Innovation Research Intern

JOB SUMMARY: 

Trace3 is an innovation partner to more than 2,000 companies and has been growing at a double-digit rate for over a decade.  Trace3 Innovation collaborates with the industry, VC and start-up community, clients, and internal Trace3 teams to identify, analyze, and offer insights into emerging technology areas such as private/public cloud, data intelligence, security, application/development, and operations.  The Trace3 Innovation Team identifies macro technology trends, technology practice areas, use cases, and solutions across the market landscape.  Solution partners, from new start-ups to industry incumbents, are evaluated.  

Under the general direction of the SVP of Innovation, and with day-to-day guidance from an Innovation Researcher, the Innovation Research Intern is responsible for scouting and vetting emerging startups and use cases, and for supporting lower-complexity client research requests, with the goal of understanding how they fit within the Enterprise IT landscape. The intern serves as a research extension of the team, allowing researchers and principals to concentrate on analysis and advisory work.  

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO LEARN: 

• Scout emerging vendors across Security, Data, AI, Developer Operations, and others using funding databases, analyst coverage, venture portfolios, and news sources
• Conduct secondary research to analyze investments in startups to determine possible trends
• Apply deductive and inductive reasoning to test the accuracy of data, and clearly separate verified facts from vendor marketing claims
• Interpret data to bring out meaningful insights by correlating different data points, citing sources for every material statement
• Maintain a pipeline of candidate companies with consistent fields, including category, product summary, funding stage, investors, and leadership
• Support the quality check process by verifying figures, names, and citations, and by keeping vendor tracking and research repositories current
• Observe technical reviews with the Research team and targeted companies, and prepare notes with takeaways and follow-up questions
• Assist researchers with client research requests, such as compiling vendor longlists, locating alternatives to an incumbent product, and building competitive comparisons
• Support the preparation for client workshops and internal thought leadership by assembling background research
• Complete a capstone research project near the end of the internship and present it to the team
• All client-facing content is reviewed and approved by a Researcher or Innovation Principal; the intern does not contact vendors or clients without approval
• May perform other duties as assigned by supervisor 

ELIGIBILITY AND PREFERRED SKILLS: 

• Enrollment in the Junior or Senior year of an undergraduate program at an accredited college or university or Masters program
• Candidates should be pursuing a field of study applicable to the Innovation Research internship, such as information technology, computer science, cybersecurity, business, or a related field
• Excellent secondary research skills, including source evaluation and careful attribution
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills
• Excellent technical documentation and artifact creation skills
• Proficiency with spreadsheets, presentation tools, and collaborative documents
• Cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better; People and Organizational Health may require a copy of the applicant’s transcript
• Academic or professional/internship experience working in a professional setting is a plus
• Familiarity with enterprise technology domains such as cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, or applied AI is a plus
• Comfort using AI research tools responsibly, with a habit of verifying output against primary sources, is a plus
• Ability to work independently on assigned tasks and accepts direction on given assignments
• Self-motivated individuals with a customer mindset and desire to help people
• Enthusiasm for technical problem solving and critical thinking with attention to detail and strong communication skills
• Ability to learn and research in a dynamic and engaging environment
• Availability to work 40 hours per week throughout the internship