Staff Research Scientist, Intern - PhD Quantum Computing - Summer 2026

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose - to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Visa's Internship Program provides an immersive, 12-week journey where you'll work on impactful projects that drive Visa's mission forward. As a Visa intern, you'll build valuable connections across the organization, sharpen your communication and business acumen, and gain hands-on experience in a dynamic, global environment.

Throughout the program, you'll have exclusive access to interactive workshops and learning sessions designed to deepen your expertise, expand your industry knowledge, and elevate your professional skillset. You won't just be learning, you'll be contributing, collaborating, and innovating every step of the way. In addition to professional development, you'll enjoy a variety of intern social events that foster community, connection, and fun throughout the summer

The experience culminates in an exciting final presentation, where you'll showcase your project achievements, share key insights, and present your recommendations to Visa's leaders and stakeholders. This is your chance to demonstrate your business impact, highlight your personal growth, and align your work with Visa's vision for the future.

Our Team

Visa Research is a research organization part of the company's effort on expanding its technology research capabilities globally. We conduct both applied and fundamental research while engaging with the company's technology and product teams, business partners, academics, and governments, to explore and develop technologies that are critical to the payments industry in the future.

Artificial Intelligence

Our mission at the Artificial Intelligence team is to unlock the hidden value in these massive high-quality financial data and decode the language of transactions to drive innovation in the payment industry and beyond. We conduct applied research in machine learning and related fields to deliver unique insights and capabilities to our partners and clients to help them grow their businesses. Our research areas include deep learning applications in financial data, supervised and unsupervised representation learning, predictive modeling for fraud and risk management, consumer behavior modeling, recommendation systems, payment foundational models, scalable machine learning systems, privacy preserving data analytics, and related fields.

Quantum Computing and Information

Our mission at the Quantum Computing and Information team is to harness the transformative potential of quantum technologies to drive breakthroughs in computation, security, and data-driven innovation for the payment industry and beyond. We conduct applied research in quantum algorithms, quantum machine learning, quantum optimization, and quantum cryptography to tackle complex challenges in fraud detection, risk modeling, secure transactions, and large-scale financial data analysis. Through this research, we strive to deliver capabilities beyond the reach of classical methods, enabling Visa, our partners, and our clients to lead in efficiency, security, scalability, and innovation across global payments.

Basic Qualifications

• Students pursuing a Ph.D. with a graduation date in December 2026 or later
• Strong communications skills, specifically, the absence of repeated grammatical or typographical errors, clear and concise written and spoken communications that demonstrate professional judgment.

Preferred Qualifications

• A track record of strong research results as demonstrated by papers in reputed journals and conference proceedings, patents, and presentations at conferences
• Quantum computing - Experience in one or more of the following areas: quantum algorithms, quantum information theory, quantum optimization, quantum machine learning, quantum cryptography, quantum error correction, quantum complexity theory, quantum simulation, quantum programming languages and compilers, and quantum-inspired classical algorithms.
• AI/Data Analytics:research experience with Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Scalable GenAI, and Large Language Model
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and an eagerness to collaborate with members of your team as well as other Visa teams.
• Proficiency with object-oriented programming languages, such as Python, C++, Java or equivalent languages
• Demonstrated ability to think outside the box and innovate.
• The ability to take on challenges and address problems head-on
• Strong ability to collaborate
• Highly driven, resourceful and results oriented
• Good team player and excellent interpersonal skills
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to lead and navigate through ambiguity

U.S. APPLICANTS ONLY:The estimated hourly range for a new hire into this position is $62/hr to $68/hr which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable). Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

Work Hours:Varies upon the needs of the department.

This is a hybrid position.Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

Travel Requirements:This position requires travel5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements:This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.