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

Last updated: August 2026

Tempus has assembled one of the world's largest libraries of clinical and molecular data: roughly 8 million de-identified research records across more than 350 petabytes, and it partners with over half of all U.S. oncologists and the majority of the top-20 global pharma companies. Interns work directly on that data. The NASDAQ-listed company (TEM) runs a formal, Chicago-based Summer Internship Program across AI data science, machine learning, software engineering, and generative AI. Here is everything you need to know to break in for Summer 2027.

Quick Facts

Tempus AI runs a formal, structured Summer Internship Program out of its Chicago headquarters, hybrid three days a week. Undergraduate summer analysts earn $25/hour and advanced-degree ML summer associates earn $35/hour (official, Illinois). Postings are seasonal on Workday, not year-round, and quotas often fill early, so the move for Summer 2027 is to watch the careers site from Fall 2026 and apply the week roles open.

Externships are short, remote projects where you finish real work for a real company. The Wayfair AI Agent Engineering Externship, the Beats by Dre Data Analytics Externship, and the Healthcare Operations Consulting Externship build the applied-ML, data-to-insight, and healthcare-domain evidence that Tempus's project-based interviews reward. Explore all Externships.

What Is a Tempus AI Internship?

A Tempus AI internship is a structured summer placement inside a public precision-medicine company, not a startup rotation. Tempus (NASDAQ: TEM) was founded in 2015 by Eric Lefkofsky, who also co-founded Groupon, after his wife's breast cancer diagnosis; it IPO'd in June 2024 and now employs roughly 3,775 people. The company builds AI-enabled precision medicine across oncology, neurology, cardiology, radiology, and infectious disease: genomic sequencing, multimodal clinical and molecular data, diagnostics, and an AI tool suite. Interns join a formal Summer Internship Program run from the Chicago River North headquarters, hybrid three days a week, with a dedicated learning series, development workshops, and social programming. What makes it distinctive is the data: interns work on de-identified clinical and molecular records at a scale few companies can offer, applying machine learning and LLMs to real healthcare problems. The culture is fast and mission-driven; every job description repeats a version of "be ready to fly the plane as you're still building it," so self-starters who are comfortable with ambiguity thrive.

When Do Tempus AI Internship Applications Open for 2027–2028?

Tempus has not published an official Summer 2027 intern timeline yet, so the schedule below is projected from the documented Summer 2025 and Summer 2026 cycles and is labeled expected. The pattern is clear: reqs post seasonally on Workday in the fall, applications run through spring, interviews and rolling offers happen over the winter, and the internship itself starts in June. The single most important date is the first-open window, because intern quotas at companies like Tempus often fill by December (per Levels.fyi). If you wait until spring 2027 to start looking, the best tracks may already be gone. Treat Summer 2026 as your build window: finish a real project, then apply for Summer 2027 the week postings go live.

Why You Must Apply the Week Applications Open

Tempus does not publish a hard deadline, and that is exactly why the first-open window matters so much. Reqs are reviewed on a rolling basis until they fill, and Levels.fyi's guidance for summer internships is blunt: begin applying by July of the previous year, apply to top choices by October, and expect many companies to have filled their intern quota by December. Tempus fits that pattern, posting seasonally in the fall rather than year-round. So the candidates who get interviews are usually the ones who applied in the first week or two after a role went live, not the ones who found it in spring. Three concrete moves: first, set alerts now on the Tempus Workday site so you learn about a posting the day it appears. Second, have your resume and track choice ready before Fall 2026 so you can submit within 48 hours. Third, use Summer 2026 to finish a real project, because an applied-ML or healthcare-data portfolio piece is what turns a rushed early application into an interview.

Which Tempus AI Internship Programs Should You Target?

Tempus runs one umbrella Summer Internship Program offered across several functional tracks. The four below are documented from real 2025 and 2026 postings; the exact set of tracks Tempus runs in 2027 is not yet posted, so treat this as the most likely menu rather than a confirmed list.

The primary technical entry point for undergraduates is the AI Data Science Summer Analyst track; the ML Summer Associate track is aimed at Master's and PhD students, and it pays more ($35/hr versus $25/hr). Interns often map toward adjacent full-time functions currently open on Workday, including Bioinformatics Scientist, Software Engineer (GCP, BigQuery, Kubernetes, TypeScript/Node.js), Data Scientist, and Product Manager.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements?

Requirements are confirmed from real Tempus summer-analyst and summer-associate job descriptions and vary by track:

• Undergraduate tracks (AI Data Science, SWE Security, Generative AI): currently pursuing or recently completed a Bachelor's in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Cybersecurity, Information Science/Systems, Software Engineering, or IT, or, for the Generative AI track, Biological Sciences/Biotechnology.

• Advanced-degree track (ML Summer Associate): pursuing a Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related field, timed so you are still enrolled during the internship.

• Technical baseline: Python programming, plus foundational machine-learning/AI, statistics, and algorithms coursework.

• Culture filter: comfort in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment: every JD repeats a version of "be ready to fly the plane as you're still building it."

• Location and work mode: Chicago-based, hybrid, onsite three days per week. No fully-remote intern track is documented.

• Work authorization: Tempus is an active H-1B sponsor, but intern-specific CPT/OPT sponsorship is not explicitly confirmed in the JDs (NOT FOUND): verify with the recruiter.

Do You Need to Be a Coder to Intern at Tempus?

Not for every track. There are effectively two undergraduate flavors. The technical flavor (AI Data Science, SWE Security) expects real programming: Python, SQL, ML frameworks, and for the security role, cloud and compliance literacy. But the Generative AI Summer Analyst track leans the other way, emphasizing healthcare passion, communication, and cross-functional collaboration with R, Python, and Excel rather than deep software engineering; it is a fit for biosciences or MD-PhD-oriented students who want to work on AI go-to-market and agent development. The advanced-degree ML Summer Associate track is the most research-heavy, requiring a Master's or PhD in progress and building things like patient-specific knowledge graphs from clinical notes. Across all of them, the common thread is the healthcare-data domain: because Tempus works with protected health information at massive scale, comfort with HIPAA and PHI handling is a genuine plus, and it is central for the security track.

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

Reading the four documented Tempus intern job descriptions side by side (AI Data Science 2026, SWE Security 2025, ML Summer Associate 2025, and Generative AI 2025) shows a consistent picture. Python and communication/self-starter autonomy appear in every single posting; machine-learning fundamentals, NLP/LLMs, data cleaning and EDA, and a statistics/algorithms foundation cluster in the data-science and ML roles; and SQL, data visualization, cloud, and security/compliance show up on specific tracks. The interviews, per community reports, skew toward resume and project walkthroughs rather than a heavy standardized coding assessment, so demonstrable projects matter more than raw LeetCode volume. The chart below tallies how often each skill appeared across those four JDs.

How Is Demand for Software & Data Science Interns Moving Right Now?

Build These Skills Before You Apply

And every skill in that chart maps to a remote Externship where you finish a real project before a Tempus role opens.

How close is the overlap? The Wayfair project is applied AI-agent work that yields the build-and-ship ML evidence Tempus's project walkthroughs probe for; the Beats project builds the data-cleaning-to-insight story an AI Data Science interviewer wants; and the Healthcare Operations project gives you domain fluency that signals genuine interest in precision medicine, not just a generic tech internship.

What Is the Tempus AI Application and Interview Process Like?

Tempus does not officially publish its intern interview sequence, so the steps below synthesize the documented application flow with community reports and standard summer-analyst norms. Steps 4 through 6 are inferred:

1. Fall 2026: watch and apply. Monitor the Tempus Workday careers site (tempus.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/Tempus_Careers) and search "Summer Analyst," "Summer Associate," and "Intern." Reqs post seasonally, so set alerts and apply within days of an opening.

2. Pick your track. Choose by degree level and field: undergrad Data Science/CS for AI Data Science, undergrad security-and-compliance for SWE Security, biosciences for Generative AI, or Master's/PhD for the ML Summer Associate role.

3. Submit via Workday. Upload your resume and complete standard Workday application fields. Apply early: by fall or early winter, because quotas often fill by December.

4. Recruiter screen. A phone or video conversation on motivation, your interest in precision medicine, availability, and fit.

5. Technical / hiring-manager round. For data-science and ML tracks, expect resume and project walkthroughs plus applied ML and data questions. Community reports describe these as relatively informal and resume-focused rather than a heavy LeetCode gauntlet; software-engineering roles may add a take-home or coding component (not confirmed for interns).

6. Team / behavioral round, then a rolling offer. A collaboration and culture-fit conversation ("fly the plane while building it"), followed by an offer made on a rolling basis. Accept before the quota fills.

Two things to keep in mind. First, there is no confirmed standardized online assessment for interns; the strongest community signal describes conversational, project-based screening for data-science roles, so your ability to explain a real project clearly matters more than test-taking speed. Second, Tempus is a public company (TEM) that has drawn short-seller criticism and political-investment attention; it comes up on Reddit as reputational context, not a hiring barrier, but it is worth being aware of so you can speak to the company thoughtfully.

What Students on Reddit Say

First-hand Tempus intern threads are sparse, but a handful of community discussions give a useful read on interviews, culture, and the Chicago market. All quotes are paraphrased consensus.

How Do You Stand Out for a Tempus AI Internship?

Three moves, all executable during your Summer 2026 build window. First, show applied ML on real data, not toy datasets: Tempus's data-science and ML tracks are about applying machine learning and LLMs to messy clinical and business data, so a project that involves data cleaning, EDA, and a model you can defend end to end is worth more than a stack of coursework. Because the interviews skew toward resume and project walkthroughs, the project you can explain clearly is your strongest asset. Second, speak the healthcare-data language: show that you understand precision medicine and that you take HIPAA and PHI handling seriously, which is table stakes for the security track and a genuine differentiator everywhere else. Third, apply early and to the right track: match your degree level and field to the AI Data Science, SWE Security, Generative AI, or ML Summer Associate role, set alerts on the Workday site, and submit within days of a posting going live, because quotas fill fast. A finished, real-company project is the fastest way to make all three of those moves credible at once.

What Other Companies Should You Consider?

Tempus sits at the intersection of healthcare, genomics, and applied AI. If you are building a precision-medicine and health-AI 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 Tempus AI internship?

Realistically, no. The Summer 2026 cycle is already underway or closed: the AI Data Science Summer Analyst posting (JR202600377) came down on May 21, 2026, and the program runs June through August/September. Your best move now is to target Summer 2027, whose postings are expected to open around Fall 2026. Use the intervening months to finish a real project so you can apply the week reqs go live.

Does Tempus AI offer internships?

Yes. Tempus runs a formal Summer Internship Program in Chicago, hybrid three days a week, with a dedicated learning series, development workshops, and social programming. Documented tracks include AI Data Science, Machine Learning (Applied AI & Research), Software Engineering (Security), and Generative AI. The 2025 cohort was 17 interns across all functions.

When can I apply for Summer 2027?

Postings are expected to open around Fall 2026 (roughly September to November) and run through spring 2027, projected from the Summer 2026 cycle whose AI Data Science role stayed live until May 2026. Apply early: intern quotas often fill by December, and watch the Tempus Workday careers site. As of August 2026 no Summer 2027 intern reqs are live yet.

What does a Tempus AI internship pay?

Official JD pay ranges (Illinois) are $25/hr for undergraduate summer analysts and $35/hr for advanced-degree (Master's/PhD) ML summer associates, plus a relocation bonus and housing-search resources. Community data from Glassdoor shows interns at $22 to $30/hr, median about $26/hr; treat the Glassdoor figures as directional, not official.

Where are Tempus internships located, and are they remote?

Chicago (River North HQ and lab), hybrid, onsite three days per week. All four documented intern JDs are Chicago-based, and no fully-remote intern track is documented. Tempus offers a relocation bonus and housing-search resources to help interns move to the city for the summer.

How long is the internship?

About 8 to 11 weeks over the summer, typically starting in June. The 2026 AI Data Science role ran 9 or 11 weeks in two waves (June/July starts through August/September, depending on your school calendar); the 2025 tracks ran 8 or 10 weeks, early June through August.

What are Tempus interviews like, and is there an online assessment?

Community reports (data science) describe them as relatively informal, built around resume and project walk-throughs plus applied ML and data questions rather than a heavy standardized coding assessment. Expect a recruiter screen followed by one or two technical and team rounds. No official intern online-assessment format is published (NOT FOUND); software-engineering roles may include a coding component, but this is not confirmed for interns.

Does Tempus sponsor visas for interns?

Tempus AI / Tempus Labs is an active H-1B sponsor for full-time roles, with 200+ LCAs filed historically and recent 2026 filings such as a Senior Software Engineer in Chicago at $140K. Intern-specific CPT/OPT sponsorship is not explicitly confirmed in the job descriptions (NOT FOUND), so confirm your work-authorization situation with the recruiter before the process moves forward.

Tempus AI runs a real, structured summer program at one of the largest clinical-data operations in the world, and the seats go to people who apply early with proof they can do the work. Spend the runway before Fall 2026 building that proof: a remote Externship turns interest in healthcare AI into a finished project you can point to the moment Summer 2027 postings open.