Summer Intern 2026 - Design and Strategy

Steampunk • McLean, VA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Be an agent of change on a team committed to achieving client-focused, mission-driven excellence. Steampunk is the explosive collision of customer-centered design and traditional government contracting. We are an employee-owned company with a startup mindset and time-tested approaches tailored for the federal government. We’re passionate about creating solutions that are impactful, practical, and scalable while meeting our clients’ ever-changing needs. We believe in empowering our teams to find creative solutions to intractable problems. We believe the best environment in which to grow and thrive is outside our comfort zone. We believe that while good design makes for a good product, customer-centered design makes for an excellent one.
Contributions
What you’ll do:
As a Design & Strategy intern, you will learn about our Design Intelligence® framework and how to incorporate customer-centered methods to deliver a quality experiences at speed. Your typical day may include:
Planning and conducting user research including user and stakeholder interviews, facilitated workshops, and co-creation sessions
Developing and iterating on possible solutions through prototyping and wireframing
Planning and conducting user-testing sessions
Organizing your work in Agile sprints and attending daily stand ups to coordinate with project manager and/or design lead
Preparing artifacts and deliverables for presentations and feedback sessions
What you’ll learn:
Cross-functional collaboration in an Agile environment
Participatory design methods to understand customer needs and articulate problems and pain points
How to iterate and improve on ideas and processes
How to plan your work in an efficient and agile way
How to articulate decisions and present your work to stakeholders
What you’ll experience:
A work culture like no other where design is valued and at the center of everything we do
An exciting and collaborative studio environment
Direct mentorship from leadership
Exposure to various disciplines both in design and other core technical capabilities
Group social events that promote networking, relationship building, comradery, and service

Requirements

• This internship is in person; you must be able to work from our Design Intelligence studio in Tysons Corner, Virginia at least 3 days/week
• Rising third year student or above with a concentration in Computer Science, Human-computer interaction, Product Development
• Customer-centric mindset and experience, critical thinking skills, a collaborative nature, and a curiosity for solving complex problems
• Local to the DMV area

Responsibilities

• Planning and conducting user research including user and stakeholder interviews, facilitated workshops, and co-creation sessions
• Developing and iterating on possible solutions through prototyping and wireframing
• Planning and conducting user-testing sessions
• Organizing your work in Agile sprints and attending daily stand ups to coordinate with project manager and/or design lead
• Preparing artifacts and deliverables for presentations and feedback sessions

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees