Artificial Intelligence Accelerator Intern

About The Role

The RealReal is the world’s largest online marketplace for authenticated, resale luxury goods. With a rigorous authentication process, we are committed to extending the lifecycle of luxury items and promoting a more sustainable future for fashion. Technology and data are at the core of how we operate, and we are constantly seeking to apply the newest AI technologies to improve our operations, authentication accuracy, and customer experience.

The RealReal’s Fall AI Accelerator Intern Program is a part-time opportunity that runs from October 13th-December 18th (including week-long breaks for holidays and finals)
The Opportunity

The RealReal is seeking motivated students to join our team for a 10-week AI Intern Program! This position offers a hands-on technical opportunity to design, build, and deploy production-ready AI tools that directly solve complex business challenges and drive operational efficiency. In this role, you will work actively across systems to build practical solutions, partner with teams to scale AI usage, and develop strategic roadmaps for long-term impact!

What You Get To Do Every Day

• Design & Build AI Solutions: Actively engineer, prototype, and deploy custom AI models and automated tools to address high-value operational challenges across business workflows.

• System Integration & Optimization: Review existing architecture and workflows to integrate enterprise AI capabilities, optimizing performance, automation, and overall technical execution.

• Data Pipeline & Readiness Enhancement: Evaluate and prepare key data pipelines and information structures to support robust, scalable model deployment and AI-driven systems.

• Technical Advisory & Enablement: Advise cross-functional teams on effective AI tool usage, best practices, and advanced prompting techniques to accelerate adoption and integration.

• Scalability & Strategic Roadmapping: Develop strategies and long-term technical roadmaps to ensure deployed AI tools scale effectively across company operations.

• Deploy & Demonstrate Impact: Showcase deployed AI applications, measured efficiency gains, and strategic business outcomes to executive stakeholders.

• Expected Business Outcomes

• Fully functional, production-ready AI tools and models integrated into company operations.

• Scalable AI workflows and infrastructure designed to support long-term business growth.

• Empowered and advised cross-functional teams utilizing AI tools and best practices effectively across daily workflows.

What You Bring To The Role

Minimum Requirements:

• Education: Current Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD student majoring in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related technical field from an accredited university.

• AI/ML Fundamentals: Solid understanding of machine learning principles, including supervised and unsupervised learning, model evaluation, and foundational knowledge of neural networks and language modeling.

• Communication: Exceptional ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for diverse stakeholders.

• Passion: Strong interest in applying artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems and drive operational efficiency.

Preferred Requirements:

• Generative AI Architectures: Experience creating applications that leverage LLMs, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Milvus), and advanced prompt engineering.

• Prototyping & APIs: Experience building and deploying web applications or AI prototypes using Python frameworks (e.g., Streamlit, FastAPI, Flask) and integrating external APIs.

• Cloud & DevOps Basics: Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerization tools like Docker.

• Data Engineering: Basic understanding of ETL processes, data preprocessing, and querying SQL/NoSQL databases.

• Technical Initiative: A portfolio of personal AI projects, open-source contributions, or participation in ML-focused hackathons/competitions.

Compensation, Benefits, + Perks

This role is not eligible for benefits.

The expected hourly rate for this role is $55.00-$60.00. To determine starting pay we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location and an evaluation of a candidate’s skills, experience, market demands, and internal parity. Additionally, salary is just one component of TRR’s total rewards package. Depending on role, employees may also be eligible for a bonus program, incentive pay and benefits.

The RealReal is the world’s largest online marketplace for authenticated, resale luxury goods, with 40 million members. With a rigorous authentication process overseen by experts, The RealReal provides a safe and reliable platform for consumers to buy and sell their luxury items. We have hundreds of in-house gemologists, horologists, and brand authenticators who inspect thousands of items each day. As a sustainable company, we give new life to pieces by thousands of brands across numerous categories—including women's and men's fashion, fine jewelry and watches, art, and home—in support of the circular economy. We make selling effortless with free virtual appointments, in-home pickup, drop-off, and direct shipping. We handle all of the work for consignors, including authenticating, using AI and machine learning to determine optimal pricing, photographing and listing their items, as well as shipping and customer service. 

The RealReal is committed to providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, or Veteran status. We will consider qualified applicants for a position regardless of arrest or conviction records. At TRR, People Come First. That’s why diversity and inclusion are vital to our priorities as an equal opportunity employer. You can read about our Diversity Equity and Inclusion program here.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.