Privacy and Civil Liberties Software Engineer, Internship

Palantir Technologies, Washington, D.C.

Palantir builds software that connects data, technologies, humans and environments.

A World-Changing Company

At Palantir, we’re passionate about building software that solves problems. We partner with the most important institutions in the world to transform how they use data and technology. Our software has been used to stop terrorist attacks, discover new medicines, gain an edge in global financial markets, and more. If these types of projects excite you, we'd love for you to join us.

The Role

At Palantir, protecting privacy and civil liberties is a core commitment. We do not believe that a Palantir product is successful if it cannot be used in a way that protects privacy and civil liberties. As more governments and industries demand our technology, we find ourselves operating in increasingly complex legal regimes and often facing novel privacy and civil liberties questions.

Palantir’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering (PCL) team is a multi-disciplinary group of lawyers, philosophers, and engineers who look for engineering solutions to legal and policy challenges.

As a PCL Intern, you are first and foremost passionate about the protection of privacy and civil liberties. You are a problem solver and you think creatively about solutions that mitigate privacy and civil liberties concerns, while still capturing the benefits of a new technology or dataset. You have strong communications skills that enable you to explain legal concepts to engineers and engineering concepts to lawyers in ways that everyone can understand. As a PCL Intern at Palantir, you will have the opportunity to develop new technologies and policies that will be used by actual Palantir customers.

Examples of past intern projects include:

Developing a tool for dynamically applying data minimization transforms (hashing, character masking, generalization, etc.) to data returned by database queries
Implementing audit logging and audit analytics capabilities to support oversight and accountability
Building a web UI for complex data retention and deletion workflows that facilitate compliance with privacy and data protection regulations
Researching law and policy in countries around the world and advising customers on how to use Palantir's capabilities to facilitate compliance with those requirements

What We Value

Advanced level Computer Science coursework, such as algorithms and data structures; experience with Java and/or web technologies a plus
Demonstrated interest in and understanding of privacy and civil liberties law and policy; conversant with PCL-related current events and legal developments
Strong written and oral communications skills
Ability and desire to collaborate with others to craft practical solutions to legal, policy, and/or ethical challenges
Must be planning to graduate in 2021

Palantir is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Palantir is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. Please see the United States Department of Labor's EEO poster and EEO poster supplement for additional information.