AI Software Developer Intern (Masters/PHD, 8+ Months)

Ciena is committed to our people-first philosophy. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a personalized and flexible work environment that empowers an individual’s passions, growth, wellbeing and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.

How Will You Contribute:

We are looking for a highly motivated AI Agent Development Intern to join our Agentic AI Hub project at Ciena. This initiative focuses on developing intelligent AI agents powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and knowledge bases to drive automation, decision-making, and efficiency in real-world applications.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist in designing, developing, and optimizing LLM-powered AI agents using frameworks like LangChain, LlamaIndex, and OpenAI API.
• Craft, refine, and test prompts for various AI-driven tasks, including question answering, summarization, and decision support.
• Implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines using vector databases (e.g., ChromaDB, Pinecone, Weaviate) to enhance AI agent knowledge.
• Work with structured (SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL) and unstructured data (text, PDFs, JSON), applying preprocessing techniques.
• Develop and integrate REST APIs (FastAPI, Flask) for AI agent interaction and integrate LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face) efficiently.
• Utilize Git/GitHub for version control, create modular and maintainable Python code, and explore Docker for deployment.
• Evaluate AI agent outputs, detect hallucinations, and implement improvements for accuracy, efficiency, and reliability.

The Must Haves:

• Currently working towards a Masters or PHD in an AI related field.
• Strong Python proficiency with experience in developing AI agents.
• Familiarity with LLM APIs, structured/unstructured data processing, and embedding models.
• Experience with vector databases (ChromaDB, Pinecone), SQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL), and NoSQL (MongoDB, Elasticsearch).
• Basic knowledge of REST API development (FastAPI, Flask) and integrating AI models with APIs.

The Assets:

• Experience with LangChain, LlamaIndex, or Autogen for AI agent development.
• Knowledge of RAG techniques, knowledge graphs (Neo4j, RDF), or semantic search.
• Exposure to fine-tuning LLMs (LoRA, PEFT).
• Familiarity with Docker, AWS, or Azure is a plus.
• Experience with MLOps pipelines, logging, and monitoring AI applications.

Pay Range: The pay range for this position is $24.50 - $43.00

Pay ranges at Ciena are designed to accommodate variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions, and locations, reflecting our diverse products, industries, and lines of business. Please note that the pay range information provided in this posting pertains specifically to the primary location, which is the top location listed in case multiple locations are available.

In addition to competitive compensation, Ciena offers students access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation pay as required by applicable laws.

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At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard.  Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.