Recursion Internship 2027–2028: Programs, Deadlines & How to Apply

Last updated: August 2026

Recursion runs up to millions of wet-lab experiments per week and has built one of the world's largest proprietary biology and chemistry datasets, more than 25 petabytes of imaging data from hundreds of thousands of perturbations across billions of cells, and its interns get direct access to it. The Salt Lake City AI drug-discovery company (NASDAQ: RXRX) has run a real, paid three-month summer internship spanning software engineering, data science, and wet-lab science, complete with paid housing and chef-prepared meals. But the program is on pause: the current posting states the company is not hiring interns for Summer 2026, and only a Talent Network resume form is open. Here is exactly what the program looked like, what it takes to get in, and how to position yourself for its expected return.

Quick Facts

Recursion has run a genuine paid internship (software, data science, biology/chemistry, product) but paused it for 2026 amid post-merger layoffs and a CEO transition. The core program is Salt Lake City-based, three months, paid, with housing for relocators. No Summer 2027 dates are confirmed yet; the realistic move now is the Internship Talent Network and watching the Greenhouse board from about fall 2026.

Externships are short, remote projects where you finish real work for a real company. The Wayfair AI Agent Engineering Externship and the Beats by Dre Data Analytics Externship build the applied ML, data-to-insight, and cross-functional evidence that Recursion's mission-driven, science-facing intern roles reward. Explore all Externships.

What Is a Recursion Internship?

Recursion is a clinical-stage TechBio company (NASDAQ: RXRX) that pairs high-throughput biology with machine learning to discover drugs at industrial scale. Founded in 2013 in Salt Lake City by CEO Chris Gibson and team, it runs the "Recursion OS" platform on BioHive-2, an NVIDIA-powered supercomputer described as among the most powerful owned by any pharma or biotech. In November 2024 Recursion completed a $688 million all-stock merger with Exscientia, folding in a Montreal-rooted machine-learning research arm now known as Valence Labs and growing headcount from roughly 550 to about 800 at close. Its internship, when running, has been a real three-month paid program that places students directly on the technology organization: software engineers building experiment-design tooling, data scientists mining 25-plus petabytes of imaging and multi-omics data, and wet-lab interns supporting screening that can reach millions of experiments per week. Interns get paid Salt Lake City housing if they relocate, chef-prepared meals at HQ, mentorship, and an end-of-internship poster presentation open to the whole company. The important caveat: the program is paused for 2026, and the business is in a turbulent, cost-cutting phase, so treat every forward-looking detail as expected rather than confirmed.

When Do Recursion Internship Applications Open for 2027–2028?

Recursion has no confirmed internship timeline for 2027 because the program is paused: the current posting explicitly states the company is not hiring interns for Summer 2026, and only the Talent Network resume form is open. What we can anchor to is the prior pattern. In active cycles, summer intern job descriptions (for example, Software Engineering and Data Science Intern, Summer 2024) were posted in the fall of the preceding year, roughly October to November 2023 for Summer 2024. If the program restarts, applications for summer 2027 are expected to open around fall 2026 on the Greenhouse board and recursion.com/open-positions. Given the January 2026 CEO transition to Najat Khan and 2025 layoffs, restart timing is genuinely uncertain, so the move now is to join the Talent Network and monitor from fall 2026.

Why You Must Apply the Week Applications Open

There is no confirmed 2027 application window to optimize against, because the program is paused, but the preparation window is concrete and the urgency is real for a different reason. When Recursion did run intern hiring, postings appeared in the fall of the preceding year and the cohort was small across three or four disciplines, so seats were limited. If the program restarts on the historical pattern, applications for summer 2027 would open around fall 2026, and the candidates who break in will be the ones who already submitted to the Talent Network and already have discipline-specific proof. That means three things. First, get into the Internship Talent Network now, because the resume form is the only live entry point and it feeds the human recruiters when roles reopen. Second, build the exact skills each track screens for: Python, statistics, and machine-learning fundamentals for data science; collaborative full-stack software (APIs, data pipelines, visualization) for software engineering. Third, be ready to speak to Recursion's mission, because the JDs repeatedly weight passion for the mission and comfort with open-ended problems, and mission fit is genuinely screened. Treat this summer as runway, not downtime.

Which Recursion Internship Programs Should You Target?

Recursion's internship has historically run as a single umbrella program spanning three or four disciplines under its technology organization, with a shared cohort experience. The tracks below come from published prior-cycle intern job descriptions and the Talent Network discipline list. None are live right now (Summer 2026 is paused), so treat durations and details as the prior-cycle pattern, expected to carry forward if the program restarts.

See any current openings at recursion.com/open-positions. Because interns sit alongside biologists, chemists, software engineers, and data scientists under a "One Recursion" culture, candidates who can show cross-functional collaboration and genuine mission fit tend to be a stronger fit than pure heads-down coders.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements?

Because no intern roles are live, these requirements are drawn from published prior-cycle intern job descriptions and the Talent Network form:

• Enrollment status: You must be a current student whose projected graduation falls after the internship ends. The Data Science JD explicitly required graduation after completion, which effectively excludes new grads using the intern door.

• Disciplines welcomed: Data Science, Software Engineering, Biology/Chemistry, Product, and G&A per the Talent Network form; the broader network also lists Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Computer Science, and Data Science.

• Software Engineering: "Fundamental computer science or software engineering courses," experience collaborating to complete software projects, and a "people-first mindset."

• Data Science: a strong foundation in statistics, probability, and machine learning, plus strong programming (preferably Python).

• Work authorization: No explicit intern visa-sponsorship statement was published (NOT FOUND). Do not assume sponsorship; confirm when a live role appears.

Does Recursion Hire New Grads Through the Internship?

Not directly. The Data Science intern JD requires projected graduation after the internship ends, meaning you must be returning to school, so the program is a student pipeline rather than a new-grad backdoor. Two other filters matter. Mission fit is genuinely screened: JDs repeatedly emphasize passion for the company mission, comfort with open-ended questions, and the values "We Care, We Learn, We Deliver, Act Boldly with Integrity, One Recursion," so expect motivation and values questions. And cross-functional collaboration is core: interns sit with biologists, chemists, engineers, and data scientists under a company-first, team-second ethos, so pure heads-down coders are a weaker fit. The Talent Network form also notes AI-assisted resume screening, though it states all decisions are made by human recruiters.

What Skills Does Recursion Look For, and How Do You Build Them?

Recursion has no live intern postings, so the skills picture is built from prior-cycle, function-specific job descriptions read in full: the Data Science Intern (Summer 2024), the Software Engineering Intern (Summer 2024), and a 2020 SWE intern reflection on Recursion's own blog. Three sources is a small basis, so the chart below reports an honest "count of 3" for how many explicitly support each skill. The signal is clear even so: data science leans on Python plus statistics and machine-learning fundamentals over high-dimensional biological data, software engineering leans on CS fundamentals and collaborative full-stack work, and both tracks weight cross-functional communication and genuine mission alignment. Because interns work shoulder-to-shoulder with scientists, the ability to collaborate across disciplines shows up as strongly as any single language.

How Is Demand for ML and Software Engineering Interns Moving Right Now?

Build These Skills Before You Apply

And each of those skills maps to a remote Externship where you finish a real project before a role opens.

How close is the overlap? The Wayfair project is applied AI/ML work that yields the build-and-analyze evidence a data-heavy Recursion role probes for, the Beats project builds the data-to-insight story a data science screen wants, and the Healthcare Operations Consulting project puts you in a cross-functional, science-facing team much like the "One Recursion" culture interns are hired into.

What Is the Recursion Application and Interview Process Like?

Recursion has no live intern hiring process right now, and the intern-specific loop is not fully documented. The realistic path today, based on the Talent Network form and prior-cycle evidence, is:

1. Submit to the Internship Talent Network. Complete the Greenhouse form at job-boards.greenhouse.io/recursionpharmaceuticals/jobs/7540026: resume/CV, optional cover letter, chosen discipline(s), and a short personal statement on why Recursion. This is the only open entry point while the program is paused.

2. Monitor for live 2027 postings. Watch recursion.com/open-positions and the Greenhouse board starting around fall 2026 (expected), the window in which prior summer roles appeared.

3. Apply directly when a function-specific role opens. Tailor your resume to the discipline: Python and ML for data science, collaborative full-stack for software engineering, and lead with genuine mission fit in every case.

4. For ML research, also check Valence Labs. Recursion's ML research engine, Valence Labs, hires separately; check valencelabs.com/careers for research-oriented roles.

5. Expect an AI-assisted resume screen, then human review, then interviews. The Talent Network notes AI-assisted screening with human recruiters making decisions. Prior evidence points to a mission-fit screen, a technical or project discussion, and a cross-functional conversation rather than a heavy algorithmic gauntlet.

Two honest caveats. First, no standardized online assessment was found for interns (NOT FOUND); the 2020 intern described a "collaborative hiring process" rather than a gated OA, and company-wide Glassdoor interview difficulty averages 3.1/5 with 49% rating the experience positive. Second, detailed intern round structure, count, and question banks are not published, so treat the sequence above as a best-evidence reconstruction, not a confirmed loop.

What Students on Reddit Say

No intern-specific Recursion threads surfaced, so these three are the most relevant company-context discussions, the layoffs, pipeline cuts, and CEO change any prospective 2027 intern should weigh. All takeaways are consensus, paraphrased.

How Do You Position for an Internship That Is Currently Paused?

Three moves, all executable now. First, get into the Internship Talent Network, because it is the only live entry point and it feeds Recursion's human recruiters the moment roles reopen; submit a resume, choose your discipline, and write a genuine why-Recursion statement, since mission fit is explicitly screened. Second, build discipline-specific proof: for data science, ship something in Python that uses statistics and machine learning on a large, messy dataset; for software engineering, finish a collaborative full-stack project that touches APIs, data pipelines, and visualization. Recursion's interns are hired to work alongside biologists and chemists, so any project that shows cross-functional collaboration or a life-sciences angle is worth extra. Third, watch the right pages at the right time: recursion.com/open-positions, the Greenhouse board, and, for ML research, valencelabs.com/careers, starting around fall 2026 when summer roles have historically appeared. The company is mid-restructuring with a new CEO as of January 2026, so nothing is guaranteed, but the students who convert a paused program into an offer are the ones already in the pipeline with finished work to show.

What Other Companies Should You Consider?

Recursion sits at the intersection of AI, large-scale data, and drug discovery. If you are building a TechBio and AI-for-science internship list, these are the obvious neighbors:

Our tech internships summer 2027 guide maps the whole landscape, timeline by timeline.

FAQ

Can I still apply for a summer 2026 Recursion internship?

No. Recursion's current posting explicitly states the company is not hiring interns for Summer 2026, and there are no live intern roles. The only open entry point is the Internship Talent Network resume form on Greenhouse, which collects candidates for when the program resumes. Join it and monitor recursion.com/open-positions from about fall 2026.

Does Recursion offer internships in 2027?

Not confirmed. Recursion has run a real, paid three-month summer program (software engineering, data science, biology/chemistry, product), but it is paused. A Summer 2027 program is not confirmed. If it restarts on the prior pattern, applications for summer 2027 are expected to open around fall 2026. Join the Talent Network and watch the Greenhouse board.

Is the internship paid, and does Recursion help with housing?

Yes, historically. Prior JDs describe "three months of full-time, paid internship," plus paid housing in Salt Lake City for those who need to relocate, free chef-prepared meals at HQ, mentorship, and an end-of-internship poster presentation open to the whole company.

How much do Recursion interns get paid?

Recursion does not publish intern pay. Community estimates (Glassdoor, very small samples, as few as one report) suggest roughly $65–67/hr for SWE and data science interns, while Indeed estimates about $29/hr, a wide and internally contradictory range. Treat all figures as directional, not official.

What skills do I need?

For Data Science: Python, a strong foundation in statistics, probability, and machine learning, and comfort with large high-dimensional datasets (biology knowledge is a plus). For Software Engineering: solid CS fundamentals, collaborative project experience (APIs, data pipelines, UI and visualization), and a "people-first" mindset. Mission fit is genuinely screened across both.

Where would I work?

Primarily Salt Lake City, UT, at the HQ with its wet and high-throughput screening labs. Machine-learning research skews to Montreal and London (Valence Labs). Core intern roles were listed on-site in Salt Lake City, though the Talent Network form has referenced some remote flexibility.

Can a Recursion internship turn into a full-time job?

Yes, it has happened: a 2020 software engineering intern was later hired full-time on the Accelerated Pharmaceutical team, per Recursion's own blog. However, Recursion publishes no intern-to-full-time conversion rate, so there is no official metric to cite.

Is Recursion a stable place to intern right now?

Be clear-eyed. Since the November 2024 Exscientia merger, Recursion cut about 20% of staff (June 2025), culled nearly half its clinical pipeline (May 2025), and changed CEOs (Najat Khan effective January 1, 2026). The platform and dataset are widely regarded as strong; the business is in a turbulent, cost-cutting phase, which is why the intern program paused. Its Glassdoor rating is 3.6/5 with 54% recommending to a friend.

Recursion's internship is paused today, but it is a real, paid, science-facing program that has converted interns to full-time before, and it is expected to reopen around fall 2026. Spend the runway building proof: a remote Externship turns curiosity about AI-driven drug discovery into a finished project you can point at the moment a role reappears.