Build AI agents real NZ businesses run on
Harkness AI is running a funded R&D project this summer - building and benchmarking AI agents for New Zealand SME workflows - and we want one student to help build it. Supported by MBIE’s R&D Experience Grant.
Applications close 11:59pm, Friday 18 September
What you’ll actually do
Real R&D that real businesses will use - not fetching coffee, not writing reports nobody reads.
Build AI agents
Work with Claude and Claude Code in TypeScript or Python, building agents that take on real workflows - quoting, scheduling, admin - for New Zealand small businesses.
Benchmark them properly
Design and run benchmarks that show where agents genuinely help SME workflows and where they fall over. Your findings shape what gets built next.
Work directly with the founder
Daily check-ins and weekly one-on-ones with Blake. You’ll leave with real shipped work, a benchmark you can point at, and a strong reference.
What we’re actually looking for
Two things. Everything else - grades, past jobs, a polished CV - is a distant third.
Real AI skill
You’ve built an automation or AI agent that solves a real problem - and you can clearly walk us through it: the problem, what you built, how you validated it, and the results. It doesn’t need to be polished or commercial. It needs to be real.
Clear communication
You can explain technical work in plain language to someone who doesn’t code - what you built, why it matters, and what you’d do next. You’ll be demoing your work, writing up benchmark findings, and talking with the business owners whose workflows these agents serve. Asking good questions and giving straight answers counts as much as the code.
Harkness AI builds AI systems for NZ businesses and runs the Young Kiwis in AI community - you’ll be in the middle of both.
The businesses this R&D serves
Who you’ll be working with
Harkness AI
A Christchurch AI consultancy building practical AI systems - agents, automations, chatbots and voice AI - for businesses across New Zealand. The work is hands-on and shipped: real tools that real teams use every day.
Blake Harkness
FounderBlake spends his days building AI systems for NZ businesses and is genuinely obsessed with what agents can do. He founded Young Kiwis in AI - free meetups in 11+ cities - mentors students breaking into tech, and makes AI education content that has clocked up 1M+ views.
How hiring works
Short and human - no cover letters, no ghosting. Every applicant hears back.
Apply
Takes about 10 minutes. Applications close 11:59pm, Friday 18 September.
Screening
Blake reads every application personally. You hear back either way within a week of the deadline.
Interview
A relaxed 30-minute chat about what you’ve built - not a whiteboard grilling.
Short practical
A small exercise with AI tools, so we both see how you actually work.
Reference check & offer
Wrapped up during October, so your summer is sorted early.
Start
Mid-November in central Christchurch. Ten weeks of real shipped work.
Apply for the internship
Grant rule: you need to be enrolled at an NZ tertiary institution (or have finished within 12 months of the start date), studying STEM, design or business at NZQA Level 6-10, with the right to work in NZ full-time over summer. Applications close 11:59pm, Friday 18 September.
Whatever happens, join Young Kiwis in AI
YKIA is a free community for NZ students and grads who are into AI - meetups, a busy Discord, and roles like this one get shared there first. Well worth being in, whether or not this internship is your summer.
youngkiwisai.nz →