ZipRecruiter

Log In

1

Research Intern Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Enovix Corporation

R&D Intern

Fremont, CA · On-site

$40 - $45/hr

Battery R&D Internship Enovix is seeking an R&D Intern to support the design, fabrication, testing, and analysis of lithium-ion batteries with silicon-based anodes. This role is well suited for a PhD ...

Enovix Corporation

R&D Intern

Fremont, CA · On-site

$40 - $45/hr

Battery R&D Internship Enovix is seeking an R&D Intern to support the design, fabrication, testing, and analysis of lithium-ion batteries with silicon-based anodes. This role is well suited for a PhD ...

Whiterabbit.ai

We are looking for a Research Scientist Intern to push the state of the art of our AI models. As a Research Scientist Intern at Whiterabbit.ai, you will: * Play a key role in architecting the ...

Whiterabbit.ai

We are looking for a Research Scientist Intern to push the state of the art of our AI models. As a Research Scientist Intern at Whiterabbit.ai, you will: * Play a key role in architecting the ...

Whiterabbit.ai

We are looking for a Research Scientist Intern to push the state of the art of our AI models. As a Research Scientist Intern at Whiterabbit.ai, you will: * Play a key role in architecting the ...

Whiterabbit.ai

We are looking for a Research Scientist Intern to push the state of the art of our AI models. As a Research Scientist Intern at Whiterabbit.ai, you will: * Play a key role in architecting the ...

Whiterabbit.ai

We are looking for a Research Scientist Intern to push the state of the art of our AI models. As a Research Scientist Intern at Whiterabbit.ai, you will: * Play a key role in architecting the ...

previous pagenext page

Showing results 21-40

All JobsResearch Intern JobsResearch Intern Jobs in California

Research Intern information

See California salary details

$2.1K

$6.4K

$7.7K

How much do research intern jobs pay per month?

As of Sep 4, 2026, the average monthly pay for research intern in California is $6,355.17, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $4,358.33 and $7,566.67 per month, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a research intern?

Research interns are individuals, often students or recent graduates, who work temporarily in a research setting to gain practical experience and contribute to ongoing projects. They assist with tasks such as data collection, analysis, literature reviews, and sometimes experimental work under the supervision of experienced researchers. Research internships are valuable opportunities for interns to develop relevant skills, broaden their academic or professional networks, and explore potential career paths in research or academia.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a research intern?

To thrive as a Research Intern, you need strong analytical abilities, attention to detail, and foundational knowledge in your field of study, often supported by enrollment in a relevant degree program. Familiarity with data analysis software (such as SPSS, R, or Excel), literature databases, and sometimes laboratory equipment or programming languages is typically required. Effective communication, curiosity, and time management are vital soft skills that help interns collaborate and contribute meaningfully to research projects. These competencies are important for producing accurate findings, supporting team objectives, and gaining valuable hands-on experience in research environments.

What are some typical challenges a research intern might encounter when starting out, and how can they be addressed?

Research Interns often face challenges such as adapting to new research methodologies, managing multiple tasks with tight deadlines, and learning to navigate academic or corporate research environments. To address these, it's helpful to proactively communicate with your supervisor for clear expectations, seek mentorship from experienced team members, and utilize organizational tools to track assignments. Embracing a collaborative mindset and asking questions early on can also ease the transition and foster professional growth.

What is the difference between Research Intern vs Research Assistant?

AspectResearch InternResearch Assistant
Required CredentialsTypically students or recent graduates; some internships may require coursework in the fieldOften students or early-career professionals; may require some relevant coursework or experience
Work EnvironmentTemporary, project-based; often in academic, government, or corporate settingsMore consistent, ongoing support roles in labs or research teams
Employer & Industry UsageCommon in universities, research institutes, and corporate R&D departmentsPrimarily in academic labs, research institutions, and industry R&D teams

Research Interns typically are students or recent graduates gaining initial experience through temporary roles, while Research Assistants are more involved in ongoing research projects, often with some prior coursework or experience. Both roles support research activities but differ mainly in duration and level of responsibility.

More about Research Intern jobs

What are the most commonly searched types of Research jobs in California?

The most popular types of Research jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Research Intern jobs in California?

For Research Intern jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Research Intern jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Research Intern jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Research Intern jobs?

Cities in California with the most Research Intern job openings:

Research Intern jobs near you
Infographic showing various Research Intern job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 82% Full Time, 14% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 78% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 18% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $76,262 per year, or $36.7 per hour.

Robotics Research Intern - Post-Training

Toyota Research Institute

Los Altos, CA

$45 - $65/hr

Internship

Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO

Posted 18 days ago

Job description

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we're on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We're developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we've built a world-class team across Energy & Materials, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, and Robotics.

This is a Fall 2026 paid internship opportunity. Please note that this internship will be a hybrid, in-office role.

The Team

Our team in the Robotics division is developing pretrained generalist policies that can support a broad range of tasks, environments, and robotic systems. A central scientific challenge is determining how these broadly pretrained policies can be efficiently adapted to new target tasks while achieving the reliability, precision, and robustness required for real-world use.

Pretraining can provide a policy with broad behavioral capabilities, but those capabilities may not immediately translate into dependable performance in a specific deployment setting. Effective post-training methods are therefore essential for converting general capabilities into policies that can adapt quickly, learn from limited additional data or interaction, and perform consistently on demanding downstream tasks.

Our research interests include reinforcement learning, imitation learning, human-in-the-loop learning, simulation, world models, policy distillation, and large-scale robot learning. We aim to advance the scientific foundations of policy adaptation while developing methods that may ultimately be evaluated or deployed within internal research projects involving real-world industrial tasks.

The Internship

We are looking for two Research Interns to investigate open research questions in the post-training and adaptation of pretrained generalist robot policies.

Potential research directions include, but are not limited to:

  • Offline-to-online reinforcement learning

  • DAgger, imitation learning, and human-in-the-loop policy improvement

  • Sim-to-real policy distillation and adaptation

  • Policy improvement, planning, or data generation using world models

  • Data-efficient adaptation to new tasks and environments

Internship projects will be scoped according to each intern's research background, interests, and current team priorities. Interns will work closely with researchers and engineers across the Robotics division, with the goal of producing meaningful scientific results and, where appropriate, publications at leading robotics or machine-learning venues.

Qualifications

  • Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field.

  • Research experience in robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, generative modeling, world models, or a related area.

  • Interest in open research problems involving large-scale machine learning grounded in physical systems.

  • Proficiency in Python and a deep-learning framework such as PyTorch.

  • Ability to collaborate effectively with researchers and engineers and communicate research findings clearly.

Bonus Qualifications

  • Experience with pretrained generalist policies, foundation models, or large-scale robot-learning systems.

  • Familiarity with offline or online reinforcement learning, DAgger, interactive learning, or human-in-the-loop methods.

  • Experience with simulation, sim-to-real transfer, policy distillation, or robotic manipulation.

  • Experience with learned world models, model-based reinforcement learning, or planning.

  • Publication record or interest in publishing at leading venues such as CoRL, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, RSS, ICRA, IROS, or related conferences and journals.

  • Interest in translating fundamental research into reliable methods that can be evaluated on real robotic systems and practical downstream tasks.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. 
 
Please reference this Candidate Privacy Notice to inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute, Inc. or its subsidiaries, including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP, L.P., and the purposes for which we use such personal information.
 
TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people with unique backgrounds, education and life experiences. We are dedicated to fostering an innovative and collaborative environment by living the values that are an essential part of our culture. We believe diversity makes us stronger and are proud to provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all, without regard to an applicant's race, color, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, religion, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state or local laws.
 
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.
apply for this job

Apply