Machine Learning Scientist Intern (Summer 2021)

The opportunity

Flexport is looking for a creative, technically-minded Applied Research Science Intern who is motivated to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems in freight forwarding.  

Data is at the heart of our business, and as a Data Science Intern, you will work to evaluate and build analytical solutions into our client and carrier facing freight forwarding products. In collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, you will apply advanced methods to develop operations research/machine learning solutions that deliver data-driven insights and automated decision making. Project assignment will be based on the team's needs and your knowledge and skillsets. 

You will own end-to-end delivery of the data science solution over 12 weeks, culminating in delivering and presenting a production-ready solution.  The data science team has intern projects covering all Flexport departments, including pricing, experimentation, short-term and long-term planning (e.g., routing and capacity expansion), and applied machine learning (e.g., transit time estimation, forecasting, trade & financial services).

You Will:

• Lead and complete at least one data science project that will be launched in production.
• Work with a supportive mentor who has a stake in your success and will help you grow.
• Perform data gathering and requirements gathering & analysis.  
• Research prior work to inform and develop rational hypotheses and quantify appropriate metrics & targets. 
• Work with large and complex data sets and solve difficult data analysis problems by applying advanced analytical methods as needed. 
• Develop data analysis/machine learning solutions to support actionable insights and deliver data-driven ML solutions to support automated decision making.

You Should Have:

• Be a Ph.D. candidate or a Masters’ student within one year of graduation in a technical field like Computer Science, Operations Research, Applied Math, Economics, Statistics, etc.
• Have strong programming experience in SQL and one or more of the following languages: C/C++, C#, Java, Python. 
• Experience working with large data sets and knowledge of tools for big data analytics (e.g., SQL, Python, Perl, or Ruby).
• Ability to translate business requirements into mathematical models.
• Knowledge and experience in one or more of the following: Machine Learning, Natural Language Understanding, Computer Vision, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Data Engineering. 
• Knowledge and experience designing and executing a research plan or related machine learning/data engineering projects.  
• Knowledge and experience training Machine Learning models on libraries such as Tensorflow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn. 

You will get:

• An assigned manager and mentor who will be dedicated to your success at Flexport. 
• Projects and assignments which will help build your knowledge and skills while making a measurable direct impact on the business.
• Visibility to leaders within the organization and opportunities to present your work/projects.
• Opportunity to join team building activities to get you familiarized with your immediate team and other Flexport employees.

About Flexport:

We believe global trade can move the human race forward. That’s why it’s our mission to make global trade easier for everyone. We aim to do this by building the Operating System for Global trade - a strategic model combining advanced technology and data analytics, logistics infrastructure, and supply chain expertise. Flexport today connects almost 10,000 clients and suppliers across 109 countries, including established global brands like Georgia-Pacific as well as emerging innovators like Sonos. Started in 2013, we've raised over $1.3B in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund, Founders Fund, GV, First Round Capital, and Y Combinator. We’re excited about the three big ways we’re moving forward after our recent $1B investment from SoftBank Vision Fund in February 2019.

Worried about not having any freight forwarding experience?

• Don’t be! We’re building the first Operating System for Global Trade. That’s why it’s incredibly important for us to bring people from diverse backgrounds and experiences together with our industry veterans to help move the freight forwarding industry forward.
• What’s freight forwarding and why does it matter? Freight forwarding is the coordination and shipment of goods from one place to another and it’s what makes global trade possible. Flexport is on a mission to make global trade easier for everyone because we believe it can help connect the world and break down economic barriers.
• We know this industry is complex. That’s why we invest in education starting day one with Flexport Academy, a one week intensive onboarding program designed specifically to set every new Flexport employee up for success.

At Flexport, our ability to fulfill our mission of making global trade easy for everyone relies on having a diverse, dedicated and engaged workforce. That is why Flexport is committed to creating and nurturing an environment where anyone can be their authentic self. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, health status, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.