PhD Applied Research Intern

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• We are looking for a highly driven PhD intern to become part of Centific’s Vision AI team for a duration of 3 to 6 months.

• This position is focused on applied research for doctoral candidates eager to extend their expertise beyond the lab and actively engage in a live AI operations program.

• You will be integrated into a production computer vision system that processes real-time video feeds across various active detection workflows.

• Collaboration with senior engineers and ML leads will be key as you implement, optimize, and evaluate AI enhancement strategies that are deployed to production on a daily basis.

• The main focus is on development and deployment: converting model research into functional, measurable systems that enhance real-world detection performance.

• Throughout all areas of concentration, the intern will track daily pipeline KPIs, assist in post-run analyses, and document implementation decisions in the team operations ledger.

⛳️ Requirements

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related field, with a strong focus on applied systems and implementation.

• Profound knowledge of computer vision fundamentals, including convolutional neural networks, transformers (ViT, DETR), and generative models.

• Strong command of Python and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch and/or TensorFlow.

• Practical experience with large-scale dataset processing, annotation workflows, or benchmark creation.

• Robust understanding of model training techniques including transfer learning, self-supervised learning, and fine-tuning strategies.

• Excellent implementation skills: capability to quickly transform a model research concept into a functioning, measurable system while feeling comfortable in a daily-cadence production pipeline environment.

• Strong written and verbal communication abilities; capacity to document implementation decisions, pipeline modifications, and performance results for both technical and operational audiences.

🏝️ Benefits

• Hands-on ownership of a live, production AI system that processes real-world surveillance data daily, with measurable KPI targets, real drift events, and significant deployment decisions.

• Mentorship from experienced ML engineers and AI leads with extensive expertise in deployed Vision AI systems, model distillation, drift correction, and edge inference optimization.

• Direct involvement in tangible performance improvements, including reductions in hallucination rate, narrowing of confidence intervals, and F1 score enhancements on a live public safety AI initiative.

• Access to proprietary datasets, annotation infrastructure, and computational resources for research experiments.

• Recognition and credits in Centific’s IP Vault for implemented strategies and contributions to methodology, with potential opportunities for technical blog posts, internal white papers, or co-authorship on applied research artifacts generated from the program.

• Consideration for full-time positions following PhD completion based on performance.