2025 PhD Summer Venture Capital Internship

2025 PhD Summer Internship – Emerald Development Managers (Venture Capital)

Emerald Development Managers is an early-stage VC firm investing in elite scientific and engineering teams that are solving real problems. Investments are sourced from decades-long relationships with academic research institutions, operating managers, incubators, and like-minded VCs. Emerald's expertise was developed over 30 years of funding venture capital and commercializing university research while simultaneously gaining invaluable experience founding, building, and operating an industrial unicorn that, to date, has returned over $1.2 billion to investors. In addition to capital, we bring experience, discipline, critical thinking, financing expertise, and significant hands-on involvement to the companies we support. Emerald’s three main investment focus areas are Clean / Industrial Tech, HealthTech / Bio, and Cybersecurity / Enterprise Software.

We are looking for a technology lover to support our due diligence and overall technology/company research on the science and technical side as a Summer PhD Intern. We’re looking for somebody who can and will think outside the box. 

As a small team, we all do a lot of everything. There are two core areas where we could use help. 

Technical / Scientific Diligence involves asking/answering questions like:

• The quality of the science?
• Will it work? How unique is it?
• Is it a solution in search of a problem, or a real solution to an important problem? Scope of the problem being solved?
• The risk, time and capital requirements associated with development?
• What other solutions are out there trying to solve the same problem, and how does it compare?
• As you get more iterations, eventually understanding business models and how they apply

Market Research is often an offshoot of the tech research. As a firm that does deep tech investing, we look at opportunities where the market is early and thus is very dynamic, or mature markets about to be or in the process of being disrupted. These dynamics are primarily driven by tech developments or the application of technology. Traditional market research reports often aren’t granular enough or timely enough to be useful. This involves answering questions like:

• Comparing and contrasting competing technologies being developed to solve a problem?
• Understanding how new tech will impact a market?
• Product-market fit?
• Switching costs associated with a new solution?
• As you get more iterations, eventually understanding business models and how they apply?
• Assisting with other ad hoc projects.

About you.

More likely than not you are wrapping up your PhD research in a hard science or engineering and graduating in the next 12-24 months. You’ve realized academia may not be right for you and are exploring options. You’re fascinated by new technology, regardless of the discipline, and are driven to understand how it works. At grad student functions, you are the individual engaging others in every department to talk about their research, and not just hanging with your department.

Multi-disciplinary degrees are a plus, as is an interest in startups/venture capital/finance. More important than direct experience is an intelligent person, with good communication skills (we have a lot of conversations with experts), who is constantly learning and able to retain what they’ve learned to apply it in new contexts.

• Current Student – You must be enrolled in a PhD program and authorized to work in the US.
• Independence – This position can be located in New York City or Miami. 
• Initiative – We’ll generally give you high level specific tasks, but as you learn more about a company or sector you should be telling us the questions we missed and where we should be looking.
• Curiosity – A large part of what we do is asking the right questions and always questioning assumptions. This is an iterative process that involves learning, asking, answering and reformulating. We find the process is more a meandering journey than a clear trek up the hill. Curiosity is critical to getting the most out of the journey, so don’t be afraid to wander off. 
• Willingness to Learn – We don’t have a narrow focus and we look at a lot of different areas. We don’t expect you to be an expert in everything, but we do expect you to learn (and will help) what you need to get the job done. 
• Strong Writing and Communications Skills – This position will involve communicating internally and with founders, sometimes in writing. Strong, clear writing and PowerPoint skills are essential for this role. 

Expectations and Compensation

• Target Start Date: May/June 2025
• Duration: Summer 2025, dates to be confirmed
• Expected Time Commitment: 40 hrs./week 
• Location: Remote, New York City or Miami
• Compensation: Range of $30-50 per hour based on experience, paid twice per month

For job postings in New York City, Emerald is required by law to include a reasonable estimate of the salary range for this role. This salary range is specific to the City of New York and considers the wide range of factors that are considered in making salary decisions including but not limited to your skills, qualifications, experience, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.

Emerald Development Managers is an equal opportunity employer.

To Apply

To apply, please send a cover letter and current resume to recruiting@emeraldmanagers.com by March 10, 2025. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.