Machine Learning Intern

ENGINEERING - EPIC RESEARCH

What We Do

Epic Research conducts state-of-the-art research in machine learning, AI, character animation, and digital humans. We work with leading universities and product teams to bring new research into games like Fortnite, Unreal Engine, MetaHuman, and the tools creators use every day.

MACHINE LEARNING RESEARCH INTERNSHIP AT EPIC GAMES

What You'll Do

Epic Games is looking for current PhD students and recent PhD graduates (within 12 months of graduation) for paid research internships, working on state-of-the-art machine learning across our ecosystem. Epic makes Unreal Engine, which powers creative work across many industries, alongside some of the world's most popular games, including Fortnite and Rocket League. Through these products, ML research at Epic reaches millions of creators and players every day. AI is reshaping the games industry, and Epic Research - led by Lucia Specia and Michael Black - is at the center of that shift. We're looking for talented interns who want to be part of it.

In this role, you will

Work with our team of research scientists and engineers at the intersection of vision, language, speech processing, embodied agents, and game development to create state-of-the-art machine learning models in a range of areas - research topics of interest include:

• AI-backed interactive characters: LLMs for conversational characters, memory systems, automated evals, animation, etc.
• Game agents: vision-language-action, game-state agents, etc.
• 3D human and object tracking
• Reinforcement learning for embodied behavior
• Speech systems and conversational agents
• World building and game logic generation: video models, 2D->3D scene building, etc.
• AI-assisted game development, e.g. the next generation of Epic Developer Assistant for UE and UEFN
• Embodied and physical intelligence including human-object interaction
• Multi-modal diffusion models
• Player safety: AI-alignment, content moderation, etc.
• Improved user experience: personalised game recommendation, game representation, spam detection, etc.
• Content localization: (multimodal) translation, quality assurance, etc.
• Model distillation for realtime performance

What we're looking for

• An ongoing or recently completed (within the last 12 months) PhD in Computer Science, Mathematics, AI or a related field
• A record of publication in top conferences/journals
• Experience implementing deep learning algorithms for problems in computer vision, natural language processing, or speech/audio processing
• Hands-on knowledge of state-of-the-art ML methods, such as Transformers, diffusion models, and reinforcement learning
• Experience with post-training foundation models, including SFT, preference training, and reinforcement learning
• Excellent AI coding and experimental engineering skills
• Desirable: game development experience in either C++ or C#

Internship Details

• Duration: 5-12 months initially (depending on your location), with flexible start-dates throughout 2026/2027
• Hours: full-time (40 hours/week) or part-time (20 hours/week)
• Location: Select regions within North America and Europe
• Employment Authorization: You must hold an existing right to work in your given location for the full duration of the internship - visa sponsorship or support is unavailable for this role
• Publishing: Research by Epic interns is regularly published in top-tier conferences

This role is open to multiple locations across North America and Europe (including CA, NYC, & WA).

This internship has a flexible start date in 2026/2027. Recruitment will be ongoing until teams find an ideal match. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the posting location for the duration of the internship. For more information about Epic’s Early Career Program, visit epicgames.com/earlycareers. This is going to be Epic!

Pay Transparency Information

The expected annual base pay range(s) for this position are detailed below. Each base pay range is relevant only for individuals who are residents of or will be expected to work within the specified locale. Compensation varies based on a variety of factors, which include (but aren’t limited to) things such as skills and competencies, qualifications, knowledge, and experience. In addition to base pay, most employees are eligible to participate in Epic’s generous benefit plans and discretionary incentive programs (subject to the terms of those plans or programs).