Software Engineer Intern

At Niantic Spatial, we’re building the future of geospatial AI. Powered by a proprietary database of over 30 billion posed images and a groundbreaking third-generation digital map, we’re developing

the spatial brain

• that helps both humans and machines understand, navigate, and engage with the physical world. Our mission is to move beyond static data, creating a living model of the world that allows AI to comprehend, reason, and operate within real-world environments at scale.

We are looking for exceptional interns to join our

AI Infrastructure, Applied Computer Vision

, and

Backend Software Engineering

teams. Rather than a generic internship, you will be embedded into one of three specialized tracks that form the backbone of our Large Geospatial Model (LGM).

• Choose Your Track

:

You will be asked to select your primary track during the application process.

Track 1

: AI Infrastructure (ML)

Focus: Scaling the "Brain"

You won't just train models; you’ll build the high-throughput systems and distributed pipelines that allow our LGMs to ingest petabytes of spatial data.

• Key Projects:

  Scaling AI training pipelines for billions of images/3D data points, optimizing GPU workloads, and building distributed systems to minimize latency in foundation model training.

• Best For:

  Students obsessed with PyTorch, distributed computing (Ray/Spark), and high-performance system architecture.

Track 2

: Applied Computer Vision (CV)

Focus: The "Eyes" and "Senses"

Contribute to our "Reconstruct," "Understand," and "Localization" pillars by bridging the gap between academic research and planet-scale production.

• Key Projects:

  Prototyping features for Gaussian Splatting, Structure from Motion (SfM), Visual Positioning Systems (VPS), or semantic mesh generation.

• Best For:

  Students with strong foundations in 3D geometry, camera models, and deep learning (PyTorch/JAX).

Track 3

: Backend Software Engineering

Focus: The "Nervous System"

Build and maintain the high-throughput services that process vast amounts of visual data and provide centimeter-level positioning to users globally.

• Key Projects:

  Developing microservices in Go or C++, building data ingestion pipelines, and improving system observability and performance monitoring.

• Best For:

  Pragmatic coders who love building clean, tested, production-grade APIs and scalable backend architecture.

Core Requirements (All Tracks)

• Education:

  Currently pursuing a BS or MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Systems Engineering, Computer Vision or a related field.

• Coding:

  Strong proficiency in

  Python

  (all tracks) or

  C++ / Go

  (Infrastructure & Backend tracks).

• The Physical AI Mindset:

  A deep curiosity about how AI interacts with the real world, from 3D reconstruction to geospatial navigation.

• Commitment:

  Ability to work a minimum

  4 days per week

  in the

  San Francisco office

  .

Plus if Qualifications (All Tracks)

• Experience with Cloud Infrastructure (Kubernetes, AWS/GCP, Docker).

• Knowledge of CUDA or high-performance parallelization.

• Open-source contributions to libraries like OpenCV, COLMAP, or PyTorch.

• Prior experience with robotics, XR, or autonomous systems.