Intern Kafka Developer Jobs in Chicago, IL (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, including analytics, cloud data platforms, AI adoption, generative AI, and agentic AI-enabled data transformation, 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.
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.
Your role and responsibilities
During your internship, you can build data engineering skills by contributing to client projects that use modern data platforms, cloud services, analytics, machine learning, GenAI, and agentic AI solution patterns. This role provides an opportunity to build a compelling portfolio, acquire new skills, gain insight into diverse industries, and contribute to client-ready data pipelines, data products, APIs, retrieval assets, and governed AI-ready data with guidance from IBM teams.
At IBM, we prioritize continuous learning, skill development, and personal growth within a culture of coaching and mentorship. As an intern, you'll strengthen technical, analytical, and consulting skills while learning data quality, observability, governance, and responsible AI practices, and you could advance to our full-time Associates program based on results and performance.
Work experiences you could be exposed to:

• Mentored Data Engineering Support: Receive mentorship from data engineers, architects, AI engineers, consultants, and technical mentors while applying analytical rigor, data modeling, data quality, and responsible AI practices to client challenges.
• Data Pipeline and Platform Development: Develop skills in writing efficient, reusable code to ingest, transform, validate, model, and serve structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data for analytics, RAG, and agentic AI solution components.
• Effective Communication: Assisting explaining data flows, data quality, lineage, pipeline health, assumptions, limitations, and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Tech-Driven Data Builder: Use tools such as Python, SQL, cloud platforms, ETL/ELT tools, APIs, data platforms, and AI-assisted coding tools to turn raw data sources into reliable analytical and AI-ready assets.

Required education
High School Diploma/GED
Preferred education
Bachelor's Degree
Required technical and professional expertise

• Currently pursuing a quantitative or technical degree in Computer Science, Data Science, MIS, Business Analytics, Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mathematics, Engineering, AI/ML, or a related field.
• 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.
• Familiarity with programming or query languages such as Python, SQL, Java, Scala, JavaScript, or similar, and interest in data engineering concepts such as pipelines, databases, APIs, ETL/ELT, data modeling, or data quality.
• Willingness to travel as needed.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Exposure to ETL/ELT projects, data warehouse or lake house design, data engineering capstones, data quality checks, lineage, cataloging, or data governance is a plus.
• Exposure to data engineering technologies such as Spark, Kafka, Airflow, dbt, Databricks, Snowflake, Delta Lake, Linux, APIs, or similar tools is a plus.
• Exposure to LLMs, embeddings, vector databases, retrieval systems, RAG, prompt design, MCP-based tooling, or agentic AI frameworks such asLangChain,LangGraph, or similar, and AI-assisted Coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, or similar tools for coding, testing, debugging, documentation, and code review is a plus.

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.