About the Program:

WRI’s Global Restoration Initiative informs, enables, and invests in people that restore degraded land. The team’s flagship investment program for locally led enterprises and community non-profits, TerraFund, currently finances, trains, and monitors 200+growing organizations across Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

Aligned with this broader vision, the Restore Local initiative supports locally led restoration efforts – with a growing portfolio of 60+ million USD of projects in selected priority landscapes in Africa, Brazil and India. Built through the TerraMatch platform, this includes grant-funded projects, as well as debt and equity investments in small and medium-size enterprises and first loss investment tranches in blended investment funds.

In the next phase of our strategy, WRI’s Restoration team aims to harness technology innovations built with our partners and the growing network of locally led restoration implementers financed through TerraFund. It is developing replicable finance structures and partnerships that crowd more public and private capital into restoration that delivers proven outcomes for people, nature and climate.

Internship Highlight

TerraMatch is WRI’s in-house platform for financing and tracking impacts of restoration projects globally. The platform supports a variety of restoration portfolios, including TerraFund, the Priceless Planet Coalition, Harit Bharat Fund, and Fundo Flora.

This intern role supports the TerraMatch team with data cleaning, analysis, and agile workflow operations. In this role, you will structure and analyze data submitted by land restoration champions across their restoration project lifecycles.

You will address ad-hoc data requests from across the team and provide data support for ongoing research and product development workstreams. Your contributions will help shape the cutting-edge monitoring, reporting, and verification systems that capture the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of the projects we fund globally. You will also support the team’s regression testing efforts to facilitate biweekly platform updates and work closely with TerraMatch’s data science and product support staff to efficiently resolve bugs or other urgent issues impacting platform users.

This is a hybrid position which requires 8 days per month in the office. You can be based in our office in Washington DC. Existing work authorization is required at the time of application submission as WRI is unable to sponsor any visa work sponsorship for this position. To be eligible for this position, you must be a resident of DC, Maryland or Virginia at the start of employment.

What you will do:

Data Analysis & Management (50%)

• Support team research and learning objectives through providing data, as requested, from the TerraMatch database. Ask questions and advise team to determine most relevant data for each request; write SQL queries and data pipelines to align data pulls with team needs.

• Build and maintain the connection of data from the TerraMatch database to existing data interfaces on Airtable and the TerraMatch dashboard using custom and open-source APIs

• Analyze and clean application and project data in the TerraMatch database to meet quality control requirements

Product Support (40%)

• Support the TerraMatch product and engineering teams in agile workflows and ceremonies in Jira

• Lead documentation efforts and organization of internal TerraMatch processes, including development of guidance materials to facilitate the team’s use of existing data interfaces on Airtable and the TerraMatch dashboard

• Assist in product testing and resolution of reported bugs on TerraMatch

• Support project developer needs, designing solutions for optimal robust product uses

Communications (10%)

• Contribute to communications products including presentations, impact stories, and blog posts

Internship Learning Outcomes:

• Develop knowledge of programming and querying languages, including, but not limited to, SQL, R, and Python

• Strengthen data visualization skills and knowledge of AI innovations in the restoration space

• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to maintain data integrity on TerraMatch as new features are introduced

• Develop expertise on product management in agile ceremonies and workflows

• Learn about restoration finance and outcomes through data analysis and participation in programmatic activities across the Restoration team

• Learn about our innovative monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system for restoration, and use data to help inform the team’s ongoing adjustments to the MRV framework

What you will need:

• This opportunity is open to undergraduate students and recent graduates with focus and interest in data science, software development, and product management

• Experience designing, documenting, and building data processing workflows; strong ability to explain design choices

• Experience with data visualization tools and programming languages, including but not limited to: SQL, R, and Python

• Experience writing efficient, well-documented, and reproducible code

• Technical writing skills, including the ability to produce clear, structured documentation for data workflows, models, and product requirements

• Experience in Agile workstyle/processes is a plus

• Familiarity with GIS products, geospatial analysis, and socio-environmental data is a plus

• Experience with learning on the job, with demonstrated ability to work both independently as well as part of a team

• Experience staying organized and prioritizing effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented, multi-national work environment

• Academic background in or professional experience with ecosystem restoration, land use, forestry, conservation, agriculture, environmental sciences, or related topics is a plus

• Proficiency in written and spoken English is required. Additional fluency in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Hindi is a plus.

• Existing work authorization in the US is required at the time of application.

Compensation

The pay for this internship opportunity is $20/hour for undergrads; $22/hour for graduates and $24/hour for PhD students.

Length of Contract:

This is a full-time, 3-month internship with a flexible start and end date.

Location:

• This is a hybrid internship that will be based out of our Washington D.C. office.

• You will be required to work in the Washington DC office at least 8 days per month.

How to Apply:

Please submit a resume with a cover letter by January 23, 2026. Applicants must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered. We may close for applications sooner if we receive a high volume of applications from qualified candidates.

About Us:

World Resources Institute works to improve people’s lives, protect and restore nature and stabilize the climate. As an independent research organization, we leverage our data, expertise and global reach to influence policy and catalyze change across systems like food, land and water; energy; and cities. Our 2,000+ staff work on the ground in more than a dozen focus countries and with partners in over 50 nations.

Internships at WRI are learning experiences designed for current students, recent graduates, and other candidates who wish to gain knowledge about a specific area of our work. We strive to attract diverse, intellectually driven candidates who have a passion for sustainability and development. WRI provides many internship opportunities throughout the year in all our programs.

WRI is committed to advancing gender, racial, and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency, Independence, Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission, including equal opportunities in employment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, caste, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or protected Veteran status.

Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications.

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