Summer Intern 2026 - Design and Strategy

Steampunk • McLean, VA

4d • Onsite

About The Position

Steampunk is an employee-owned company with a startup mindset and time-tested approaches tailored for the federal government. We are 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. As a Design & Strategy intern, you will learn about our Design Intelligence® framework and how to incorporate customer-centered methods to deliver quality experiences at speed.

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
• Must have previous knowledge of Steampunk's PunkU platform and Design Intelligence framework
• Local to the DMV area

Nice To Haves

• 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

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

Benefits

• 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

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: No Education Listed