Blue Ridge Bank is partnering with the Virginia Bankers Association to offer high-impact summer internships designed for students interested in the banking industry. Interns will gain hands-on experience in credit analysis and data management, focusing on leveraging AI and ML to enhance credit risk analysis processes.
Responsibilities
Research & Discovery
Research state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques applicable to industry and company research on operating performance and outlook
Identify pain points in current credit analysis workflows that AI could address and make simpler, faster, and smarter
Experiment with techniques such as:
Natural Language Processing (NLP) for analyzing borrower documents, financial statements, or news signals
Generative AI for report automation and data augmentation
Data Analysis
Analyze financial, behavioral, and alternative data sources to identify predictive signals
Perform feature engineering to extract meaningful variables from raw data
Ensure data quality, integrity, and bias awareness throughout analysis
Innovation & Strategy
Propose AI use cases that can improve:
Credit decisioning speed and accuracy
Early warning systems for portfolio deterioration
Explainability of risk decisions (XAI)
Regulatory and Credit Policy compliance automation (e.g., model documentation)
Prepare presentations and reports summarizing findings for senior stakeholders
Collaboration
Work closely with credit analysts compliance teams
Participate in team meetings, sprint reviews, and knowledge-sharing sessions
Commitment to understanding the overall concept of the company, including the brand, customer, product goals, and all other aspects of service
Accept designated, business-focus projects to research, propose ideas and solutions, and present final projects during the internship
Complete a capstone project and present it to bank leaders and external participants
Engages with customers or clients and provides service and/or sales under direct supervision
Provide suggestions to management for improving customer service and internal processes
Learn and become proficient in internal software systems
Attends all required in-person VBA hosted training and events including but not limited to, Intern Orientation: May 28 and the Mid-Summer meet up on July 7, 2026
Other tasks as assigned
Create value for the bank and its employees
Qualification
Required
Must be 18 years of age
Work onsite for 40 hours a week, May 26– August 7
Proficiency in Python (pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow/PyTorch)
Understanding of supervised/unsupervised learning fundamentals
Strong quantitative and problem-solving abilities
Ability to clearly explain technical findings to non-technical audiences
Familiarity with credit risk concepts (PD, LGD, EAD, Basel frameworks)
Experience with SQL and data manipulation at scale
Knowledge of explainable AI tools (SHAP, LIME)
Exposure to LLMs or Generative AI (e.g., GPT APIs, LangChain)
Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Prior coursework or projects in FinTech, banking, or financial modeling
Currently pursuing a degree in computer engineering, data science, or data analytics
Internship or any training related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will be valued
Demonstrated academic excellence in business-related courses
Preferred
Benefits
Blue Ridge Bank provides a wide range of financial services with an emphasis on quality, ethics, and superb customer relations.
