional Benefits: In addition to base pay, interns are eligible for both a housing stipend and relocation stipend. DoorDash also provides interns with a wellness reimbursement benefit, access to an employee assistance program, in-office lunch credits, and more to support overall well-being.

Notice for NYC Applicants:
For jobs located in NYC or remote jobs associated with the NYC office, DoorDash uses Covey as part of their hiring/promotional process, which may qualify as an Automated Employment Decision Tool (AEDT). They provide Covey with job requirements and candidate applications. The use of Covey Scout for Inbound was noted from August 21, 2023, through December 21, 2023, and resumed on June 29, 2024. An independent auditor has reviewed the Covey tool, and audit results are available via a provided link.