AI Engineer Intern

## About Quipu Advisors Quipu Advisors is a public affairs and international trade advisory firm. We help clients navigate policy, regulation, and cross-border commercial strategy. As we expand the role of AI in our practice, we are building internal tools and prototypes to streamline research, analysis, and client deliverables. ## About the Role We are looking for a current student or recent graduate in engineering, computer science, or a related software discipline to serve as our part-time technical reference on AI projects. The principal will be "vibe coding" with Claude Code (and similar AI coding tools) to build internal applications, automations, and AI-powered workflows. Your role is to act as the technical conscience: review what is built, flag risks, and ensure that the software we ship is robust, reliable, safe, and scalable. This is a great fit for someone who enjoys reading and improving code more than writing every line from scratch, and who is genuinely curious about AI-assisted software development. ## What You'll Do - Review code generated by Claude Code and other AI tools for correctness, maintainability, and security. - Advise on architecture, project structure, dependencies, and tooling choices. - Identify failure modes, edge cases, and reliability risks before they reach production. - Recommend testing strategies, basic CI/CD practices, and version control hygiene. - Flag data privacy, secrets management, and compliance considerations relevant to a professional services firm. - Help evaluate when to use AI-generated code as-is, when to refactor, and when to start over. - Pair occasionally with the principal to debug, deploy, or harden specific projects. - Document conventions and lightweight standards the team can follow going forward. ## What We're Looking For - Current student or recent graduate in software engineering, computer science, or a closely related field. - Solid fundamentals in at least one general-purpose language (Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Go, or similar). - Working knowledge of Git, basic web/cloud architecture, APIs, and databases. - Familiarity with AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) and an informed point of view on their strengths and limits. - Strong code review instincts: able to spot smells, security issues, and scaling problems. - Clear written communication; comfortable explaining technical tradeoffs to a non-engineer. - Discretion and professionalism handling client-adjacent and sensitive material. ## Nice to Have - Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization, or serverless deployments. - Exposure to LLM application patterns (RAG, evals, prompt and context engineering, agent frameworks). - Prior internship, open-source contributions, or freelance project experience. - Interest in public affairs, trade policy, or applied AI in regulated/professional industries. ## Logistics - Part-time, flexible hours designed to fit around coursework. - Remote-friendly with occasional syncs. - Paid engagement.