Software Engineer Intern

About MAI

MAI (pronounced "my") is on a mission to democratize advanced advertising technology. Founded by ad platform veterans from Google and Instacart, the company has successfully raised $25 million in Seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins. MAI's AI-powered platform automates and optimizes performance marketing, empowering small and mid-sized businesses to scale their ad spend profitably without requiring an agency or endless manual campaign management. The company's AI agents have demonstrated proven value, helping clients drive 40% more sales while managing millions in monthly Google Ads spend.

Why Join Now

As a Software Engineer Intern at MAI, you'll contribute to architecting the entire ecosystem where autonomous, intelligent agents live, learn, and operate. This is a rare opportunity to build a truly AI-native product from the ground up and solve problems at the forefront of the industry. You won't be a cog in a large machine—you'll be an athlete on a small, focused team of fewer than ten engineers with immense impact and the ability to shape the company's future.

The company is forming three core engineering teams:

• Product Engineering & Infrastructure
• AI Platform & Foundation
• Agent Application & Quality

You'll have the unique opportunity to learn and grow your skillset, leaning on your specializations while taking on new projects and becoming a more well-rounded engineer alongside experienced peers.

What You'll Do

• Architect and Prototype Novel Solutions: Apply advanced research skills to design and prototype new features for the core agentic platform, exploring cutting-edge algorithms and architectures to improve autonomous agents' capabilities.
• Contribute to Robust Platform Infrastructure: Design, build, and maintain critical infrastructure that supports autonomous agents, focusing on scalability, reliability, and performance across distributed systems.
• Collaborate on Real-World Impact: Work on high-impact problems that directly influence product direction and business outcomes, with a growing client waitlist driving urgency and opportunity.

What You Bring

This internship values candidates with deep research expertise and a passion for machine learning, distributed systems, or autonomous agent design. You should demonstrate strong software engineering fundamentals, curiosity about AI infrastructure, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to early-stage product development. Experience with modern backend technologies, cloud infrastructure, or machine learning frameworks is valuable.

💰 Compensation not publicly listed. Market estimate for similar roles: from $120K, varying by experience and location.