Preferred Networks (PFN) will be organizing internship programs next summer in Tokyo. In order to make the process smooth for students from outside of Japan, we open an early bird application for them.

We are a growing startup with about 100 members based in Tokyo, Japan, focusing on applying deep learning to industrial problems such as autonomous driving, manufacturing, and bio-healthcare. We are actively developing the deep learning framework Chainer.

We look for brilliant students who have expertise on various topics, such as deep learning, reinforcement learning, computer vision, bioinformatics, natural language processing, distributed computing, simulation, etc.

In previous years, by selecting highly capable interns and encouraging them to tackle challenging and important problems, some of the internship results have been published at top conferences such as ICML or workshops at ICRA and ICCV.

During the internship, you will have unique opportunity to collaborate with highly motivated experts for working on real-world applications of deep learning, while staying in Tokyo, one of the most attractive cities in the world.

We are looking forward to receiving your applications, following the instructions below.

 

● Target of this program

• Students outside of Japan

 

● Work time & Location:

• Business hours:
  8 hours/day, 5 days/week (excluding national holidays)
• Location: Center of Tokyo
  Preferred Networks Tokyo office: Otemachi Bldg. 2F, 1-6-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 100-0004
  https://www.preferred.jp/en/about

 

● Period & Compensation:

• The period of the internship can be flexibly arranged though it usually starts in June and finish by the end of August
• We require minimum of two months (40 business days), in order to be able to tackle a challenging task
• Interns are paid a competitive salary
• We will cover residence and travel cost

 

● Requirements:

• Experience in at least one of the technology areas (listed below) other than lectures
  e.g., published a paper, won a competition, part-time work, open source contribution
• Strong programming skill (any programming language)
• Formally enrolled in university or research institute outside of Japan during 2018-2019 school year
• Fluent in either English or Japanese
• Able to work fulltime on weekdays at our Tokyo office during the period

 

● Preferred experience & skills:

• Machine learning and deep learning
• Experience with numpy / scipy / deep learning frameworks
• Experience with software & service development
• Experience working with shared codebases (e.g. github / bitbucket / etc)
• Contribution to open source projects

 

● Candidate themes (subject to change)

1. Technology areas: Sub-field of machine learning, such as

     a. Deep learning theory

     b. Reinforcement learning

     c. Computer vision

     d. Natural language processing

     e. Parallel / distributed computing

 

2. Application areas: Advanced applications, such as

     a. Object detection / tracking / segmentation from image / video

     b. Robotics / factory automation / predictive maintenance

     c. Life science / healthcare / medicine

     d. Human machine interaction

     e. Design / content creation / visualization

     f. Deep learning software (Chainer, CuPy, ChainerMN/CV/RL, etc)

     g. Optimization for deep learning hardware

 

● Application information:

• Resume / CV (PDF format only. Please DO NOT include any personal or private information [e.g., age, race, nationality, religion, personal address, phone number] except name, email address, affiliation)
• Github account (optional)

 

● How to apply:

• Please fill the google forms and submit

• Due: September 29th, 11:59 pm Friday (PST)

• No late submission will be accepted (we are planning to open the 2nd call for application by January, and another call for students in Japan by May)
• The review process takes about 6-8 weeks after submission
• Usually, getting a visa for working in Japan takes up to 3 months

 

● Interview process:

1. Document review
2. One-way video interview (webcam, recording)
3. Skype interview in English or Japanese (multiple times if necessary)

 

If you have questions, please contact us at hr-pfn@preferred.jp (Sorry but no late application is accepted for fairness)