Software Engineer Intern (Summer 2026)

Company Description

Dropbox isn’t just a workplace—it’s a living lab for more enlightened ways of working. We're a global community of bold visionaries and resourceful doers who are shaping the future of Dropbox—and with it the future of work. Our Virtual First model combines the autonomy of a distributed workplace with the power of human connection, making space for both meaningful work and meaningful relationships. With our start-up mindset and enterprise-level opportunities, you can be who you are and grow into who you’re meant to be. Here, you can own your impact to make work more intuitive, joyful, and human—for you as a Dropboxer and for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If you're ready to push boundaries—and yourself— Dropbox is ready for you.

Team Description

The Dropbox Emerging Talent program shapes the future of work by empowering the next generation of innovators. We transform potential into impact by connecting exceptional early-career professionals with meaningful challenges that can touch hundreds of millions of lives. Our program allows interns and apprentices to work alongside industry experts, bringing fresh perspectives while solving interesting problems. We foster growth through hands-on learning, dedicated mentorship, and a vibrant community that supports your journey from day one. If you're ready to launch your career in an environment that combines real-world impact with genuine connection, join our Emerging Talent program. We will be hiring for these departments in 2025: Engineering, Customer Experience, Sales, Legal, Office of the CEO

Role Description

Please note: This role will remain open until October 6, 2025. Dropbox currently only offers Summer internships May - September and cannot accommodate off cycle internships at this time. Please inform your recruiter if you have upcoming deadlines for Summer 2026 internships.

We’ll open a new application later this fall for current underclassmen. If your anticipated graduation date falls between Fall/Winter 2027 - Spring 2028 and want to be notified when this Software Engineering Intern application goes live, please complete this form.

As a Software Engineering Intern, you'll work alongside seasoned professionals, diving deep into real-world challenges and pioneering solutions that impact millions. With a focus on the future of collaboration, you'll have the opportunity to work on high-impact projects that define the next chapter of Dropbox. In our Virtual First work culture, you’ll connect with with Dropboxers virtually and in-person to build the foundation of a strong professional network. As a Summer intern, you will also have the opportunity to attend our Emerging Talent Summit, where participants from our intern and early-career programs come together in person to build lasting relationships, explore learning and development opportunities, and prepare for their career journey ahead.

For Summer 2026, we offer two start dates culminating in a 12-week internship:

• May 26 - August 14, 2026
• June 30 - Sep 18, 2026

Responsibilities

• Create Impact: Ship a high-priority project from start to finish, directly contributing to mission-critical software development. Along the way, build AI proficiency by leveraging tools like Copilot to boost productivity and code quality.
• Innovative Development: Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to design, develop, and deploy next-gen features for Dropbox's suite of products.
• Agile Learning: Immerse yourself in rapid prototyping, iterative development, and harness the power of structured feedback from your host team.
• User-Centric Focus: Ensure solutions are designed with the end-user in mind, emphasizing usability and intuitive design.
• Tech Exploration: Participate in tech talks, professional development workshops, to explore new technologies and tools.

Team Matching & Mentorship

• Team Matching: You play an active part in the team matching process. Prior to final round technical interviews, we’ll send you a detailed survey to understand your interests and strengths. These criteria as well as current business needs and your location are all factors we consider to match you closely with a host team.
• Mentorship: Receive 1:1 mentorship and guidance from your team, a mentor, and a peer mentor. These dedicated industry professionals help you gain insights into the tech world while enabling your success through meaningful work, clear guidance, and a supportive environment.
• Continuous Feedback: Receive real time and written actionable feedback and reviews on a regular cadence to help drive your development over the course of the internship.

Here are some examples of the numerous types of roles and teams that you can have an impact on:

• Product Engineering - Product Engineers thrive working across technologies and codebases, and are also involved in various product development cycle stages. Along the way they represent users needs through close partnership with product, design, and user research. In this role you will deliver best-in-breed software by building robust systems that power optimized user experiences on marquee projects like Dropbox PaperTransferor Family.
• Dash - Help build and scale Dropbox Dashone of our fastest-growing AI products. Our team is tackling complex challenges across distributed systems, data platforms, and AI-powered experiences. You’ll join a high-impact, collaborative environment where engineers partner closely with Product and Design to shape what we build and how we build it. Ideally, you are at your best when you are in fast-paced and startup-like teams, building customer-facing products and having a deep curiosity which leads you to build side projects of your own.
• Infrastructure Engineering - The Infrastructure Engineering team designs products for vast scale. We craft components for millions of connections, oversee billions of files, and manage hundreds of petabytes of data. Our rigorous approach addresses edge cases and errors. Through refined code and thorough testing, we prioritize data integrity and security.
• Customer Experience (CX) - The CX Technology team enhances our business through innovative technology. You'll convert our service strategy into tools for customers and agents, advancing technical support capabilities. Your role simplifies problem-solving for our team, refines user interaction on our support site, integrates ticketing with internal systems, promotes secure development, and creates self-help tools for users.
• Mobile Engineering - Our Mobile team builds products and features that drive the core experience on the Dropbox mobile application. We enable users to easily manage their content, collaborate with their peers and work effortlessly with others. This position will play a key role in building and supporting mobile features.
• Security Engineering- People trust Dropbox to keep their data secure, and at Dropbox we rely on our security engineers to make our products safe. You are a software engineer with a deep interest in building software that is secure yet easy to use. Security engineers collaborate with product teams to secure our software, production infrastructure, website, desktop and mobile apps and our corporate infrastructure and devices.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a BS or MS in Computer Science or related technical field involving coding (e.g., physics or mathematics), graduating in Fall/Winter 2026 or Spring 2027. This should be your final internship before graduating.
• Experience writing or shipping software as part of coursework, personal projects, internships, coding competitions or research
• Experience coding in programming languages, such as Python, Go, JavaScript, or similar languages.
• Passion for learning, solving problems, and challenging the status quo
• Available for Summer 2026 full-time internship (40 hours per week /12 weeks)

Compensation

US Pay Range

$8,000—$9,500 USD

The rate listed above is the expected monthly rate for this role, subject to change.

Dropbox is a Virtual First company and is open to hiring candidates in all authorized locations.

Benefits

Dropbox is committed to investing in the holistic health and wellbeing of all Dropboxers and their families.

Our Benefits And Perks Programs Include

• Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• Flexible PTO/Paid Time Off, paid holidays, Volunteer Time Off, and more, allowing you time to unplug, unwind, and refresh
• Perks Allowance to be used on what matters most to you, whether that’s wellness, learning and development, food and groceries, and much more
• Mental health and wellness benefits
• Monthly Internet Allowance
• Intern Social Stipend
• Annual Emerging Talent Summit, travel and hotel accommodations provided

Additional Benefits Details Are Available Upon Request.

Dropbox supports responsible use of AI for preparation, but misrepresentation of skills or experience is not permitted. See our AI philosophy.

Dropbox is an equal opportunity employer. We are a welcoming place for everyone, and we do our best to make sure all people feel supported and connected at work. A big part of that effort is our support for members and allies of internal groups like Asians at Dropbox, BlackDropboxers, enABLE, TODOS (Latinx), Pridebox (LGBTQ), Vets at Dropbox, and Women at Dropbox.