User Experience (UX) Intern - Summer 2026

This is a paid internship, range of $22/hr - $39/hr (depending on role and qualifications) for those currently pursuing undergraduate degrees and higher rates for those currently pursuing graduate level degrees.

Sound Transit also offers a competitive benefits package with a wide range of offerings, including:

• Health Benefits: We offer two choices of medical plans, a dental plan, and a vision plan all at no cost for employee coverage; comprehensive benefits for employees and eligible dependents, including a spouse or domestic partner.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Paid Time Off: An accrual of up to 4 hours per pay period. Up to 2 floating holidays.
• Full-time interns will receive an ORCA card at no cost. This card can be used on buses, trains, water taxis in the Puget Sound region, along with the Monorail and Seattle Streetcar.
• In addition to compensation and benefits, you'll find that we provide work-life balance, opportunities for professional development and recognition from your colleagues.

Tentative 2026 Internship Dates:

• Semester students: May 18th to July 24th
• Quarter students: June 15th to August 21st

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW

Sound Transit has an exciting internship available for the summer of 2026! This is a great opportunity for currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate students who want to observe and participate in real-world application of UX research and design. This opportunity will allow the intern to gain valuable experience as part of the Research & Innovation team, making an impact on passenger facing and enterprise technologies.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following duties ARE NOT intended to serve as a comprehensive list of all duties performed by all employees in this classification, only a representative summary of the primary duties and responsibilities. Incumbent(s) may not be required to perform all duties listed and may be required to perform additional, position-specific duties.

JOB DUTIES:

• Work closely with the research team and cross-functionally with design, IT, data management, and others to define and execute a project plan.
• Conduct generative and evaluative user research.
• Develop low-fidelity and high-fidelity digital prototypes.
• Develop user personas.
• Analyze product interfaces.
• Identify new research areas and research questions.
• Present research findings and designs to project stakeholders, including interdepartmental teams and leadership.
• Gather feedback to inform design iteration.
• Project coordination and management.
• Meeting and workshop facilitation.

POTENTIAL PROJECTS:

• Generative and evaluative user experience research for passenger facing and enterprise applications.
• User experience design, prototype development and testing.
• Qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
• Product development support.
• Persona development and journey mapping.
• Peer research.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Applicants must be a current college student in good academic standing, enrolled in an accredited associate, bachelor's or graduate degree program in Information Systems, Human Centered Design, Information Science, or other technical discipline or relevant two-year certificate.

ADDITIONAL SKILLS:

• Design thinking skills.
• UX/UI research and design.
• Excellent communication, presentation, interpersonal, and analytical skills; the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences and varying levels of the organization.
• Comfort with utilizing data to define and support hypotheses.
• A passion and capacity to advocate on behalf of users.
• Ability to understand product specifications and user requirements.
• Basic understanding of technology, design software and associated workflows.
• Attention to detail and willingness to ask questions.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Keen attention to detail in all aspects of the job.
• Curiosity and an appetite for learning.
• A user-centric and strategic approach.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Interest in research methodologies and information management.
• Familiarity with programming languages, database management, web development frameworks, and data handling.
• UX software development.
• Experience conveying research findings and implications to audiences.
• Experience conducting literature reviews.
• Analytical, project management, and problem-solving experience.
• Experience with autonomy and independent decision making to weigh tradeoffs and balance demands.
• Excellent planning, problem solving and organizational skills.
• Experience coordinating projects and leading meetings.
• Ability to build trustful relationships and to work in diverse teams .
• Understanding of agile development principles.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/ WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• Work is performed in a standard office environment.
• The Agency promotes a safe and healthy work environment and provides appropriate safety and equipment training for all personnel as required.

Sound Transit is an equal employment opportunity employer. No person is unlawfully excluded from employment action based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status or other protected class.