PhD Scientist Intern - Competitive Intelligence

Job Description

We’re looking for PhD candidates to work with the Competitive Intelligence Team as a Scientist intern during summer 2026 (12 weeks). As an intern, you will be embedded in a product team working on solving real-world Uber problems under the supervision of an analyst on that team, and will have the opportunity to partner closely with Scientists, Software Engineers, Product Managers, and other cross-functional partners.

About the Role

The Competitive Intelligence team works to understand the strategy and performance of Uber and other companies with similar products through a combination of external and internal data. Uber operates in a diverse array of markets and product categories filled with rapidly evolving competing options; assessing the success or failure of a product or strategy depends on understanding this context. Doing this, and doing it well, is an interesting and challenging problem. The team uses its data analysis, statistical modeling, economics, and business expertise to build scalable data products and ship actionable insights.

We are looking for candidates passionate about solving new and difficult problems with data. You will build out and own competitive metrics/models, provide key insights, conduct deep dive analysis to understand new opportunities and empower teams to make more informed business and strategy decisions with competitive intelligence.

What You’ll Do

• Work with a mentor closely to define a business problem, scope a project, develop, and prototype the solution using data-driven approaches
• Work with engineers and product managers to turn prototypes into scalable solutions
• Present findings to leaders to inform decisions
• Establish standard methodologies for science such as modeling, coding, analytics, optimization, and experimentation

Basic Qualifications

• Pursuing a Ph.D. majoring in Statistics, Machine Learning, Economics, or other related quantitative fields
• Candidates should have at least one semester/quarter left of their education after finishing the internship
• Strong problem-solving and analytical abilities

Preferred Qualifications

• Coding proficiency in areas such as R, Spark, SQL, Python 
• Background in data visualization via open-source libraries/packages or third-party tools (i.e. Tableau, Mixpanel, Looker, or similar)
• Knowledge of underlying mathematical foundations of statistics, machine learning, optimization, stochastic processes, economics, and analytics
• Experience in the following areas: Exploratory Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis, ML Model Development, Competitive Intelligence, Causal Inference, Operations Management, Transportation
• 0-2 years of prior work experience in an analytical setting
• Organized, detail-oriented and able to work independently on multiple projects at once
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and business partners
• Open to feedback, excellent at implementing newly learned ideas and concepts
• Research mentality with a bias towards action to structure a project from idea to prototype to implementation
• Independence, self-starter mindset, excellent communication, and outstanding follow-through - you energetically tackle your work and love the responsibility of being individually empowered

For San Francisco, CA-based roles: The base hourly rate amount for this role is USD$67.00 per hour.

For Seattle, WA-based roles: The base hourly rate amount for this role is USD$67.00 per hour.

For Sunnyvale, CA-based roles: The base hourly rate amount for this role is USD$67.00 per hour.

For all US locations, you will also be eligible for various benefits.