WBG Pioneer - AI Engineer Intern, Washington DC

WBG Pioneer - AI Engineer Intern Job #: req37853 Organization: World Bank Grade: T4 (No-fee) Location: Washington, DC,United States Hiring Manager: Marcelo Donolo Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 8/12/2026 (11:59pm UTC)

Description

WBG Pioneers, the World Bank Group’s Internship Program, offers undergraduate and postgraduate students a high impact learning experience at the heart of global development. Participants gain hands on experience in a diverse and dynamic environment, contribute fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, and connect with international professionals working to end poverty on a livable planet.

WBG Pioneer

Background/Organizational Context

The Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) investigates and helps prevent fraud and corruption in World Bank Group–financed projects. Within INT, the Data Lab is a multidisciplinary team spanning data, AI, analytics, and cloud engineering that builds and operates production-grade, responsible AI and data solutions to enable and streamline INT's core business processes.

This 150-day internship offers a hands-on opportunity to work at the frontier of enterprise agentic AI. Under the direct supervision and mentorship of the Data Lab Team Lead, the AI Engineer Intern will learn to design, develop, and deploy AI agents that support INT's core functions. The role is well suited to a fast learner who stays aligned with industry trends in enterprise agentic AI and is eager to apply modern AI techniques to real-world integrity use cases within a secure, governed cloud environment.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Learn and apply the Data Lab's AI development practices to help design, build, and fine-tune AI agents and LLM-based solutions that streamline INT business processes.

• Develop, test, and iterate on prompts to improve the accuracy, relevance, and reliability of AI outputs.

• Support the optimization of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines—indexing, retrieval, and inference—for INT's AI agents.

• Use Azure cloud resources for data storage, processing, and retrieval to support AI model requirements.

• Collaborate with front-end, back-end, and DevOps team members to integrate AI models into applications and resolve integration issues.

• Explore and evaluate emerging enterprise agentic AI frameworks and tools, sharing findings and recommendations with the team.

• Maintain clear, up-to-date documentation of AI models, prompts, design decisions, and change logs to ensure transparency and traceability.

• Participate in team meetings, provide regular progress updates, and present work to the Data Lab Team Lead and management.

Selection Criteria

• Currently enrolled in, or in the final year of postgraduate (master's/PhD) program in computer science, data science, artificial intelligence, engineering, or a related field.

• 0–2 years of relevant professional experience; academic, research, or project experience with AI/machine learning is required.

• Hands-on experience with Python and familiarity with LLMs and prompt engineering (e.g., GPT models); exposure to RAG and agentic AI frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar) is an advantage.

• Familiarity with cloud platforms (preferably Microsoft Azure) and version control (Git) is desirable.

• A fast learner who actively follows industry trends in enterprise and agentic AI and can quickly apply new techniques in a hands-on manner.

• Strong analytical, research, and problem-solving skills, with a self-motivated and detail-oriented approach.

• Effective written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to document and present technical work clearly.

• Ability to work effectively in a diverse, team-based environment and manage multiple priorities within tight deadlines.

• Demonstrated interest in development work and the World Bank Group's mission.

• Proficiency in English.

No-Fee Internship Eligibility
This position is offered under the WBG Pioneers No-Fee Internship Track. Students may be offered a no-fee STT appointment provided that they either: (a) are enrolled in a Master's, PhD, or similar graduate program during the entire internship (or are in the fifth year or higher of a degree program in countries where higher education is not divided into undergraduate and graduate stages) and provide an official letter from their university confirming that the internship fulfills academic requirements for at least one term of study; or (b) are enrolled in undergraduate or graduate studies and receive a stipend from their university at least equivalent to the minimum STT T1 fee level in effect at the start of the assignment, as confirmed by an official university letter.

WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

The World Bank Group values diversity and encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of World Bank Group member countries to apply, regardless of gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.  Sub-Saharan African nationals, Caribbean nationals, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.