What if there were an apprenticeship for scientific imagination?  

Flagship Pioneering is a scientific innovation engine that invents and builds companies that change the world. We bring great scientific minds together with entrepreneurial company builders and assemble the capital to allow them to take courageous leaps in human health, sustainability, and beyond. Flagship’s unprecedented, institutionalized process enables us to innovate and create breakthroughs for the benefit of people and planet.  

Flagship-founded companies have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.  

Today, artificial intelligence is core to how Flagship conceives and builds companies. We call our approach polyintelligence: human creativity and nature’s intelligence integrating and coexisting with artificial intelligence. This model runs across our ecosystem, where teams pair AI with foundational science to move from idea to concept faster and pursue ideas that were previously out of reach. 

Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been named four times to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.   

About the Fellowship  

We are looking for extraordinary early career scientists, technologists, engineers, and physicians for our 2027 class of Flagship Pioneering Fellows. Immersed in our unique company creation process, Fellows start by asking “What if” or “If only.” Working in teams, they combine their scientific and technical instincts, unconstrained creativity, and the latest AI tools to generate novel scientific and technology concepts that push beyond existing scholarship and challenge dogma. Fellows then learn to iterate, challenge, and shape these ideas into unreasonable, compelling hypotheses with the potential to produce pioneering new ventures. What matters is curiosity, creativity, and the drive to turn bold ideas into reality. You’re excited not just to invent products, but to help create entirely new companies from the ground up. 

A summer as a Flagship Pioneering Fellow is an intense, exciting, unrivaled opportunity to learn our pioneering approach to building breakthrough companies that change the world.  

As a Flagship Pioneering Fellow you will:  

• Learn and implement Flagship Pioneering’s unique process of generating and refining venture hypotheses 

• Exhibit and develop your creativity, adaptability, and ability to innovate in a fast-paced and dynamic environment 

• Explore ideas & innovations with the potential to become breakthrough companies 

• Work at the frontier of polyintelligence, integrating AI with your own scientific instincts, with training and support to use the newest tools effectively 

• Meet, network with, and learn from experienced members of the Flagship team and across our Ecosystem – Associates, Partners, Business Unit and functional leaders, CEOs and more 

• Explore full-time opportunities at Flagship Pioneering and our Ecosystem of companies 

More information on the Flagship Pioneering Fellowship is available here.  

Please note that the fellowship no longer has a separate AI/ML application track. Applicants with AI/ML experience should apply through the general Fellowship track. 

2027 Fellowship Details:  

• The Flagship Pioneering Fellowship requires a full-time, in person commitment from June 7th – August 27th 2027 

• Flagship Pioneering Fellows receive a stipend and work at the Flagship Pioneering offices in Kendall Square (55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA) 

• Following the Fellowship, Fellows are expected to be available for potential full-time employment in Cambridge MA no later than June 1st  2028 

Application Deadline: December 15, 2026  

Qualifications:  

• Deep expertise in any scientific or technical field: biology, chemistry, agriculture, engineering, materials science, etc. - or research or industry expertise applying AI/ML to any of these fields 

• Broad scientific interests and the ability to quickly ask provocative questions in any scientific or technical domain  

• Completed or within the final year of a professional scientific degree (PhD, MD, or international equivalent)  

• Comfort with scientific uncertainty and ambiguity of outcomes combined with a history using rigorous science to pursue creative solutions to challenging problems 

• Demonstrated leader, effective communicator, and strong team player 

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. 

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background. 

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto. 

The pay range for this role is $8,000 - $9,000 per month. This role is a short-term engagement that is not eligible for health and welfare benefits. Compensation and benefits information is based on Flagship Pioneering's good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.