Intern, Trait Discovery

Intern, Trait Discovery (Biotech)

About Pairwise:

Pairwise is agriculture's gene editing powerhouse, building a healthier world through partnership and plant innovation. Co‑founded by CRISPR pioneers, the company's Fulcrum® Platform accelerates the development of climate‑resilient, nutritious, and sustainable crops that are easier to grow and better to eat.

Founded in 2017 and based in Durham, North Carolina, Pairwise partners with global leaders and nonprofit institutions to help breeders move faster and transform food and agriculture for farmers, consumers, and the planet. The company collaborates with partners and licenses its Fulcrum® CRISPR tools to diversify breeding programs and bring innovations to market faster—from developing the world’s first pitless cherry to improving staple crops such as corn, soy, cacao, yam, and rice.

Backed by leading investors—including Deerfield, Aliment Capital, Leaps by Bayer, Temasek, and Corteva Catalyst—Pairwise has raised $155 million in total funding. In 2025 the company was recognized as one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch and named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Agriculture, while also earning “Best Ag‑Bio Company” honors in the Triangle Business Journal’s Life Sciences Awards.

For more information, visit

About This Role:

We are seeking passionate, engaging, ready‑to‑learn interns to join us for Summer 2026. We are looking for interns with majors in:
Developmental Biology, Breeding, Plant Science, Plant Pathology, Molecular Biology, Genomics, or Biotechnology, or related areas. Pairwise offers the opportunity to work with industry‑leading scientists and professionals in a cutting‑edge, industry‑changing, food+tech company.

Our interns will be integrated with our teams here at Pairwise to allow for hands‑on learning in a fast‑paced start‑up environment. Interns will also have a season‑long cap‑stone project that will add real value and help the team resolve real‑world challenges they are currently facing. We like to have fun at Pairwise, so the summer won’t be all work and no play!

Pairwise interns will not only have “Intern‑Only” meeting sessions to talk about their experience and share thoughts and feedback with each other, but will also have events to help with career and educational planning, and team‑building trips to share in the fun of summer in North Carolina.

• Review and summarize key literature of genetic and molecular pathways regulating prioritized crop traits such as plant architecture, seed growth and development, or disease tolerance.
• Develop and implement gene editing proposals for key regulators of crop traits.
• Contribute to hypothesis development and experimental planning within the trait discovery team across row‑crop and consumer‑crop projects.

A student currently enrolled in a Masters or PhD program in one of the following disciplines:

• Plant Developmental Biology
• Crop Breeding
• Plant Science
• Plant Pathology
• Molecular Biology
• Genomics
• Biotechnology
• or similar

Basic understanding of genetics and plant developmental biology. Ability to conduct targeted literature searches, summarize key findings of scientific articles, and develop testable hypotheses for gene editing.

• Paid internship experience in a field relevant to your studies.
• Real‑world, industry work experience.
• Casual work environment.
• Mission‑driven organization focused on creating healthier fruits and veggies.
• A cutting‑edge, driven community looking to lead the industry in innovation and nutrition.

We’re an equal‑opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Don't meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every qualification. At Pairwise we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway.

You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.