Systems Engineering Intern (device Learning)

Job Opportunity At Texas Instruments

We can't predict what the future holds, but we know Texas Instruments will have a part in shaping it.

At TI, systems engineers focus deeply on understanding the technical needs and future trends of an industry or end equipment, then create new products and innovative forward-looking product roadmaps to solve them. Systems Engineers are an integral part each phase of new product development at TI. In the early stages of product development, systems engineers interface with key stakeholders to negotiate specifications, perform trade-offs, understand the competitive landscape, and ultimately develop detailed technical definitions for new products. They then collaborate with the full IC development team to deliver products to the market which are compelling, competitive, cost-conscious, manufacturable, and importantly, successful in growing TI's business.

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join our Embedded AI team in Kilby Labs this summer to work on cutting-edge on-device training research and development for resource-constrained microcontroller applications. As a key member of our team, you will focus on enabling learning and adaptation capabilities directly on edge devices with strict power and cost constraints. Your work will involve exploring innovative approaches to co-optimize training algorithms, memory management, and hardware architectures to make on-device learning practical for embedded systems across diverse real-world applications.

In this systems engineering intern role, you'll have the chance to:

• Research and develop memory-efficient on-device training algorithms optimized for microcontroller-class devices, including techniques for supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and tiny reinforcement learning that enable local model adaptation and personalization without extensive cloud connectivity
• Explore hardware-aware training algorithm development through system-level co-design, creating novel training methods specifically optimized for future generations of TI's low-power processors and accelerators
• Apply edge training techniques to practical real-world applications on TI platforms
• Collaborate with internal systems and application engineers to prototype and validate on-device training solutions through simulation, hardware evaluation, and real-world deployment scenarios
• Develop and optimize training-aware neural network architectures and reinforcement learning agents specifically tailored for resource-constrained edge platforms with limited memory and compute resources
• Investigate memory-efficient backpropagation techniques, gradient compression methods, sparse training approaches, and incremental learning strategies for embedded systems
• Participate in the design and implementation of software frameworks and tools for on-device training deployment, benchmarking, and performance analysis across different application domains
• Interface with application teams, customers, and internal stakeholders to understand real-world use cases, define system requirements for adaptive edge AI solutions, and identify opportunities for on-device learning in TI's product portfolio

Put your talent to work with us as a systems engineering intern – change the world, love your job!

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Currently pursuing a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering or related field
• Cumulative 3.0/4.0 GPA or higher

Preferred Qualifications:

• Solid background in machine learning, embedded systems, computer architecture, and/or edge AI, with particular interest in on-device training, reinforcement learning, or resource-constrained learning systems
• Proven track record of research in on-device learning, federated learning, continual learning, efficient training methods, or tiny ML as demonstrated by first-authored publications at leading ML/systems conferences
• Strong programming skills in Python and C/C++, with experience in embedded software development and optimization for resource-constrained platforms
• Experience with machine learning frameworks and embedded ML deployment
• Knowledge of training optimization techniques including gradient compression, quantization-aware training, memory-efficient backpropagation, and low-rank adaptation methods
• Understanding of reinforcement learning fundamentals and experience with lightweight RL algorithms suitable for embedded deployment
• Familiarity with unsupervised and self-supervised learning techniques that can operate with limited labeled data on edge devices
• Understanding of neural network pruning, knowledge distillation, model compression techniques, and neural architecture search
• Experience with microcontroller platforms and real-time embedded systems programming
• Knowledge of fixed-point arithmetic, low-precision training methods, and mixed-precision optimization
• Experience with algorithm-hardware co-design and performance-power trade-off analysis for edge AI systems
• Familiarity with control systems, feedback loops, signal processing, or sensing applications
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work in a dynamic and distributed team
• Ability to establish strong relationships with key stakeholders critical to success, both internally and externally
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to audiences of varied background
• Ability to simplify complex problems and navigate uncertainty
• Ability to quickly ramp on new systems and processes
• Demonstrated strong interpersonal, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work in teams and collaborate effectively with people in different functions
• Ability to take the initiative and drive for results
• Strong time management skills that enable on-time project delivery

About Us

Engineer your future. We empower our employees to truly own their career and development. Come collaborate with some of the smartest people in the world to shape the future of electronics.

We're different by design. Diverse backgrounds and perspectives are what push innovation forward and what make TI stronger. We value each and every voice, and look forward to hearing yours.

Benefits that benefit you. We offer competitive pay and benefits designed to help you and your family live your best life. Your well-being is important to us.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (Nasdaq: TXN) is a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and sells analog and embedded processing chips for markets such as industrial, automotive, personal electronics, communications equipment and enterprise systems. At our core, we have a passion to create a better world by making electronics more affordable through semiconductors. This passion is alive today as each generation of innovation builds upon the last to make our technology more reliable, more affordable and lower power, making it possible for semiconductors to go into electronics everywhere.

Texas Instruments is an equal opportunity employer and supports a diverse, inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, disability, genetic information, national origin, gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

If you are interested in this position, please apply to this requisition.

TI does not make recruiting or hiring decisions based on citizenship, immigration status or national origin. However, if TI determines that information access or export control restrictions based upon applicable laws and regulations would prohibit you from working in this position without first obtaining an export license, TI expressly reserves the right not to seek such a license for you and either offer you a different position that does not require an export license or decline to move forward with your employment.