Data Science & AI Internship 2026

About IK Partners

IK Partners (“IK”) is a European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics, and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €20 billion of capital and invested in over 200 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit ikpartners.com.

IK's prime target markets include the Nordics, Benelux, France, DACH, and more recently the UK. Headquartered in London, IK has additional offices in France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden for its dedicated regional investment teams, consisting of over 90 investment professionals. IK is an affiliate of Wendel; more information can be found at wendelgroup.com.

Data Science & AI Intern

IK is looking for its new Data Science & AI Intern to support them during a full-time or part-time internship of 5 months, commencing in November 2026. The role will be office-based.

The Role

You will work directly with IK's Lead of Data Science & AI in the Operations team, taking on data and analytical work supporting AI programmes across IK's portfolio companies. This role is analysis-led. Most of the time will be spent working with data to answer a specific question, with a smaller portion dedicated to desk research to identify and assess data sources. Final deliverables will be presented as a concise set of slides encompassing the analysis, the findings, and an interpretation of what they mean. Work will be specified in written requirements with defined inputs and outputs, allowing the intern time to deliver against them. This placement is internal and office-based; findings are presented to the Lead of Data Science & AI rather than to portfolio companies or deal teams, so there is no requirement to present externally.

Key Responsibilities

• Analysing operational data from portfolio companies to answer specific questions, such as determining where costs or time are concentrated within a process.
• Building ad-hoc bounded solutions, such as creating an AI-powered pipeline to digitize scans of text into digital text on a large scale.
• Finding and evaluating external data sources to strengthen analyses, and assessing their reliability and usability.
• Converting each piece of completed work into a brief set of slides featuring clear charts and a direct message, which will then be walked through with the Lead of Data Science & AI.

Key Competencies

• Must be intelligent, curious, and pragmatic—seeking to understand the core question and find a sensible path to a good answer, rather than striving for a perfect one.
• Ability to produce analysis that is both clear and accurate.
• Comfortable with data analysis and basic statistics, capable of working independently on a defined question.
• Proficiency in writing Python for data work (vibe-coding is acceptable, provided the function and logic can be explained) and fluency with AI tools, particularly Claude Cowork.
• Ability to present findings clearly and simply in slide form to an audience that will scrutinize the data (external executive presentations are not required).
• Capability to adhere to a written specification, manage personal time effectively against it, and raise flags early if anything is unclear or appears incorrect.

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a degree programme or a recent graduate, holding a minimum 2:1 degree classification (or equivalent).

Our Offering

• Experience within a dynamic and supportive working environment, including on-the-job training.
• Insight into the operations of a leading European private equity firm.
• Opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

How to Apply

Alongside your CV, you must complete a short exercise, which should take approximately 30 minutes. Applications submitted without completing this exercise will not be reviewed. Please adhere strictly to the given submission limits.

The Exercise

A portfolio company has approximately 50,000 scanned paper documents stored in filing cabinets. These documents vary in quality; some are typed, some are handwritten, and the scan quality is inconsistent. The company requires the contents to be digitized and made searchable.

In no more than 10 bullet points and 300 words total, set out your approach to this problem. Crucially, your answer must detail how you would determine if the resulting output is accurate enough for the company to rely upon.

Following your main answer, please include the following three short lines outside the word count limit:

1. Which AI tools you used to produce this answer, and what proportion of your own knowledge you utilized.
2. The single most important question you would need to ask us before beginning the project.
3. One potential way your approach could fail.

Your complete response must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document. Please lead this document with an additional summary of approximately 200 words outlining:

• Your business knowledge and commercial awareness.
• Your experience using AI and code to solve problems and achieve outcomes.
• Why you believe you are effective in tackling this specific task.