Research Internship - AI Agents for Software Development

We're building OpenHands, an open source AI agent that can code, run commands, and integrate into real developer workflows. As a research intern, you'll advance the state-of-the-art in AI development tools in areas such as improving agent capabilities, developing evaluation methodologies, and exploring novel human-AI interaction paradigms. Your research will directly impact an open source project already being used by developers worldwide.

As a research intern, you will pursue ambitious research questions with the support of a collaborative team. We operate with the transparency and rigor of academic research while maintaining the pace and impact of open source development.

Hear from some of our previous interns!

My internship at OpenHands provided a rare opportunity to study how developers use agents in real software development and to pursue research that bridged academic freedom with the scale of industry deployment. I would recommend anyone interested in coding agents and want their work to impact real-world usage to intern at OpenHands!

Valerie Chen, PhD Student at Carnegie Mellon University

OpenHands gave me the freedom to align my interests with cutting-edge agentic frameworks. It’s been an incredibly experience at a fast-growing startup!

Xuhui Zhou, PhD Student at Carnegie Mellon University

What You'll Do

• Conduct research on relevant topics such improving agent reliability, capability, and evaluation methodologies
• Implement research prototypes and integrate promising approaches into OpenHands
• Collaborate with the team on research papers and technical reports
• Present findings to the team and broader research community

What You Bring

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a graduate degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, HCI, or related field (exceptional undergraduate students and non-traditional candidates welcome)
• Strong research skills and ability to design rigorous experiments
• Programming proficiency in Python and/or JavaScript
• Familiarity with LLMs, agent systems, or software engineering automation
• Experience with empirical evaluation methods and statistical analysis
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Passion for advancing AI-powered developer tools through systematic research

Don't meet every single requirement? You're still welcome to apply! If you're excited about the research challenges and what we're building, we encourage you to apply.

Why Join Us

• Competitive internship stipend
• Flexible duration (3-6 months, with possibility of extension)
• Work on cutting-edge problems at the intersection of AI and software development
• Publish research findings and contribute to the academic community
• Direct impact on an open source project used by developers worldwide
• Remote-first with flexible hours to accommodate academic schedules
• Mentorship from experienced researchers and engineers
• Opportunity to transition to full-time role for exceptional candidates

Note for international applicants: We welcome applications from students worldwide.

We're committed to creating a welcoming and supportive research environment where everyone can thrive. We don't discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. We welcome applicants from all walks of life to join our team. Your research potential, curiosity, and passion are what matter most to us!