Data Products Intern - Spring 2026

Data Products Intern

About the Role

Are you ready to gain hands-on experience in modern data engineering, governance, and analytics enablement? Norfolk Southern is seeking a motivated, detail-oriented Data Products Intern to join our team for Spring 2026.

This internship offers a unique opportunity to rotate across all three teams within the Data Products organization:

1. Operations Analytics - Deliver actionable insights through advanced analytics and machine learning.
2. Operations BI & Self-Service Enablement - Build and optimize Power BI dashboards, semantic models, and enable governed self-service reporting.
3. Enterprise Metrics, Controls & Governance - Support KPI certification, data quality monitoring, and governance workflows using Collibra and Databricks.

You'll work directly with industry experts, learn how Norfolk Southern applies Data Mesh principles and federated governance, and contribute to projects that improve operational efficiency and decision-making across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in designing and testing ETL pipelines in Databricks (AWS) and contribute to silver/gold layer transformations.
• Support Power BI development, including workspace setup, dataset optimization, and role-based security (RLS).
• Participate in data governance activities, such as lineage documentation, certification workflows, and metadata updates in Collibra.
• Collaborate on analytics projects, including KPI analysis, dashboard enhancements, and ad-hoc operational insights.
• Contribute to data quality monitoring and observability initiatives (freshness, schema drift, volume checks).
• Document processes, create user guides, and assist with intake forms for new data requests.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
• Familiarity with SQL and at least one programming language (Python preferred).
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and data tools (Databricks, Power BI, Collibra) is a plus.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to communicate technical concepts clearly.

Learning Opportunities

• Data Engineering: Learn modern practices using Databricks and Spark.
• Governance & Compliance: Understand federated governance and KPI certification workflows.
• Analytics Enablement: Gain experience building semantic models and certified datasets for enterprise BI.
• Product Mindset: Learn how to define requirements, write PRDs, and measure adoption and cost telemetry.
• Agile Delivery: Participate in sprint planning, grooming, and retrospectives.

Company Overview

Since 1827, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and its predecessor companies have safely moved the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. Today, it operates a customer-centric and operations-driven freight transportation network. Committed to furthering sustainability, Norfolk Southern helps its customers avoid 15 million tons of yearly carbon emissions by shipping via rail. Its dedicated team members deliver more than 7 million carloads annually, from agriculture to consumer goods, and is the largest rail shipper of auto products and metals in North America. Norfolk Southern also has the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S., serving a majority of the country's population and manufacturing base, with connections to every major container port on the Atlantic coast as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes. Learn more by visiting www.NorfolkSouthern.com.