About the role#
We are looking for Research Interns to join the Adversarial Intelligence team. You will work on technical problems at the intersection of machine learning, systems security, and agentic systems. Depending on your project, you might focus on autonomous pentesting, attack-path reasoning, cyber deception, or the security evaluation of AI systems.
This is a hands-on internship. You will move beyond reading literature to building prototypes, running experiments, and analyzing results. You will be paired with a research mentor and assigned a concrete problem with clear objectives. We expect curiosity, initiative, and a willingness to investigate difficult technical questions independently.
What you'll do#
- Work on a defined research project at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and computer systems.
- Read and critically evaluate academic papers and technical material.
- Develop and implement research ideas, algorithms, or experimental systems.
- Design and run experiments to evaluate research hypotheses.
- Analyze experimental results to identify limitations, failure modes, and unexpected behavior.
- Work with security data including attack paths, graphs, telemetry, configurations, and cloud environments.
- Collaborate with researchers, security engineers, and attack engineers.
- Document methods and findings so the work can be reproduced and continued.
- Present research progress and communicate final findings to the team.
- Contribute to research outputs like technical reports, prototypes, or academic publications.
What you'll need#
- Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
- Strong computer science fundamentals and programming ability.
- Experience or demonstrated interest in systems security, machine learning, or computer systems.
- Ability to translate technical ideas into working implementations.
- Ability to learn unfamiliar concepts independently and receive technical feedback.
- Experience conducting research through an academic group, independent project, thesis, or internship.
- Familiarity with security concepts such as Active Directory, cloud environments, or autonomous security systems.
- Experience with AI methods such as deep learning, large language models, reinforcement learning, or graph algorithms.
- Experience building research prototypes, benchmarks, or test environments.
- Participation in research, security competitions, CTFs, or open-source projects is a plus.
Location & details#
- Term: Summer 2027 (10-12 weeks).
- Modality: On-site.
- Locations: Chicago, Illinois or West Lafayette, Indiana.
- Compensation: $40-$50 per hour.
- Employment: Full-time.
About Horizon3.ai
Horizon3.ai is a computer and network security company based in San Francisco. Founded in 2019, the firm develops the NodeZero platform to automate security testing and identify exploitable attack paths. It serves over 5,000 organizations, including government agencies and large healthcare providers. The company currently employs 645 people.
How to get in at Horizon3.ai
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