Fall 2026 AI Software Engineering Intern

The Nuclear Company•Washington, DC

20h•Onsite

About The Position

The Nuclear Company is a rapidly growing AI tech startup focused on the nuclear and energy sectors, aiming to revolutionize the next generation of nuclear reactors with a fleet-scale approach. They emphasize an AI-first mindset, expecting all employees to utilize AI, technology, and their proprietary Nuclear Operating System (NOS) to enhance their work's quality, speed, and impact. The company seeks individuals who are purpose-driven, comfortable with ambiguity, and excited by innovation. Their core values—Trust, Responsibility, Unity, Scrappiness, and Tenacity—shape their hiring, collaboration, and decision-making processes, fostering a culture of intellectual honesty, accountability, urgency, humility, resilience, and a strong commitment to their mission. This role involves building software that supports the construction of power plants. As an AI Software Engineering Intern, you will contribute to NOS across product, platform, or data engineering squads. This includes developing AI-powered software, such as LLM- and agent-backed features, retrieval-augmented generation, and tool-calling functionalities. You will work alongside full-time engineers and nuclear experts, ship features to production, and see your contributions directly utilized by teams building plants. This is a six-month co-op position for Fall 2026 (August to December), based in Washington DC, requiring on-site work five days a week. Housing and relocation assistance are provided for those outside the DC metro area.

Requirements

Currently enrolled in a BS program for Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field.
Availability for a full six-month term and commitment to returning to school afterward.
Strong programming fundamentals in at least one modern language (Python, TypeScript, Java, Go, Rust, or C++).
A demonstrated track record of shipping working software, whether through course projects, personal projects, or prior internships/co-ops.
Must be a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) due to access to information and technology subject to U.S. export controls.
Willing and able to work on-site in Washington DC, five days a week, for the entire six-month term.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to building AI-powered features, including experience with LLM APIs (OpenAI or Anthropic), retrieval-augmented generation, or agent and tool-calling.
Coursework or project experience with Palantir Foundry, AWS, or another enterprise cloud platform.
Familiarity with algorithms, data structures, cloud infrastructure, and modern front-end frameworks.
Interest in energy, national security, industrial software, or regulated industries.
Familiarity with nuclear engineering concepts (though not required, as the domain is taught).

Responsibilities

Build new features and full modules within NOS, covering areas like regulatory automation, cost and schedule management, supply chain, and the commercial portal.
Develop AI-powered software, including LLM- and agent-backed features, retrieval-augmented generation, and tool-calling against internal systems.
Create data integrations across platforms such as Palantir Foundry and AWS GovCloud.
Convert prototypes developed in build-a-thons into production-grade features and develop field deployment tooling.
Build automated testing and compliance infrastructure to ensure NOS is audit-ready, and triage issues to identify root causes of failures.