Backend Software Developer Intern Jobs in Texas (NOW HIRING)

Introduction

Introduction

At IBM, work is more than a job. It is a calling: To build. To design. To code. To consult. To think along with clients and sell. To make markets. To invent. To collaborate. Not just to do something better, but to attempt things you have never thought possible. Are you ready to lead in this new era of technology and solve some of the world's most challenging problems? If so, let's talk.

About Business Unit

IBM Cloud is the global public cloud platform from IBM, one of the most secure, scalable, and enterprise-ready cloud platforms in the world. IBM Cloud powers thousands of enterprises with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings delivered across public, private, and hybrid cloud models.

Within IBM Cloud, the Network Underlay organization is responsible for designing, building, and operating the physical and software-defined network infrastructure that underpins IBM Cloud's global fleet of data centers. NetTools is the automation and tooling engineering team within Network Underlay. We build the software systems that allow network engineers to provision, configure, monitor, and manage network infrastructure at scale, across dozens of data centers globally.

The Network Automation mission within NetTools develops and operates three interconnected platforms: NCS/Axon (Network Configuration Service), the system that automates the full lifecycle of network switch configuration from initial rack bring-up to day-to-day operations; SSOT (Source of Truth) and Hivemind, the authoritative data stores for network configuration state in classic and next-generation data center environments respectively; and the associated monitoring, validation, and reporting pipelines that keep our network infrastructure compliant, observable, and reliable.

Your role and responsibilities

As a Back-End Software Engineering Intern on the NetTools Network Automation team, you will work alongside the engineers actively building and evolving the Axon/NCS platform and the SSOT/Hivemind systems. This is a hands-on engineering role: you will contribute directly to production-grade back-end services and automation pipelines that are critical to the daily operation of IBM Cloud's network infrastructure.

Your work will include:

• Contribute to the Axon/NCS project: participate in the development of back-end Python microservices that implement Day-0 (initial network provisioning, Zero Touch Provisioning) and Day-2 (operational changes, firmware updates, configuration drift remediation) automation workflows. This includes working on REST API endpoints, YAML-driven input processing, and Jinja2-based configuration generation pipelines that produce switch conf+B30igurations deployed across IBM Cloud data centers.
• Build and improve automated test coverage: help design and implement unit and integration tests for the Axon/NCS platform. One of the team's active priorities is establishing a regression test framework and test environment; the intern will make direct contributions to closing that gap, including authoring test cases, identifying edge conditions, and validating end-to-end workflow correctness.
• Support SSOT and Hivemind integration work: assist in developing or improving the interfaces between NCS/Axon and the SSOT/Hivemind data platforms (backed by NetBox and CockroachDB), ensuring that network context data (rack topology, port mappings, cable connections, device inventory) is reliably consumed and validated by the automation workflows.
• Reduce technical debt and improve documentation: contribute to the ongoing NCS Overhaul initiative by helping refactor tightly coupled components, improving Docker container configuration practices, and writing operational runbooks and onboarding documentation that are currently incomplete or missing.
• Participate in agile delivery: work within the team's sprint-based development model: track work in Jira, attend standups and sprint ceremonies, contribute to code reviews, and share progress with cross-functional stakeholders across NetTools, Network Engineering, and Data Center Operations.

Required education

High School Diploma/GED

Preferred education

Bachelor's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• Back-end development in Python: hands-on experience writing Python services or scripts, including working with data structures, JSON/YAML processing, and REST API design and consumption (e.g., Flask, FastAPI, or equivalent).
• Version control with Git: ability to work collaboratively in a Git-based workflow, including branching, pull requests, and participation in code reviews.
• Containerization fundamentals: familiarity with Docker, including building images, running containers, and understanding container-based service deployment. NCS runs as containerized workloads and container hygiene is an active operational concern on the team.
• Understanding of REST APIs and ability to design, implement, and consume RESTful APIs. The Axon architecture exposes Day-0 and Day-2 network build APIs consumed by multiple service teams across IBM Cloud.
• Automated testing aptitude: experience writing unit or integration tests, or demonstrated understanding of why automated test coverage matters in production-critical infrastructure automation systems.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Working knowledge with one or more scripting or infrastructure tools: Bash, Ansible, Python automation scripts, or equivalent configuration management tooling.
• Familiarity with template engines such as Jinja2, Helm, or similar. Configuration generation in NCS is built on Jinja2 templates rendered from YAML-based rack context inputs.
• Exposure to container orchestration or cloud-native platforms: Kubernetes, OpenShift, or Docker Compose. NCS services run on IBM's Fabric Container Platform (FCP/OCP).
• Basic understanding of networking concepts: IP addressing (IPv4/IPv6), VLANs, switching, routing fundamentals, or exposure to Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). Deep networking expertise is not required, but intellectual curiosity about network infrastructure is a strong plus.
• Working knowledge with monitoring, observability, or ITSM tools: Grafana, Splunk, Zabbix, JIRA, ServiceNow, GitHub, or Confluence.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Systems helps IT leaders think differently about their infrastructure. IBM servers and storage are no longer inanimate - they can understand, reason, and learn so our clients can innovate while avoiding IT issues. Our systems power the world's most important industries and our clients are the architects of the future. Join us to help build our leading-edge technology portfolio designed for cognitive business and optimized for cloud computing.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you'll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you'll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

ABOUT IBM

IBM's greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we're also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it's time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

Supplemental 1 employees may be eligible for up to 8 paid holidays, minimum of 56 hours paid sick time and the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan. IBM offers paid family medical leave and disability benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law. This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 15 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role. We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.

The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.

Job Title

Cloud Infrastructure Network Monitoring and Automation Software Engineer Intern - Dallas, TX - 2027

Date posted

04-Sep-2026

Job ID

131088

City / Township / Village

Dallas

State / Province

Texas

Country

United States

Work arrangement

Hybrid

Area of work

Infrastructure & Technology

Employment type

Co-Op (Fixed Term)

Contract type

Internship

Projected Minimum Salary per year

75,600.00

Projected Maximum Salary per year

138,600.00

Position type

Internship

Travel required

No Travel

Company

(0147) International Business Machines Corporation

Shift

General (daytime)

Is this role a commissionable/sales incentive based position?

No