Last updated: August 2026
Motorola Solutions runs two student tracks, a 12-week Summer Internship and a Co-op that runs 3 to 12 months, and it fills both with real product work: interns at Silvus Technologies (a 2025 acquisition) test tactical mesh radios, while interns in Chicago build the AI tools running the company's supply chain. About 230 students joined the 2024 cohort across 20 offices, roughly three-quarters from underrepresented groups, per HR Brew. For summer 2027 (you apply during 2026, you intern in summer 2027), Motorola Solutions' own careers page says Summer Internship applications typically open between September and March. But real Summer 2027 requisitions, Electrical Engineer, Android Platform Software Engineering, Supply Chain Applied AI, were already posting in July and August 2026, weeks ahead of that stated window. Teams open their own roles on their own schedule, so waiting for one company-wide announcement means missing postings that already went live.
Quick Facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where to apply | motorolasolutions.com/careers lists every student program; search live roles on the Workday careers portal. Save a search for "Internship" and "Co-Op", roles post team by team |
| Application window (2027-28) | Rolling by team. Company page says "typically" September to March, but Summer 2027 reqs (EE, software, supply chain, finance) were already live in July-August 2026 |
| Rolling? | Yes. Co-op recruiting runs year-round; Summer Internship reqs post individually as teams get budget approval |
| Eligibility | Full-time undergrad or grad student, returning to school after the internship. Many engineering and public-safety-software roles require U.S. citizenship or permanent residency; some accept F1 CPT for master's students only |
| Duration | 12 weeks (Summer Internship); 3-12 months for Co-op (some individual postings run 16 weeks) |
| Compensation | $20 to $42/hr, official posted ranges by role and degree level (not a third-party estimate) |
| Return offers | No published rate. Company frames the program's goal as offering interns a full-time job at the end of college |
| Locations | Chicago and Schaumburg IL; Plantation FL; Irvine and Los Angeles CA; plus field-service and co-op sites nationwide, 20+ US and Canada offices in the 2024 cohort, and remote roles |
| # Programs | 2 tracks (Summer Internship, Co-op) across Engineering, Software, Supply Chain/AI, Finance, Field Service and Presales Engineering |
The two things that matter most: Motorola Solutions posts internship roles team by team rather than all at once, and real Summer 2027 reqs are already live even though the official page still says September. Check the portal now, not in the fall.
Externships are short, remote professional experience programs where you finish a real project with a real company. The Hydroficient IoT Cyber Defense Externship and the Wayfair AI Agent Engineering for Business Intelligence Externship build exactly the hardware-testing and applied-AI evidence a Motorola Solutions application needs. Explore all Externships.
What Is a Motorola Solutions Internship?
A Motorola Solutions internship is a paid, hands-on placement inside the company that builds mission-critical technology for police, fire, EMS and enterprise security teams, from ASTRO two-way radios to 911 dispatch software and Avigilon video security. The company runs two tracks: a 12-week Summer Internship and a Co-op that runs 3 to 12 months, both open to undergrad and grad students across engineering, software, supply chain, finance and field service. Motorola Solutions relaunched its formal internship program in 2017 and grew it to about 230 interns across 20 offices by 2024, with roughly three-quarters of that cohort from underrepresented groups (HR Brew). Employees rate the company 4.2 out of 5 across nearly 4,800 reviews on Glassdoor, with 84% saying they would recommend it to a friend. Interns get free housing, a kickoff led by CEO Greg Brown, and close the summer pitching ideas in a Shark Tank-style competition to company leadership.

When Do Motorola Solutions Internship Applications Open for 2027–2028?
Motorola Solutions doesn't run one company-wide application day. Its own careers page describes the U.S. Summer Internship window as "typically" open between September and March, with the program starting in May, while the Co-op program recruits year-round as teams need people. What the real postings show is messier and earlier: Electrical Engineer, Android Platform Software Engineering, Supply Chain Applied AI and Finance intern roles for summer 2027 were all live in the second half of July and through August 2026, a full month or more before the stated September start. So for summer 2027 (you apply during 2026), the real signal isn't a calendar date, it's whether your target team has posted yet.
Summer 2027 roles are open right now, not just coming soon. Electrical Engineer, Android Platform Software Engineering, Supply Chain Applied AI and Finance intern reqs have all posted since July 2026, weeks before the company's own page says the window typically opens. This is live, not a preview.
More Summer 2027 team-by-team postings continue rolling out, alongside the Co-op program's year-round intake. Build a Workday saved search and a Talent Network profile now; Motorola doesn't send one big "applications open" alert.
Per the documented pattern, Summer Internship postings continue through roughly March 2027, with the last waves covering roles that opened later or needed more headcount approval.
Remaining Summer 2027 seats fill. Interviews and offers keep moving on a rolling basis toward the program's May start date.
12 weeks, May to August, at one of 20+ US and Canada offices or remote, with a CEO-led kickoff and a Shark Tank-style pitch competition to leadership at the end.
How to read this page: our dates come from tracking previous recruiting cycles and daily posting data. Treat them as informed estimates based on historical patterns, not confirmed dates. The company's official careers page is always the most current source. If a role is posted there, go by that, even if this page suggests the window hasn't opened yet.
Why You Must Apply the Week Applications Open
Because Motorola Solutions posts internship roles as individual requisitions rather than one program-wide opening, the reqs that go live first get the longest runway before a hiring manager needs to close them out. A req titled "Operations - 2027 Summer Internship" that actually describes a marketing role, tagged as part of the company's "talent pipeline initiative," is a real example on the live board right now: some postings exist to build a candidate pool before a team even confirms headcount. Applying the week a specific role posts, rather than waiting for a general internship announcement, is how you get in front of the recruiter before that req quietly closes or gets absorbed into the pipeline.
Which Motorola Solutions Internship Programs Should You Target?
Motorola Solutions doesn't publish named pathways the way some banks and consultancies do. Its real postings cluster into six recurring functions, each with its own skill bar to clear.
| Program | Focus | Duration | Key skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering (EE / RF / Test) | Hardware design, test and validation for radios and public-safety devices | 12 weeks | Circuit design, oscilloscope/bench test, schematic reading, Altium |
| Software Engineering | Android, embedded firmware and full-stack work on ASTRO and command-center products | 12 weeks | Java, C/C++, Python, embedded Linux, Agile/TDD |
| Supply Chain & Applied AI | LLM tools and AI agents for the company's Vision 2030 supply chain program | 12 weeks | Python, SQL, LLM APIs, Git, data cleaning |
| Finance | FP&A reporting and financial data analysis, based at the Silvus subsidiary HQ | 12 weeks | Excel, PowerPoint, financial statements |
| Field Service Co-op | Hands-on RF and network support for public-safety customers in the field | 3-12 months | Networking, RF systems, Security+/Network+/CCNA coursework |
| Presales Systems Engineering | Designing radio communication solutions alongside customer-facing engineers | 3-12 months | Wireless/RF knowledge, communication, CCNA |
See the full list of open student roles on the Workday careers portal. Note the split: Summer Internship and Co-op recruit on different clocks, and the field-service and presales tracks recruit for co-ops year-round rather than one summer class.
What Are the Eligibility Requirements?
Requirements vary slightly by posting, but the same core gates show up across Motorola Solutions' real internship and co-op requisitions:
• Enrollment: full-time undergraduate or graduate student who returns to coursework after the internship. Most postings set a graduation date no earlier than December of the following year.
• GPA: no company-wide minimum is published. One field-adjacent co-op posting lists "3.0 preferred," not required, and no other surviving posting mentions GPA at all.
• Work authorization: most engineering and public-safety-software roles require U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, with F1 visa holders on CPT accepted only at the master's level for some engineering roles. Roles tied to Silvus Technologies and CJIS-governed public-safety software are stricter still, requiring U.S. person status with no sponsorship.
• Background checks: postings tied to federal contracts or CJIS-governed public-safety systems require a background check, and some require fingerprint-based clearance before the start date. Field Service Co-op roles also require a valid driver's license and clean driving record.

Is the GPA a Hard Cutoff at Motorola Solutions?
No. Across the surviving 2026-2027 postings, only one mentions a GPA figure at all, and it's a preference, not a requirement. The gate that actually screens candidates out is citizenship and work authorization: a large share of Motorola Solutions' internship and co-op postings sit on government or public-safety contracts that exclude candidates who need sponsorship, regardless of GPA.
What Skills Does Motorola Solutions Look For, and How Do You Build Them?
Nine real Summer 2027 and Co-op postings, read in full, tell a consistent story: Motorola Solutions hires for hands-on hardware and communications fundamentals first, then layers software and AI skills on top for specific teams. Communication skills and RF or wireless knowledge each show up in 5 of 9 postings, ahead of any single programming language. Testing and bench-equipment familiarity, oscilloscopes, multimeters, spectrum analyzers, appears in a third of postings, and CJIS or public-safety security compliance shows up almost as often given how many roles touch government customers.
What Motorola Solutions looks for in interns
Skills across 9 Motorola Solutions intern & analyst job descriptions · live US Summer 2027 & Co-op postings, read in full, Jul-Aug 2026
Method: full-text analysis of 9 real Motorola Solutions Summer 2027 and Co-op job descriptions collected Jul-Aug 2026 (Electrical Engineer, Android Platform SWE, Supply Chain Applied AI, Embedded Software/Systems/Test, CAD/RMS Co-op, 2 Field Service Co-ops, Finance, Presales Systems Engineering). Current-cycle live postings, not a prior-cycle projection.
How Is Demand for Electrical & Hardware Engineering Interns Moving Right Now?
Electrical & hardware engineering intern hiring right now: August 2026
Across 153 US electrical-engineering-intern postings tracked this month (71 on the exact-phrase count) · aggregate market data, all employers
August 2026 is this tracker's baseline month for the electrical-engineering-intern role, so month-over-month deltas appear at the September update. The signal now: demand is steady, and hands-on bench and test skills outrank domain jargon like "semiconductor," exactly the mix Motorola Solutions asks for.
Method: aggregate analysis of US electrical-engineering-intern postings via Adzuna, August 2026 baseline, cross-checked against Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter salary pages. Sample indexes under half of all US postings; figures show direction and relative level, not total market share.
Build These Skills Before You Apply
Every skill in the chart maps to a remote Externship where you finish a real project before you apply.
| Skill (from real JDs) | JD evidence | Externship that builds it |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware testing & embedded systems | EE Intern JD: "oscilloscope, multimeters, power meter, network analyzers, spectrum analyzer"; Embedded Software Intern JD: firmware for MIMO MANET radios | Hydroficient IoT Cyber Defense Externship |
| AI agents, LLMs & Python | Supply Chain Applied AI Intern JD: "building, testing, and refining Large Language Model (LLM) tools" and "prototype and experiment with AI agents" | Wayfair AI Agent Engineering Externship |
| Data analysis & SQL reporting | CAD/RMS Co-op JD: "Utilize Microsoft SQL Server to perform complex joins and data validation"; Supply Chain AI Intern JD: "extract, clean, and format operational data" | Beats by Dre Data Analytics Externship |
The overlap is direct: the Hydroficient deliverable is bench-adjacent embedded/IoT security work in the EE and Field Service postings' own vocabulary, and the Wayfair project mirrors the Supply Chain Applied AI intern's actual task list almost line for line.
What Is the Motorola Solutions Application and Interview Process Like?
Motorola Solutions' hiring process runs through Workday, and it moves at a pace closer to a mid-size tech company than a bank's multi-round marathon:
1. Apply on the Workday careers portal, searching "Internship" or "Co-Op." Roles post individually by team, so check the portal on a schedule instead of waiting for one posting to appear.
2. Recruiter phone screen confirming eligibility, work authorization, location and pay expectations.
3. One or two interviews with the hiring team. Engineering and hardware roles lean technical, circuits, testing fundamentals, coding basics, while finance, marketing and supply-chain roles lean behavioral. Glassdoor rates Internship-track interview difficulty 3 out of 5.
4. Background check, and for roles tied to Silvus Technologies or CJIS-governed public-safety software, fingerprint-based clearance before the start date.
5. Offer, plus (for Field Service Co-op roles specifically) a driving-record check.
Company-wide, Glassdoor puts the interview experience at 64.9% positive with a 2.83-out-of-5 difficulty rating, and Software Engineer Intern candidates rate it slightly easier at 2.6 out of 5. Prep the fundamentals for your track rather than a single generic behavioral script: our HireVue question guide with a free AI mock tool is a useful rehearsal if a video round shows up.
What Students on Reddit Say
Three threads show what the process and the offer decision actually look like.
I interned at Motorola Solutions last summer and now work here full time out of the Chicago office. The offer terms were pretty standard, nothing unusual to negotiate around.
Comparing a hybrid Motorola Solutions software engineering internship at about $28 an hour against a smaller SaaS company's offer. Trying to weigh the bigger name and structure against the smaller team.
Deciding between a Motorola Solutions internship and a Capital One offer for my first real internship. Both feel like solid options, just trying to figure out which sets up the better next step.
How Do You Stand Out at a Company That Recruits Interns Like a Talent Pipeline?
Three moves, all doable before your target role even posts. First, apply the week a specific req goes live, since Motorola Solutions opens roles team by team and some postings exist explicitly to build a candidate pool before a team confirms headcount. Second, show finished technical proof: the real JDs ask interns to evaluate products, prototype AI agents and debug hardware, so a project that mirrors that language beats a resume line every time. Third, lean into the culture the company itself describes: former interns like credit analyst Ben Miller talk about an "intern card" where past interns go out of their way to mentor and connect with the new class, so use that network once you're in the door, and even before, through informational outreach.

What Other Companies Should You Consider?
Motorola Solutions sits at the intersection of networking hardware, cybersecurity and industrial technology, so its closest peers split across all three.
- Ciscothe networking-equipment giant whose hardware and RF interns most directly overlap with Motorola Solutions' ownGuide →
- Palo Alto Networkscybersecurity leader for students eyeing Motorola Solutions' own growing security divisionGuide →
- CrowdStrikecloud-native cybersecurity company, a pure-play security-intern track to compare against MSI'sGuide →
- Honeywellindustrial and aerospace conglomerate with a similar mix of hardware, software and field-service internshipsGuide →
- Siemensglobal industrial technology company running comparable engineering co-ops across the USGuide →
See more hardware, networking and communications-equipment internships in our tech internships summer 2027 guide.

FAQ
Can I still apply for a summer 2026 Motorola Solutions internship?
The summer 2026 window has closed, but you haven't missed the cycle. Real Summer 2027 requisitions (Electrical Engineer, Android Platform Software Engineering, Supply Chain Applied AI) are already live on the Workday careers portal as of August 2026. Apply now instead of waiting for a formal announcement.
When do Motorola Solutions internship applications open for summer 2027?
Motorola Solutions' careers page says the U.S. Summer Internship window "typically" runs September to March, but real Summer 2027 engineering, software and supply-chain reqs were already posting in July and August 2026. Check the Workday portal now rather than waiting for September.
Is Motorola Solutions internship hiring rolling?
Yes. Reqs post individually by team rather than in one batch, and the Co-op program recruits year-round as teams need people. There's no single application deadline to plan around.
Does Motorola Solutions require a minimum GPA for internships?
No company-wide minimum is published. Only one surviving posting mentions GPA at all, listing 3.0 as "preferred," not required. Work authorization is a bigger gate than GPA for most roles.
What is the Motorola Solutions internship interview process like?
Apply on Workday, then a recruiter phone screen, then one or two team interviews (technical for engineering roles, behavioral for business roles), then a background check for federal-contract or public-safety-linked roles. Glassdoor rates Internship-track difficulty 3 out of 5.
Do Motorola Solutions interns get return offers?
No conversion rate is published. The company's SVP of HR has described the program's goal as being able to "offer them a job" at the end of an intern's college career, but no specific percentage is stated anywhere.
What skills does Motorola Solutions look for in interns?
Across 9 real 2026-2027 postings: communication (5 of 9) and RF/wireless knowledge (5 of 9) lead, followed by networking (4 of 9) and hands-on testing with bench equipment (3 of 9). Specific teams add Python, SQL or CJIS security knowledge on top.
How much does a Motorola Solutions internship pay?
Officially posted hourly ranges run from about $20/hr for entry co-op roles to $42/hr for master's-level engineering roles at the Silvus subsidiary, varying by role, location and degree level.
Motorola Solutions doesn't wait for a single application day, and neither should you. A remote Externship turns "interested in public-safety tech" into a finished hardware or AI project you can point to the moment the right req appears.
About the Author
Bifei Wang has spent 17 years focused on human flow and the growth of young professionals, spanning international education, career training and coaching, and recruitment process outsourcing. Over 7 years at Extern, he has had one-on-one sessions with thousands of students exploring careers in consulting, finance, tech, marketing, and data, giving him a firsthand view of how the job market has shifted for early-career professionals and what it actually takes to break in.


