Palantir Technologies has a market capitalization of more than $200 billion. According to its website, the company has extensive defense contracts, building “AI-powered solutions” that “protect soldiers on battlefields, manufacture high-quality products, power hospitals’ operations, and safely deliver aid to refugees.”
But if you want to work there, and apply for one of the dozens of software engineer roles on its website, a degree from a fancy university might not send you to the top of the pack.
Palantir launched a “Meritocracy Fellowship” this week aimed at high schoolers or recent graduates who want to “get the Palantir Degree” and “skip the debt” and “indoctrination.” The role(s) will be earned “solely on merit and academic excellence.”
On LinkedIn, the company wrote “chaos has ensued on university campuses,” and “admissions are based on flawed criteria.” The four-month (Fall 2025) fellowship is “in response to the shortcomings of university admissions” and pays $5,400 a month.
The job description says the role is in New York, New York, and the company “encourages employees to work from our offices,” though its CEO reportedly often works from a barn in New Hampshire.
“Opaque admissions standards at many American universities have displaced meritocracy and excellence,” the job post reads. “As a result, qualified students are being denied an education based on subjective and shallow criteria. Absent meritocracy, campuses have become breeding grounds for extremism and chaos.”
Those who land the fellowship (it’s unclear how many positions would be open) will work alongside a team solving “technical problems that contribute to Palantir products and customer outcomes.”
Dropping at select colleges today. pic.twitter.com/tz62o1A5ql
— Palantir (@PalantirTech) April 14, 2025
Applicants must be high school grads at the start of the internship with an SAT score of at least 1460 or an ACT score of at least 33. Hopeful fellows can not be enrolled in a university at the time of the fellowship, and experience with programming, scripting, or statistical packages (eg. Python, R, Matlab, SQL) “is a plus,” according to the job post.
It’s not the first AI company with defense contracts to launch a unique recruiting campaign. Last month, a defense startup with billions in government contracts, Andruil, plastered cities rich in tech talent in recruiting ads that said: “Don’t Work at Andruil.”
