Software Engineer - Intern

Help reinvent how housing gets designed, permitted, and built in America

Cedar is building the operating system for urban housing delivery. We combine architectural expertise with software, automation, and data systems to dramatically accelerate how projects move from land acquisition to approved designs and construction. The result: faster timelines, higher quality, lower risk, and more housing in the cities that need it most.

Our team blends architects, engineers, and product builders. We design real buildings — and we build the software systems that make great architecture scalable.

The Role

As a Software Engineering Intern, you'll work alongside our engineering team to build real systems that power Cedar's automation and delivery workflows. This isn't a shadow-and-observe internship — you'll ship code, solve meaningful problems, and see your work used in production.

You'll be exposed to the full stack of what we're building: APIs, data pipelines, AI-powered tools, and the domain logic that translates zoning codes and design constraints into working software. We'll match projects to your interests and skills, whether that's frontend interfaces, backend services, data modeling, or computational geometry.

This role is based in San Diego with a flexible start date. We're targeting a standard summer internship from mid-May through mid-August, though we're open to discussing timing that works with your academic schedule.

What You'll Do

• Build features and tools that ship to production

• Work on real engineering problems alongside senior engineers and architects

• Learn how complex domain logic (zoning, design constraints, building systems) gets translated into software

• Use AI development tools to accelerate your work and learn modern engineering workflows

• Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and team rituals

• Complete a meaningful project you can point to after the summer

Who You Are

• Curious and motivated to learn quickly

• Comfortable asking questions and working through ambiguity

• Interested in how software can solve real-world problems

• Take pride in writing clean, working code

• Collaborative and communicative

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Architecture, or a related field

• Foundational programming skills — we're flexible on language, but experience with TypeScript, Python, or JavaScript is helpful

• Some experience building projects outside of class (personal projects, hackathons, research, open source contributions)

• Ability to work full-time for the duration of the internship

• Based in or able to relocate to San Diego for the summer

Nice to Have

• Coursework or interest in any of the following: data structures and algorithms, databases, web development, computational geometry, linear algebra, or graphics

• Exposure to CAD tools, BIM software, or architectural design

• Interest in housing, urban planning, or the built environment

• Experience with version control (Git) and collaborative development workflows

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive hourly compensation

• Hands-on mentorship from Cedar’s CTO & founding engineering team

• Real project ownership and production impact

• Exposure to early-stage startup operations

• Path to future full-time opportunities for strong performers