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Wine AI Marketing and Communication Intern

Onki
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Are you a motivated student or recent graduate eager to shape the future of AI and Wine? Onki, an ambitious early-stage startup led by former big-tech senior innovators, is seeking talented and passionate Wine Marketing and Communication Intern to join us in redefining human-AI interaction in physical retail. You will contribute to the development of software that understands and engages people in wine and spirits retail settings—using audio, video, and on-screen interactions to deliver highly personalized recommendations and exceptional customer service.

What You’ll Gain

Real-World Moonshot Experience: Contribute to cutting-edge AI projects that transform in-person wine shopping into interactive, engaging, and personalized experiences.

Skill Development: Work with product managers and engineers to refine AI-driven wine recommendations, building practical expertise at the intersection of wine, technology, and customer engagement.

Mentorship from Experts: Collaborate with seasoned leaders from top tech companies and unicorn startups; learn and experience the practice of world-class teams.

Career Boost: Influence the design of our groundbreaking AI-first retail platform and gain a competitive edge for careers in wine, tech, or innovative startups.

In addition to this position, Onki is also recruiting interns in AI/reinforcement learning, Cognitive/Behavioral Science, Computational Linguistics/Psychology, Mechanical Design, Electrical Engineering, Finance, Venture Capital & Fundraising, Marketing & Market Research, Customer Experience, OR/Decision Science, and Data Science. Please see details and application on our career page.

Note: The robotic carrier video on our public website shows an earlier product from 2023. We are now focused on developing a groundbreaking AI platform for in-store interactions, with more details shared during the interview process.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Insight & Wine Expertise: Conduct research, interviews, and in-store or simulated sessions to understand customer needs, decision points, and common wine-shopping challenges.

Wine Recommendation Calibration: Test, evaluate, and refine our AI system's wine recommendations for relevance, accuracy, and sales impact; ensure the system communicates effectively with diverse customer types.

Communication & Engagement: Shape and test conversation flows, language style, and sales messaging—ensuring the AI delivers recommendations in a way that is persuasive, approachable, and sensitive to different personalities.

Usability & Feedback: Gather and interpret user/customer feedback to continually improve recommendations and communication; work with the team to implement changes.

Collaboration: Work closely with product and engineering to align the system’s language, recommendations, and customer engagement with real-world retail dynamics.

Qualifications

  • Pursuing a degree in wine, viticulture, oenology studies; or hospitality, psychology, communications, business, food science majors with sommelier certification or relevant wine industry experience
  • Solid knowledge of wine varieties, tasting profiles, food pairings, and the basics of wine sales or retail.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills; persuasive and empathetic communicator.
  • Sensitivity to language, nonverbal cues, and customer psychology.
  • Experience in wine retail, tasting rooms, hospitality, or direct-to-consumer sales is a strong plus.
  • Analytical skills and interest in technology, AI, or customer experience innovation.

Nice-to-Haves

  • Experience conducting customer interviews, research, or usability studies.
  • Experience working with conversational AI, digital assistants, or kiosk systems.
  • Understanding of wine marketing, customer journey mapping, or retail analytics.

 

Program Details

  • Starting ASAP for 20 hours weekly.
  • Flexible Schedule: can be adjusted to accommodate your school or personal schedule with a minimum total commitment of 12 weeks.

Locations: NYC, Seattle, or Remote.

Our rigorous selection process ensures a high-quality experience. Current and past interns include students from MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, Duke, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, University of Michigan, and more.

 

Application

For consideration, please complete our application form. We welcome applications from all juniors/seniors, graduate students and recent alums (including international students).  We encourage early submission as applications will be considered on a rolling basis. 

For a glimpse of our interns' work and interactions, please see the video at the bottom of our career page.