Undergraduate Summer Internship

Help major civil rights organizations protect privacy and fight for social justice online. Develop new strategies for Internet freedom, bringing open Internet connections to users around the world. Work with a developing country to publish its public data, helping officials meet citizens' basic needs and respond more effectively to their input. Work alongside Congressional staff to build more powerful software tools for analyzing proposed legislation.

These are some of the challenges we work on at Robinson + Yu, a Washington, D.C.-based tech policy consulting firm. We help leaders in the public and voluntary sectors unlock the Internet's potential while managing its risks. Our toolbox spans policy and law, software engineering, and advanced computer science techniques.

We are a startup with a three-person headcount and a fast-growing pipeline of fascinating, high impact work to do. We offer a flexible and collaborative work environment, focused on helping our clients succeed.

This summer, we will be offering internships for the first time. The internship takes place in our office in Washington. Any current undergraduate may apply, including current seniors, provided that you are returning to some kind of school in the fall. The internship is paid. Interns will handle their own housing and travel costs.

We will accept internship applications on a rolling basis until January 15. If you are facing other options and need us to decide sooner, please let us know as part of your application.

At a minimum, you are:

• A self-starter: You are exceptionally well organized, highly motivated, and proactive in finding ways to get things done and meet professional goals. Your track record shows that you can thrive in an unstructured environment, and be dependable starting on day one.
• A clear thinker: You are comfortable structuring your own approach to complex problems, and analyzing them in a clear, precise and organized way. When considering a policy or technical issue, you pay close attention to the details without losing track of the larger picture. You can assess which details matter most, and distill your thinking clearly for others. Your writing reflects this.
• Well-versed in Internet technology: You understand how key Web and mobile technologies work and can describe them to a layperson. When necessary, you are comfortable diving into the technical details. You can explain the engineering decisions and design tradeoffs that these technologies reflect.

We'll like you even more if:

• You can code.
• You have written for a public audience about technology policy issues.
• You have prior experience combining technology and public policy.

• Contribute to all aspects of client projects, including research, analysis, and drafting and editing of final deliverables. These include reports, policy documents, newsletters, and other materials.
• Research and write for Equal Future, our newsletter on technology and social justice.
• Maintain situational awareness and track current developments across a broad spectrum of technology and policy issues.

Write an email that tells us why you'd thrive with us! Be creative, and be concise. It would be a good idea to include:

• The best examples of your relevant work. This could take many forms, including your published writing, a software project you worked on, a news article describing something you did, or academic work that illustrates your skills. For examples that involve collaboration, please make it clear what role you personally played. Feel free to use links, or send copies.
• The names of two references, with a brief description of how each person knows you. (We'll ask for contact info later if we need it.)
• Your CV attached as a PDF.
• Your transcript, also as a PDF.

We'll accept applications on a rolling basis, until January 15, 2014.