U.S. Public Policy and AI Innovation Intern (Summer 2026)

Available Locations: Washington D.C.

About Cloudflares Public Policy Team

Cloudflares Public Policy teams anticipate regulatory opportunities and challenges and advocate for the companys interests across a rapidly evolving digital and policy landscape. The team manages a diverse portfolio of issues focusing on critical areas such as AI cybersecurity data protection and privacy digital sovereignty connectivity and intermediary liability. Operating in a fast-paced environment members collaborate across functions to align policy solutions with core business priorities. By building strategic external partnerships they effectively promote Cloudflares work and navigate complex global national and local policy issues to help build a better Internet for all.

What youll do

As a U.S. Public Policy and AI Innovation Intern you will dive headfirst into the intersection of public policy and cutting-edge technology. Primarily supporting our Washington D.C.-based U.S. Federal State and Local Policy Policy Strategy and Global Government Relations teams you will assist in efforts to both (1) navigate and respond to relevant tech policy legislative and regulatory processes and (2) build internal AI-driven tools to enhance the efficacy and efficiency of our policy work. We expect your internship will touch on a wide range of cutting-edge work streams and projects for the Public Policy team and could include:

Policy operations and advocacy

• Maintaining internal policy knowledge bases and issue trackers.
• Monitoring and evaluating U.S. federal state and local legislation for impact on Cloudflare products.
• Providing timely updates on policy shifts.
• Drafting talking points policy messaging and presentation materials for external events blog posts and consultation responses.
• Collaborating with Legal Trust & Safety Public Sector Sales and other internal teams on regulatory inquiries and high-stakes policy issues.
• Analyzing new or proposed Internet- and Cloudflare-impacting regulations or legislation to guide advocacy and operational responses.

AI Innovation and Tooling

• Designing AI-driven prototypes and developing and refining specialized prompts and internal AI interfaces to streamline policy team workflows and processes.
• Leveraging internal AI tools to synthesize vast amounts of public policy data into actionable insights ensuring the team can respond to legislative shifts with higher speed and accuracy.
• Supporting the development of internal best practices for the responsible use of AI within the policy and legal functions.

• AI Policy & Compliance Research: Track and analyze emerging artificial intelligence legislation and frameworks across North America including US federal initiatives (e.g. Executive Orders NIST AI RMF) state-level AI regulations (e.g. California Colorado) and Canadas Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA).
• Cybersecurity Regulatory Tracking: Monitor updates to cybersecurity mandates such as CISAs Secure by Design guidelines SEC incident reporting rules and critical infrastructure protection frameworks.
• Public Sector Enablement: Assist the Public Sector legal team in reviewing and updating compliance materials related to FedRAMP StateRAMP and IRAP requirements helping to accelerate our mission to secure government entities.
• Drafting & Advocacy: Draft legal memos policy briefs and internal guidance documents outlining how new North American tech regulations impact Cloudflares product roadmap including our AI Gateway and zero-trust security services.

Examples of desirable skills knowledge and experience

• • Education: Currently pursuing a Bachelors or Masters degree with a focus on technology engineering public policy law or a related field.
  • Tech-Forward Mindset: Strong demonstrated interest in Internet and technology policy cybersecurity privacy and artificial intelligence issues.
  • AI Experience and Skills: Prior experience building and deploying AI tools and applications using modern developer workflows including AI-augmented coding or natural language programming (vibe coding).
  • Analytical Rigor: Strong research writing and analytical skills. You are able to distill legislative and regulatory texts into clear business-friendly advice and analysis.
  • Initiative: Self-starter mentality. You are comfortable navigating ambiguity developing and initiating new projects. You thrive in a fast-paced highly collaborative environment.
  • Curiosity: Willingness to learn ask questions and dig deep into novel issue sets with diligence speed and energy.
  • Communication: Strong interpersonal and communications skills. You can articulate complex technology and policy concepts to cross-functional and public audiences. Proficiency in English both written and oral is required.

Bonus Points

• Prior experience teaching AI tooling or adoption to a non-technical user base.
• Prior experience (including internships clinical work or research) in government a public policy organization trade association or a technology company.
• Familiarity with Cloudflares products cloud computing infrastructure and the general mechanics of how the Internet works.

Compensation

• Estimated hourly pay of $24/hour.

What Makes Cloudflare Special

Were not just a highly ambitious large-scale technology company. Were a highly ambitious large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet.

Project Galileo: Since 2014 weve equipped more than 2400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work technology already used by Cloudflares enterprise customers--at no cost.

Athenian Project: In 2017 we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project weve provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states.

1.1.1.1: We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Heres the deal - we dont store client IP addresses never ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers.

Sound like something youd like to be a part of Wed love to hear from you!

This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license.

Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their or any other persons perceived or actual race color religion sex gender gender identity gender expression sexual orientation national origin ancestry citizenship age physical or mental disability medical condition family care status or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer.

Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to changing the application process providing documents in an alternate format using a sign language interpreter or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job please contact us via e-mail at or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco CA 94107.