Market Research Internship – Spring 2026

SOFWERX is a venue operated under an agreement between the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and DefenseWERX, designed to increase collaboration and innovation to solve the most difficult warfighter problems. SOFWERX is a forum for accelerating delivery of innovative capability, and facilitating capability refinement through exploration, experimentation, and assessment of promising technology. SOFWERX is in the heart of Ybor City, at a neutral, easily accessible facility.  

The internship program is administered by USF Institute of Applied Engineering. Upon hire, you will be considered both a USF IAE Temporary Employee and a SOFWERX student intern. 

Responsibilities  

Plan, lead, and coordinate team-wide market research efforts by developing and implementing data query and collection strategies, managing a landing webpage, creating collection forms, and administering a database.  

Use simple Excel functions and formulas to perform quantitative analysis on research submissions.  

Conduct market research on USSOCOM areas of interest to find emerging technologies that would contribute to SOFWERX’s goals and projects.  

Evaluate academic publications and technical reports to identify the characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of the science or technology.  

Scout and source experts from academia, industry, and laboratories and consolidate findings into research reports.  

Create Market Research curriculum, facilitate training, and develop new tools, techniques, and practices to optimize the Market Research process.  

Present briefings and presentations to the SOFWERX team.  
  

Requirements  

MUST BE ELIGIBLE FOR A SECURITY CLEARANCE  

Junior or Senior Collegiate Student, with a current GPA of 3.0 or above  

Pursuing a bachelor’s degree related to STEM or Business  

Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint)  

Must be able to work independently or as a member of a team  

Effective written and oral communication skills  

Good planning and organizational skills  

A high level of integrity, accuracy, dependability, enthusiasm, and confidentiality  

Experience working with a variety of STEM efforts 
  

Time commitment  

Hours of operation are 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday thru Friday. 

This position requires a minimum of 15 hours and a maximum of 20 hours per week during the Fall/Spring semesters and a minimum of 20 hours and a maximum of 29 hours per week during the Summer semester.  

This internship is in-person with limited remote work opportunities.   
  

Opportunities  

Engage in employee events, such as team building  

Build resume and explore career options  

Apply skills and knowledge to the workplace  

Upon completion of the internship, a letter of recommendation can be provided upon request  

Opportunity for follow-on internship based on performance