Design Thinking Intern Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Introduction

Launch your career like an IBMer

Every IBMer has a story. For many, it started with an internship.

As an IBM intern, you won’t just gain experience - you’ll start thinking, working, and growing like an IBMer. From day one, you’ll contribute to real client projects across diverse industries, working alongside experienced IBMers who are invested in your success. You’ll be challenged, supported, and inspired, often all in the same day. You’ll develop technical expertise and consulting skills in a culture built on continuous learning, mentorship, and coaching. High-performing interns have a clear pathway into IBM’s Associate Program, launching careers at one of the world’s most innovative technology and consulting companies.

About the Team

In this role, you will join IBM’s US Federal team to deliver secure, mission-critical technology solutions for government agencies. You’ll work with federal, state, and local clients while developing specialized expertise in government compliance and security standards. This role offers unique career growth in a high-demand sector where your contributions directly impact public services and government missions.

Your role and responsibilities

During your internship, you can enhance your knowledge and gain professional experience by working on client projects. This role provides an exceptional opportunity to build a compelling portfolio, acquire new skills, gain insights into diverse industries, and embrace novel challenges for your future career.

At IBM, we prioritize continuous learning, skill development, and personal growth within a culture of coaching and mentorship. As an intern, you’ll experience this culture and have the opportunity to advance to our associate program based on results and performance.

Work experiences you could be exposed to:

• Team Collaboration and Innovation: Join cross functional teams to understand requirements and define technical specs for various projects, fostering collaboration innovation.
• Precision in Documentation: Document technical specifications and design decisions with clarity ensuring effective communication within the team and stakeholders.
• Code Excellence: develop scalable reusable code and champion code review processes/tools to uphold top notch code quality.
• Full Stack Versatility: Engage in full stack cloud native development, utilizing design thinking to create products that prioritize user experience, performance, security, quality, and stability. Gain exposure to a diverse tech stack including databases, operating systems, cloud providers, and modern UI frameworks, contributing to the entire product delivery life cycle.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Support workshops, meetings, and interviews to understand and document requirements collaborating with diverse teams to capture and synthesizing essential information.

The primary internship program dates are May 24, 2027 - July 30, 2027 (10 weeks).

Candidates must have the ability to obtain and maintain a Federal security clearance while in IBM Consulting-Federal.

To give yourself the best opportunity for success, we advise applying only to roles that align with your skills and experience, rather than applying broadly across all entry-level positions. You’ll receive a status update email for each application, so be sure to check your IBM Careers account regularly - it’s the best way to get a centralized view of which roles you have active applications against.

The below requirements are a guideline. If you have transferable skills we encourage you to apply to this role.

Required education

Bachelor’s Degree

Preferred education

None

Required technical and professional expertise

• Exposure to 1 of the following (Java, C++, Python, Scala, R, SAS, SQL, HTML, SPSS, VBA, Tableau, etc.), as well as systems design/development, hyperscale platforms, and information technology world
• Strong Interpersonal skills that enhance collaboration and relationship building, while also managing dynamic workloads in an agile environment
• Have initiative and passion to actively seek new knowledge and improve skills while embracing a growth mindset to assimilate diverse viewpoints
• Demonstrate leadership experience and ability to communicate effectively through active listening; while also be willing to adapt and have a readiness to take ownership of tasks and challenges.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Knowledge or interested in database development, as well as a curiosity in a wide range of cloud platforms, web markup languages, deploying applications with container technology, and generative AI.
• Exposure to web services, API, and multiple Java application frameworks highly desired.
• Knowledge or interest in best practices around design patterns, performance tuning, automated and unit testing.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Consulting is IBM’s consulting and global professional services business, with market leading capabilities in business and technology transformation. With deep expertise in many industries, we offer strategy, experience, technology, and operations services to many of the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. Our people are focused on accelerating our clients’ businesses through the power of collaboration. We believe in the power of technology responsibly used to help people, partners and the planet.

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

Federal Developer Intern 2027

Date posted

10-Aug-2026

Job ID

127714

City / Township / Village

Herndon

State / Province

Virginia

Country

United States

Work arrangement

Onsite

Area of work

Software Engineering

Employment type

Co-Op (Fixed Term)

Contract type

Internship

Projected Minimum Salary per year

42,540.00

Projected Maximum Salary per year

77,990.00

Position type

Internship

Travel required

Up to 100% or 5 days a week (home on weekends - based on project requirements)

Company

(0147) International Business Machines Corporation

Shift

General (daytime)

Is this role a commissionable/sales incentive based position?

No