Jobs › IMC Trading

Deep Learning Research Intern - Summer 2027 - Chicago, New York

IMC Trading · Chicago, IL · Machine Learning Engineering

Posted Oct 1, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

Apply at IMC Trading

Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about your research. What question were you trying to answer and what did you find?

What they are checking: Whether they think like a scientist and can explain their work clearly.

Tell me about a time an experiment failed. What did you do next?

What they are checking: Persistence and good judgment about when to change direction in research.

What recent deep learning paper excited you, and what would you test to see if it holds up?

What they are checking: Real passion for advancing the field and a critical eye toward published claims.

What would you do

Your model's validation loss improves but the real-world metric doesn't. What do you check?

What they are checking: Whether they question the setup, metric and data splits instead of just tuning more.

Your mentor suggests a direction you think won't work. How do you handle it?

What they are checking: Whether they can disagree respectfully with evidence and stay open to being wrong.

About the work

How does a transformer handle long sequences, and what limits it?

What they are checking: Real understanding of transformers, one of the research areas the posting names.

What makes financial time series hard for deep learning compared with images or text?

What they are checking: Whether they can reason about noise, non-stationarity and weak signal without finance background.

How would you use representation learning on a large unlabeled dataset?

What they are checking: Familiarity with self-supervised and representation learning methods the posting mentions.

How do you design an experiment so you can trust what you learn from it?

What they are checking: Scientific rigor in ablations, baselines and controlled comparisons.

When would reinforcement learning make sense instead of supervised learning?

What they are checking: Whether they understand when each method fits, rather than using the newest idea by default.

How do you train efficiently when you have a lot of data and limited GPU time?

What they are checking: Practical skill using training infrastructure well, not just designing models.

Practice this interview out loud.

Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at IMC Trading from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.

Practice this out loud

The full job description

As published by IMC Trading.

Our 10-week internship is your chance to experience life as a Deep Learning Researcher at IMC. You'll have access to rich, large-scale datasets and modern training infrastructure, and see firsthand how rigorous research translates into real-world results. No prior financial industry experience is required; we are looking for scientific thinkers who are passionate about advancing deep learning research. We provide a highly competitive compensation package with accommodations included. The bar for talent at IMC is high, and interns who meet our performance expectations will have the opportunity to secure a full-time Graduate Deep Learning Researcher position at the end of the program. Where you go from here is up to you! YOUR CORE RESPONSIBILITIES: • Team up with Deep Learning Researchers on real projects to build or improve models that have potential to impact our business • Explore research areas such as representation learning, transformers, foundation models, generative AI, and reinforcement learning and other emerging deep learning techniques • Develop your research skills with support and feedback from a dedicated mentor and intern lead • Engage in professional development sessions aimed at helping you envision your future at IMC • Attend events and social activities to get to know your cohort and current employees YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: • Current university student pursuing a PhD, Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field, and graduating between September 2027 and July 2028 • Experience in applying deep learning techniques • Publication records at leading ML venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR) or contributions to open source research a plus • Strong programming skills in Python and hands-on experience with at least one modern deep learning framework, such as PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow • A creative problem-solver who is driven, resilient, and able to explain complex ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences • Must be able to start the internship in person on June 7, 2027 You may submit one application per role each year.  We strongly encourage you to focus on applying to a single role that best matches your skills and interests.  Though you may apply to multiple roles, please note that each application will be evaluated based on the specific criteria established for that particular role. If you have already applied for this position during the current recruitment season and were not selected, you may reapply when the next recruitment season begins in 2027. The Base Salary range for the role is included below. Base salary is only one component of total compensation; all full-time, permanent positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits, including paid leave and insurance. Please visit Benefits - US | IMC Trading for more comprehensive information. Base Salary: $300,000 About Us IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.  

Apply at IMC Trading