Graduation Internship Design Research | Platform Quality | Utrecht

Would you like to use your master's research for Graduation Internship Design Research | Platform Quality | Utrecht? As a graduation intern in the Digital Platform team in Utrecht, you will research how platform quality can be defined and assessed consistently. Your work will help teams make better-informed decisions about improvements, exceptions and prioritisation.

You will work from our Croeselaan office in Utrecht, and hybrid working is possible. You will join a team of 9 people within a design chapter of around 120 professionals. Your research will combine UX research, service design and systems thinking to develop practical approaches for assessing platform quality. Your intended outcomes are platform quality principles, a scalable assessment approach, a prioritisation model and an approach for how AI and automation could enable quality assessment at scale.

At Rabobank you work on your personal development and contribute to the world around you. You get to focus on your own growth in an environment in which you continue to learn. In addition, you can also expect:

• An internship allowance of EUR 600 gross per month based on a 36-hour week.
• Personal guidance.
• A professional working and learning environment.
• An internship community and inspiring events.

What will you learn and do as a graduation intern?

Rabobank's digital platform provides foundations that are used across its digital experience. Maintaining quality at that scale requires more than deciding whether an individual design is good or bad. Teams need a scalable way to assess platform quality, and make consistent decisions about what to improve, when exceptions are justified and what should be prioritised.

Your central research question will be: How might we define and continuously assess platform quality at scale, using AI and automation to reduce manual effort and support consistent decision-making?

During your graduation internship, you will learn how to approach this challenge within a large digital organisation. You will:

• Research and define platform quality principles across different design contexts at Rabobank.
• Develop a scalable assessment and prioritisation approach that supports consistent decisions about improvements and exceptions.
• Explore and develop how AI and automation could enable a scalable quality assessment process, reducing the need for manual assessment.

Your research is internally focused. You will mainly conduct research with designers and potentially colleagues from relevant tribes.

The assignment combines design research, systems thinking, design strategy and framework development.

Your development as an intern

You will develop your research and strategic design skills by working on a complex challenge with direct relevance to Rabobank's digital organisation. You will learn how to look beyond individual design decisions and take a systems perspective on platform quality.

You will gain experience translating research into principles, assessment criteria and prioritisation approaches that can be applied in practice. You will also explore how AI and automation could enable quality assessment at scale, while considering where human judgement remains important.

What do you bring?

For this graduation internship, we are looking for a master's student who is interested in research, complex design systems and strategic design challenges. You do not need extensive professional experience. Relevant experience can come from your studies, research projects, internships or other practical projects.

Must-haves

• You are a master's student looking for a graduation internship.
• You have AI literacy or an interest in exploring how AI and automation could support assessment and decision-making.
• You have knowledge of design research.
• You can apply systems thinking and structure complex challenges into principles, frameworks or models.
• You can work professionally in English. Dutch is not mandatory.
• You can provide both a CV and a portfolio as part of your application.

Relevant master's programmes include Interaction Design, Service Design, Strategic Design, Design Research and Industrial Design or Industrial Design Engineering, or another related design-focused master's programme.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with systems thinking or working on complex digital products or platforms.
• Knowledge or experience of service design.

You do not need specific user interface design tools such as Figma for this assignment. The focus is on research, systems thinking, strategy and framework development rather than UI design.

Frequently asked questions

Is this role suitable if I have little work experience?

Yes. This is a graduation internship for a master's student. Relevant experience with design thinking and user research can come from your studies, research projects, internships or other practical experience.

What will I learn and do?

You will learn how to research digital design quality in a large design organisation. You will investigate what quality means to designers and translate your findings into a scalable approach for assessing quality, exploring how AI and automation could reduce manual effort.

What guidance will I receive?

You will work within the 9-person Digital Platform team, with Ilgaz Gulgec as your main contact. You can conduct your internal research within a wider design chapter of around 120 professionals from different design disciplines.

Which skills or tools will I develop?

You will work with design thinking, user research, service design and research strategy, while exploring AI, automation and prototyping approaches for assessing platform quality. You may also explore AI literacy and prompt design in relation to possible future automation.

Can I work hybrid?

Yes. Hybrid working is possible. Your office location is Rabobank's Croeselaan office in Utrecht.

A reliability assessment is part of the procedure.