COLUMBIA Design & Engineering Program Office - 2026 Summer Internship

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General Dynamics Electric Boat’s COLUMBIA Design and Engineering Summer Internship is an on-site eight week program in Groton or New London CT that places you at the heart of the Navy’s top acquisition priority, delivering hands-on exposure to design, construction and lead ship certification through cross functional collaboration with systems engineering planning contracts and procurement under senior mentorship. Eligibility requires US citizenship, 18+, full-time student with freshman year completed, ability to work 40 hours a week May through September 2026, and successful completion of a medically supervised drug screen and background check plus arranging housing and transportation. This is not remote. Tips: tailor your resume to highlight program management lifecycle engineering and cross functional teamwork; emphasize engineering majors relevant coursework and project experience; demonstrate proactive problem solving strong communication and MS Office proficiency; apply early with a tailored cover letter showing your interest in Columbia Electric Boat and defense driven innovation.

Overview

General Dynamics Electric Boat provides an unparalleled learning experience for college students, offering practical exposure in the defense industry alongside expert engineers, shaping the future of submarine innovation.

Engineers at Electric Boat work collaboratively across departments and with our customer to develop innovative solutions for the United States Navy’s nuclear submarines. As an Intern, you'll be exposed to various engineering activities with the support of our senior staff. This program grants our trainees the opportunity to develop valuable skills and dive into cutting-edge projects such as leading the Columbia Class design and enhancing Virginia Class submarines. Every intern will be exposed to a wealth of knowledge in order to excel in the engineering domain.

This program requires a minimum commitment of 8 weeks during the Summer 2026 Season.

Participation in this program requires medical screening, passing a drug test, and potential DOD Investigation

This is not a remote opportunity.

All applicants have the potential to be placed at any of the following locations: Groton CT or New London CT

COLUMBIA Design & Engineering – Summer Internship

Job Description:

Electric Boat's largest and most important program and the Navy’s top acquisition priority, the COLUMBIA program, is in a critical transition phase from design to construction. The COLUMBIA Design and Engineering Program Office’s focus is the design completion in support of construction completion, test, and lead ship certification. This role will provide the opportunity to contribute to, and take the lead on solutions for technical & program issues that span the entire Electric Boat enterprise. This will include challenges that require collaboration with personnel from systems engineering, to planning, to contracts, to purchasing, and will put you in direct interaction with products from those organizations applied in real time to the ships deck plate. You will help to solve these varied challenges with a short and long term perspective all while collaborating with the best ship builders in the world and some of the most accomplished personnel in the US government and NAVY.  

From a career development perspective, you will work with all functional areas of Electric Boat, from front-line teams to the executive leadership staff. The design program office directorate is focused on building forward thinking, solution oriented leaders who are eager to be team players and collaborative thinkers. You will be both empowered and supported through team collaboration and senior mentorship to leverage existing processes and lessons learned, combined with your new ideas, methods, and tools that will not only facilitate personal skills development, but also support the program’s initiatives and directives.

COLUMBIA Design and Engineering Program Office Summer Interns may be responsible for program management tasks involving the following:

• Program Man-Power Planning and Oversight
• Ships and Key-supplier Contracts Oversight and Execution
• Engineered Component Development and Procurement
• Urgent and Future Material Availability
• Systems and Component Engineering Products
• Life-Cycle Engineering Products
• Design Products
• Planning Products
• Design Change Products and Design Product Consumption

Qualifications

To be qualified for this position:

• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• US citizenship is required.
• Must be able to successfully pass a medically supervised drug screen and background check.
• Must be enrolled full-time at a college or university
• At minimum students must have completed their Freshman year prior to the start of the internship.
• Must be available to work 40 hours per week for a minimum eight (8) consecutive weeks between May 2026 to September 2026.
• Selected candidates will be responsible for establishing housing and reliable transportation for the duration of their intern assignment.
• Pursuing a Bachelor or Masters of Science Degree in Construction, Manufacturing, Engineering Management, Naval Architecture or any Engineering discipline (e.g. Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Nuclear Engineering)

Skills

• A demonstrated attitude of accountability and proactivity
• Effective written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to effectively work both independently and as part of a team
• Ability to learn new skills and apply them
• Ability to solve problems in a constructive manner
• Strong interpersonal skills   
• Proficient with MS Office suite (Word, Excel, Office)