📍
Menlo Park, CA

Research Scientist Intern, Optimization, Privacy and Inference (PhD)

Internship
Technology & Digital
Software engineering
Posted:
December 29, 2025

Meta

Social network and technology platform
71.8
Palpable Score
Apply >view company >

Central Applied Science is a research and development team, working to improve Meta’s products and infrastructure. We generate real-world impact through a combination of scientific rigor and methodological innovation. Our focus is on foundational work that addresses new opportunities and challenges across Meta, including the Meta family of apps that enable billions of people to communicate with each other daily.Central Applied Science is interdisciplinary, with expertise in many fields including artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, economics, and operations research. This diversity enriches our research and expands the scope and scale of projects we can address. We deliver value through collaborative projects with other groups at Meta and with the academic community. In addition, we build and open-source technical products aligned with our areas of expertise.We seek research science interns to join our team. The ideal candidate will have extensive graduate training in one of our core scientific fields, prior experience developing applied solutions, and an interest in tackling challenging, open-ended issues to improve Meta’s products and systems with real-world impact.Our internships are sixteen (16) to twenty-four (24) weeks long – designed to afford our interns the opportunity to both ship advancement into production and to author papers for leading conferences and workshops – and we have various start dates throughout the year.

Research Scientist Intern, Optimization, Privacy and Inference (PhD) Responsibilities

Answer important product and business questions, by applying appropriate scientific methodologies, and developing new methodologies when necessary.

Synthesize and apply insights from the relevant academic literatures to Meta’s products.

Apply communication skills to engage diverse audiences on technical topics.

Work both independently and collaboratively with other scientists, engineers, and product teams to accomplish complex tasks that create value for Meta’s community of over 3.5 billion users.

Identify new areas across Meta’s family of apps and products where scientific insights can drive improvements in product or infrastructure.

Minimum Qualifications

Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Machine Learning, Operations Research, or a related technical field

Expertise in empirical research, including manipulating and analyzing complex data and communicating quantitative analyses

Knowledge of common programming languages such as Python or C++, strong development capabilities, and familiarity with software engineering best practices

Experience using machine learning and deep learning frameworks, such as PyTorch or scikit-learn

Interpersonal experience: cross-group and cross-culture collaboration

Must obtain work authorization in the country of employment at the time of hire and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment

Preferred Qualifications

Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as first-authored publications at leading workshops or conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, KDD, AISTATS or ICLR

Experience working and communicating cross-functionally in a team environment

Intent to return to the degree-program after the completion of the internship/co-op

About the company

Meta

Company overview
Meta builds consumer apps and platforms used by billions of people, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads. Meta makes most revenue from advertising across these products, and the company also runs Reality Labs for AR and VR hardware and software. Meta also invests heavily in AI research and product development across the company’s apps and infrastructure.

Locations and presence

Meta is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and hires across major hubs in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Work setup is generally hybrid for many corporate roles, with multi-day office expectations, and Instagram announced a five-day in-office requirement for desk-assigned U.S. staff starting February 2, 2026.

Palpable Score

71.8
/ 100
Meta offers multiple credible early-career doors, including internships, “University Grad” roles, and rotational programs that are explicitly positioned as immersive learning experiences. Pay signals look competitive and often transparent via published ranges and widely reported intern and new-grad compensation, but early-career predictability is reduced by mixed candidate experiences and widely reported workforce churn in parts of the business.
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