Product Engineer Intern (Backend Focus)

Backend Engineer Intern (AI-Native) (Local) In Office (Fremont, CA) || Internship || Unpaid  || pivotor.ai About the JobPivotor AI is a conversational career discovery platform. Most systems built to match people to opportunity were designed to read credentials, not careers. That gap is most visible in healthcare, where two people can share the same title and be doing completely different work. We are building a system that reads the work behind the role and finds what is genuinely possible next.This is an early team. The work you do here will be visible, consequential, and yours. Whatever your function, you will be shaping something genuinely new.What You'll DoBuild and maintain FastAPI REST APIs using SQLAlchemy ORM and MVC architecture for internal services and partner integrationsImplement secure authentication using Firebase Auth (OAuth, secure cookies)Develop and productionize proof-of-concept features across backend, data, and AI systemsDesign ETL pipelines with Apache NiFi for scraping, validation, and storage across MongoDB, S3, and LLM endpointsBuild high-throughput scraping pipelines using BeautifulSoup, Selenium, multiprocessing, and rate-limiting strategiesImplement NLP pipelines for deduplication, entity matching, and enrichment using spaCy, regex, and LLMsWork across AWS infrastructure (EC2, RDS/PostgreSQL, Lambda, S3, IAM, VPC) to deploy and scale servicesBuild and maintain CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions and production services using NGINX and PM2Contribute to LLM + RAG systems, MCP server integrations, and LangGraph agent workflowsBuild internal tools and dashboards using Next.js and TailwindWhiteboard. Iterate. Launch.Who You AreYou think in systems, not endpoints You ask why before how You prototype before you present You'd rather be in the room than on a threadWhat You Bring0.5 to 1 year of backend engineering experience (projects, internships, or coursework count)Strong Python backend development experience (FastAPI, Flask, or similar frameworks)Experience building REST APIs and working with ORMs like SQLAlchemyFamiliarity with SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB; graph databases a plus)Experience building data pipelines, scraping systems, or ETL workflowsExposure to NLP pipelines, LLM APIs, or RAG architecturesFamiliarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS) and deployment workflowsHands-on experience with MCP, Cursor, or Claude for AI-assisted development (mandatory)A GitHub portfolio that demonstrates how you think and build systemsRequirementsAvailable immediately and on-site in FremontMust accept terms of an unpaid internship with potential for conversionWhy JoinOn-site, because whiteboards beat Slack.This starts unpaid. The 90-day conversion is about equity and full-time.Our current team includes people from Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Carnegie Mellon.E-Verified employer. Students at UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, and partner institutions often earn course credit.About Pivotor AIPivotor AI is a small team building with focus and a high bar for craft. The feedback loops are short, strong ideas move fast, and the work is hands-on across every function. We are still early, which means the decisions being made now will shape what this becomes.We are on-site in Fremont. The environment is collaborative and the energy is high. We have a gym and a snack bar on-site. Everyone is close to the work and close to each other. Pivotor AI is an equal opportunity employer. We value different backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences.