INTERNSHIP DETAILS

Intern - Data Science

CompanyRakuten Advertising
LocationSan Francisco
Work ModeOn Site
PostedApril 28, 2026
Internship Information
Core Responsibilities
The intern will explore and improve machine learning models by mining internal advertising datasets to identify business trends. They will also collaborate with software engineers to deploy scalable models and communicate findings through visualizations and presentations.
Internship Type
full time
Salary Range
$30 - $35
Company Size
872
Visa Sponsorship
No
Language
English
Working Hours
40 hours
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About The Company
Rakuten Advertising leads the affiliate and partner marketing industry in delivering performance-driven marketing solutions that help the world’s top brands connect with unique, highly engaged audiences – from awareness to activation. At Rakuten, we outthink the competition and outperform your expectations. Our experienced full-service team works to create the best ad experiences for brand, audience, and affiliate alike – one where people get the right message at the right time to drive attention, action, loyalty, and value. We leverage a global partner network and our owned-and-operated properties to reach people like no one else. Your goals are our goals, and we’ll work like no one else to help you exceed them. Backed by industry-leading AI-backed technology, and the largest partner network in affiliate marketing, Rakuten Advertising taps into decades of data and experience to develop the strategies and ad experiences that will drive engagement, sales, loyalty, and beyond. A leader in the industry since its beginnings, Rakuten Advertising is a division of Rakuten Inc. (4755: TOKYO), one of the world’s leading internet service companies. The company is headquartered in New York City, with offices throughout EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and North America.
About the Role

Job Description:

Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community.

Rakuten Advertising provides advertising technology and consumer insights to the world’s leading brands and retailers. Working with agencies and brands around the world, Rakuten Advertising unites technology, client strategy and consumer insights to deliver advertising experiences that drive increased brand awareness and marketing performance. With access to Rakuten’s diverse media properties and audiences, combined with an award-winning performance network and proprietary consumer research, Rakuten Advertising creates the right conditions to reach new customers and sustain long-lasting loyalty.

Job Summary:
 

At Rakuten Advertising, Data Scientists implement the next generation of Machine Learning technology to take advantage of the hundreds of millions of data events we receive every day. By doing so, they make it possible for our company to remain a worldwide leader in the Ad Tech and Affiliate business. 

The objective of our team is to suggest solutions to the problematics inherently linked to the online advertising ecosystem with a priority on affiliate advertising. Coupling a willingness to understand the business’ inner-workings to the use of the latest technologies, we have worked on topics that range from forecasting to recommendation systems, and from anomaly detection to regression, all with the purpose of solidifying Rakuten Advertising’s position as a leader in online advertising. 

The Intern Experience: At Rakuten, we pride ourselves on giving interns a genuine, immersive experience that has a direct impact on company objectives. You will do meaningful work, and with us, you'll be a true member of the team. We are also invested in your growth as an individual and professional. That's why you can expect curated events such as professional development workshops, interactions with Rakuten leadership, and relationship building opportunities with other interns and professionals at the company. You can visit our company website and our Muse profile, to learn more about Rakuten's culture and values, as well as hear from previous interns.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Explore both existing and latest Machine Learning and Deep Learning methods to build and improve our in-house models. 
  • Mine our internal advertising datasets and perform practical statistical analysis to identify new relevant indicators and business trends. 
  • Collaborate company wide on product requirements to maximize customer satisfaction and with Software Engineers to deploy scalable/monitored models while maintaining a clean codebase. 
  • Effectively communicate your analysis and findings through interactive visualizations, documents, and presentations.


Qualifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

  • Interest in e-commerce and new technologies. 
  • Experience in using Machine Learning methods (Deep Learning is a plus). 
  • Good knowledge of Python and SQL. 
  • Strong mathematical skills.  Good conversational and written English skills for presentation, documentation, and discussion. 

Minimum Requirements:

  • Degree in progress

At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the hourly rate for this role will be between $30 - $35 per hour. Individual compensation will vary based on job-related factors, including the skills, qualifications, and experience of the successful candidate as well as business need and geographic location.

Five Principles for Success
Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviors that make Rakuten unique and united across the world. We expect Rakuten employees to model these 5 Shugi Principles of Success.

Always improve, Always Advance - Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen
Passionately Professional - Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best
Hypothesize - Practice - Validate – Shikumika - Use the Rakuten Cycle to succeed in unknown territory
Maximize Customer Satisfaction - The greatest satisfaction for our teams is seeing their customers smile
Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! - Always be conscious of time - take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team

Rakuten provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Rakuten considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Key Skills
Machine LearningDeep LearningPythonSQLStatistical analysisData miningMathematical skillsData visualizationForecastingRecommendation systemsAnomaly detectionRegressionCommunicationDocumentationPresentation
Categories
Data & AnalyticsTechnologySoftwareMarketingScience & Research
Benefits
Professional development workshopsNetworking opportunitiesMentorship