SECTION I · THE BRIEF
Brief #34191Updated 22 AUG 2026SAN FRANCISCO, CAAshbyY COMBINATOR
Employbl Company Profile

Research Intern

Compresr is a platform that compresses text for LLMs, saving tokens and costs, and includes an API, a Python SDK & adjustable compression.

Location
San Francisco, CA
Company size
2–10
Posted
2w ago
Via
Ashby
Section II · Full ProfileFree with an account
  • 01Comp band & equity packageLocked
  • 02Seniority & experience requirementsLocked
  • 03Interview process & rubricLocked
  • 04Hiring manager & team contextLocked
  • 05Growth trajectory in this roleLocked
  • 06Offer & decision timelineLocked

Free account · no card · 2 minutes

Research Intern

Compresr· San FranciscoView company profile


Job title
Research Intern
Job location
San Francisco
Job description

Duration: 3 months, with a possibility of a full-time job afterwards

Start date: immediately

About us

  • We're building state-of-the-art context compression. Our mission is to become the "Cloudflare for LLMs", a compression layer embedded into most LLM pipelines by default.

  • We're a team of ex-EPFL MSc/PhDs. We started by publishing papers, then got into YC and started making money helping companies cut their LLM costs.

  • We run the business like a research lab: form hypotheses, kill the ones that don't work, double down on the ones that do.

What we offer

  • Competitive compensation

  • All the resources you need: GPUs, subscriptions, OpenAI/Anthropic credits

  • As much responsibility as you can handle. Our goal is to make you an irreplaceable part of the team

  • A fast-paced environment where you'll learn much faster than usual, surrounded by technical people who push each other

  • Possibility of a full-time offer based on performance

What we can't offer

  • Hands-on supervision. We're around for brainstorming and high-level guidance, but you own your work and will be the person who knows it best.

  • A well-defined project. We're early-stage and led by customer and market pull, so we work on several directions at once. You'll navigate this alongside the rest of us.

  • Training wheels. After a short onboarding, you'll work on hard, customer-facing, time-sensitive problems like everyone else. Not a typical internship.

We're running a tight ship on a rough sea. Not for everyone, but you'll come out the other side a much stronger sailor.

About you

1. You love research, read papers and hack on new repos for fun

2. Comfortable training ML models/transformers and doing independent applied research

3. Excellent Claude Code (or similar) user

4. Highly ambitious, ready for high-intensity YC startup culture, self-motivated

5. Strong communicator, fast response time, team player

Preferred

1. LLM research experience, shown through publications, open-source contributions, or personal projects

2. BSc or MSc in CS/DS, math, or physics.

3. Startup or research internship experience (industry or academic)

Interview process

  1. A 40-minute call: 20 minutes for introductions and motivations, followed by 20 minutes of technical questions (mostly ML/LLM foundational questions)

  2. A paid take-home project designed to take around 6 hours, followed by a 30-minute call to walk us through your work and answer a few questions

  3. A 30-minute culture interview with the whole team

  4. Offer

View job listing ↗
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Where this role is based

San Francisco, CA

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Compresr headquarters

San Francisco, CA

Company size

210 employees

Founded

2026

Total raised

$500,000

View company profile ↗

Funding rounds