2026 PhD Residency, Agentic AI Resident, Moonshot Tools & Infrastructure

InternshipMountain View, CA

About us:

X is Alphabet's moonshot factory. We are a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions, even billions, of people. Our goal: 10x impact on the world's most intractable problems, not just 10% improvement. We approach projects that have the aspiration and riskiness of research with the speed and ambition of a startup.

Project Goal: We are developing a rich ecosystem of interoperable agent-driven tools that enable Xers to seamlessly access, learn from, and synthesize prior knowledge accumulated at X—and ultimately, to automate parts of the moonshot development process itself. As part of this effort, you will work with both our central AI team and multiple project teams to develop and deploy next-generation moonshot development tools.

How you will make 10x impact:

  • Overhauling current moonshot evaluation tools by applying advanced agentic AI and conceptual blending techniques to fix mode collapse, ensure diverse ideation, and drastically improve the baseline quality of generated moonshots.
  • Designing strict, programmatic evaluations comparing multi-agent performance against baseline frontier models.
  • Refining architectures to optimize experiment generation, helping to design rapid, targeted "kill-shot" experiments that specifically address the hardest technical hurdles.
  • Developing agent-driven tools to support techno-economic analysis (TEA).
  • Helping to grow the ecosystem of AI applications built on top of X’s core semantic knowledge base.

This project aims to push the limits of science and modeling as we know them and to prove how ML can radically accelerate our understanding of the world

  • Location: X's headquarters in Mountain View, CA
  • Start Date(s): Year-round rolling basis
  • Duration: a flexible 6 mo. to 1 year program based on project team needs and your availability

Throughout your AI Residency you can expect:

  • To be embedded into one of our confidential or public X projects
  • To get paid competitively and receive benefits
  • To be a part of a lively community of AI and ML Residents
  • To attend tech-talks with AI leaders from across X

What you should have:

  • Currently enrolled in a doctoral (PhD) program in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related quantitative field.
  • Deep, hands-on experience designing and evaluating complex LLM multi-agent systems.
  • Proficiency in Python and modern ML tools and frameworks for agent orchestration (e.g., LangChain, LangGraph, PyTorch, HuggingFace).
  • The ability to thrive in a high-velocity environment characterized by rapid iteration to solve complex technical hurdles.
  • Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.

It’d be great if you also had these:

  • Research & Open-Source Portfolio: Open-source projects that demonstrate relevant skills in agentic workflows and/or publications in relevant conferences and journals.
  • Domain expertise in one or more areas of natural sciences and engineering.
  • Experience with techno-economic analysis and modeling.
  • Experience developing evaluation pipelines for LLMs.

Additional public information:

https://www.wired.com/video/watch/astro-teller-captain-of-moonshots-at-x-speaks-at-wired25

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-10-10/alphabet-x-s-astro-teller-on-bloomberg-studio-1-0-video

The US base salary range for this position is $109,000 - $157,000 + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include benefits.

An Equal Opportunity Workplace

At X, we don't just accept difference - we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact us at x-accommodation-request@x.team.

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