Software Engineer - Internship

COMPANY

Octant is a well-backed team of experienced scientists and entrepreneurs at the frontiers of biology, chemistry, and computation. We are a small molecule therapeutics company combining high-throughput synthetic biology, generative chemistry, agentic workflows, and ML to repeatedly develop precision medicines for genetically defined diseases.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is a ~12-week internship for summer 2027, onsite in Emeryville, CA, with a flexible start date.

We’re working at every level of our platform to bring more frontier drugs to patients faster. We’re building toward a vision where scientists and agents make better decisions and reach useful answers sooner. You’ll work with engineers and scientists to build agentic systems that connect knowledge, computational tools, instruments, and laboratory work. Depending on the project, you might integrate tools into an agent workflow, improve a data pipeline, or build interfaces and visualizations for our scientists.

You’re an engineer who wants to develop software that transforms the way our teams work with our discovery platform. You’re comfortable with agentic coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor) and keep up with the newest technologies in this space. While prior expertise in biology or chemistry is a plus, strong software engineering skills and eagerness to learn matter more. As one of Octant’s software engineering interns, you’ll make an immediate and lasting impact while being mentored by experienced scientists and engineers.

Read about previous internships in software engineering (here and here) and machine learning.

THIS INTERNSHIP MIGHT BE GREAT FOR YOU IF YOU:

• Are currently pursuing a BS, MS, or PhD, or completed a BS or MS within the past year, in a quantitative field (e.g., computer science, bioinformatics, applied math, or data science)
• Have experience building or working with agentic systems, LLM tool-use pipelines, or multi-step automated workflows, including prompt design and structured model outputs
• Have strong coding skills in at least one major language (Python, TypeScript, Rust, or similar)
• Can explain the design and tradeoffs behind code you build, including code developed with AI tools
• Show initiative through independent side projects or pursuits (software or otherwise)
• Can communicate results to both computational and experimental audiences
• Are comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration; our weekly cadence requires sound judgment with incomplete information rather than waiting for certainty

The pay for this role is $1,500–$2,000 per week.

Octant is an equal opportunity employer that values applicants of all backgrounds. We’re committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment. We value less traditional backgrounds, and may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and experience to meet minimum qualifications. We know that the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply - we’d love to hear from you.