{"id":3558056,"url":"https://alion.io/job/cartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months","title":"Applied ML/CS PhD Internship (6+ months)","company":{"id":4391902,"name":"Cartesian Systems","domain":"cartesian.systems","url":"https://alion.io/company/cartesian-3","size_band":"1-10","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":null},"role":"Early Careers","role_family":"Early Careers","seniority":"intern","employment_type":"internship","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Cambridge, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":48000,"max_usd":80000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":408},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false},{"name":"SLAM","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-08T14:05:41Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-08","last_verified_at":"2026-11-01T11:45:54Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":24,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":24},"description":"About Cartesian\nCartesian is building spatial intelligence for indoor environments to drive operational efficiency. We’re tackling one of the biggest challenges in the $35T global retail industry: in-store inventory visibility. Our platform delivers accurate indoor positioning and actionable product location insights, helping retailers streamline operations, optimize workflows, and reduce inefficiencies. By fusing wireless signals and mobile computer vision, we provide a uniquely scalable, infrastructure-free solution already deployed by international fashion brands. \nFounded by an MIT engineering professor and alumni behind award-winning, patented core technologies, Cartesian spun out in 2023. Originally backed by a U.S. National Science Foundation SBIR Award, we’ve bootstrapped to a live product now deployed in multiple countries and are scaling aggressively.\nAbout the Role\nWe are looking for an Applied ML/CS PhD intern to join Cartesian at an exciting moment in our growth. This internship is a chance to contribute to core algorithms, dig deep into a deployed product, and ship changes that reach enterprise customers, while also driving new research directions in spatial AI. This is a hands-on role at the intersection of machine learning, perception, estimation, and signal processing, with direct impact on a deployed enterprise product. You’ll gain exposure to the full journey of research in production, working in a fast-paced, hands-on environment where your work makes a tangible impact.\nThis internship is product- and impact-driven. Due to the IP-sensitive nature of the core models and algorithms, the internship is not expected to involve publications. \nLocation: In-person at the Cartesian HQ in Kendall Square, Cambridge.\nInternship type: Full-time, PhD internship\nDuration and timing: 12-24 weeks, Summer 2026; flexible start dates\nWhat You’ll Do\nExplore new research directions in sensor fusion and spatial AI aligned with product needs\nDevelop and improve algorithms for indoor positioning and spatial perception\nRun experiments on real-world customer deployments: collect data, analyze failures, propose fixes, and validate improvements\nContribute to production ML and signal processing pipelines (modeling, evaluation, deployment)\nCollaborate with engineering and product to ship features to enterprise customers\nQualifications\nCurrently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.\nResearch track record of published work in top-tier CS/ML, vision, robotics, or related venues.\nStrong foundations in at least one of: machine learning, perception, sensor fusion, and/or signal processing. \nDemonstrated research output (e.g., strong publications, open-source projects, or impactful applied work)\nExcellent communication skills and ability to work in a small, fast-moving team.\nCuriosity, ownership, and a bias toward action and real-world impact\nNice to Have\nStartup or early-stage company experience\nExperience shipping products (e.g., part of internships)\nExperience or strong interest in spatial AI (3D vision, SLAM, mapping, sensor fusion, geometric deep learning, …) is highly desirable.\nWhy Cartesian\nWork on hard, real-world problems with immediate and visible impact\nJoin a small, highly technical team with significant ownership and autonomy\nBuild systems that are deployed and used globally\nCollaborative, thoughtful, low-ego culture focused on learning and execution\nIn-person team culture in the heart of Kendall Square, Cambridge\nInterview Process\nIntroductory call to assess motivation and overall fit (20m)\nTechnical interview focused on past projects (60m)\nTechnical design interview (45m)\nCoding interview (45m)\nMeet Prof. Fadel Adib (20m)\nMeet the team and references","description_format":"text","description_chars":3779,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Space & Aerospace","Geospatial Analytics","Geospatial AI"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-31T02:14:03Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 2","filings_12m":2,"filings_prev_12m":1,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":147500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":60,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.807,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":23,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:2","win:late","comp:junior"],"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/cartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/cartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-01T14:55:25Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":22818,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-02T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4391902},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4391902"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/cartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcartesian-systems-applied-mlcs-phd-internship-6-months"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3558056}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"cartesian.systems","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3558056},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}