AI Applied Scientist - PhD Intern, Next-Gen Agentic and Multi-Modal Home Exploration Experience

Zillow

103d • $104,000 - $166,000

About The Position

Are you passionate about creating AI agents capable of reasoning, planning, and collaborating in real-world situations? The Zillow AI Applied Science team is dedicated to developing the next generation of agentic systems, powered by large foundation models, to assist customers in exploring, finding, and dreaming their ideal homes. With millions of users actively seeking the best way to shop for their next home, we are focused on building a cutting-edge online shopping experience. At the convergence of research, engineering, and product, we design AI agents that execute meaningful actions in multi-stakeholder environments. These agents achieve this by comprehending user needs and data, maintaining context, and optimizing for the customer-facing experience. Some of the questions we are asking in this new paradigm are: How can AI analyze complex user interactions within the UX to determine and suggest the most effective next steps for users? What is the optimal collaborative approach between AI and users to achieve the established objectives?

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program in computer science, NLP, machine learning, or a related field, with solid publication record.
• Background in at least one of the following areas: Human computer interaction (HCI), User behavior research in the context of agentic AI, Agentic AI (tool use, planning, reasoning, decision-making), Conversational AI and dialogue optimization, Multi-modal inference models with focus on combining 3D Computer Vision and LLMs, Multi-agent systems and orchestration, Memory systems and context engineering, Reinforcement learning and reward modeling.
• Familiarity with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Strong research mindset, with motivation to publish.
• Interest in applying AI to complex, multi-stakeholder domains.

Responsibilities

• Use expertise in Agentic systems, conversational AI, LLMs, and multi-modal inference to advance customer-facing experiences and interfaces.
• Build AI agents capable of handling complex, rich media oriented, multi-turn interactions while maintaining context and taking appropriate actions.
• Develop the next-generation real estate shopping experience that integrates Agentic and Multi-modal reasoning.
• Push research problems including personalized and guided home exploration, conversational optimization, and multi-modal collaboration systems.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability coverages.
• Parental leave and family benefits.
• Retirement contributions.
• Paid time off.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees