Riipen and Climb Hire have joined forces to bridge the gap between untapped talent and real-world work experience. This initiative connects forward-thinking employers with skilled, job-ready professionals from Climb Hire’s programs. This program provides accessible internships to support a thriving, skills-first digital tech workforce.

AI Pathways allows learners looking to explore the AI sector to benefit from work-based learning experiences through 30 hour projects. Learners are able to enhance and showcase their skills, form employer networks and create a virtual portfolio to take forward in their career journey. Completed remotely over 4 weeks, employer projects provide authentic experience and support career clarity to pave the way for success in the dynamic job market.

Employers must be a registered US business or non-profit organization.

Employers may not be:

You will be asked to verify your company information when joining the AI Pathways program. You can find out more about our employer verification process here.

To sign up for AI Pathways you will first need to join the AI Pathways portal where you can post your projects to be matched to the program. If you are new to Riipen, you will be prompted to create an employer account and populate your company’s portal profile. On joining the program, you will be asked to verify that you meet the AI Pathways eligibility criteria, as outlined in our Terms and Conditions here. For more info on the verification process, view this article here.

Employers can post a range of AI projects. Projects should provide 30 hours of work per participant and each project must be completed over 4 weeks. For more information on how to create and submit a project for AI Pathways, you can consult this article.

There’s no limit to how many projects an employer can submit to the AI Pathways program. The learners will be assigned in teams of 3-5, directly to the project through the program.

Projects are assigned teams of up to 5 learners, which means your project should be able to be completed over 150 hours in total. If you think you will need more than this we recommend splitting the work and posting multiple projects to work with more than one AI Pathways team.

All AI Pathways projects must be completed over 4 weeks and in line with the cohort dates. Cohort 1 is April 21 - May 16, 2025. Further cohort dates are TBD.

Each participant is expected to contribute 30 hours to the project. The project timeline cannot be adjusted.

In an effort to create a good AI Pathways experience for all parties, we have Terms and Conditions, which can be found here. Please take a moment to read through them. You will be asked to sign the T&Cs agreement when you post your project. We've also created a three strike system. This means that if any AI Pathways user goes against the Terms and Conditions, they will receive a strike. You will be notified via e-mail when/if you've received a strike. If you receive three strikes, you will be removed from the program and will no longer be able to participate.

Learners will be placed into a team of 3-5 and will be matched to your project by the AI Pathways team. Learners must start and complete the project work through the Riipen platform in order to receive their honorarium payment. You are welcome to communicate with them outside of the platform as well. Learners will need a dedicated contact to answer questions and provide access to any resources they need throughout the project.

These learners are currently enrolled in an AI fundamentals upskilling program focused on both technical and soft skills training, and receive mentorship from a Career Development Advisor

No. Learners are neither employees of the organization they do a project for, nor of Riipen. As such, learners do not qualify for any benefits and will not obtain any record of employment from either organization.

Still have questions? Reach out to us via live-chat in the avocado found in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen or via email at ClimbHire@riipen.com.