Did my internship there summer 2025, got the return offer, ended up signing. Sharing because the internship-to-FT path at Palantir has some quirks I didn't expect.
The internship itself. I was on a commercial product team. You get a real project with real scope, not a toy task. Mine touched a live customer deployment. That was exciting but also stressful because mistakes had consequences. The feedback loop is fast, which is good for learning.
Managers vary a lot. Mine was very hands-off. Some interns I met had managers who checked in daily. Luck of the draw.
The return offer process. There's no separate intern-to-FT interview. Your performance during the internship is the interview. Near the end of the summer (about week 9 of 12 for me) my manager had a feedback conversation and shortly after the recruiter reached out about a return offer.
Offer came in around the same time as other offers from my on-campus recruiting. Palantir's timing was faster than most.
The return offer package. $170k base, $60k equity over 4 years, $20k signing. NYC, SWE L3. TC around $197k. I didn't negotiate hard because I'd already decided I wanted to go back. In hindsight I should have at least asked about the signing.
Conversion rate. My recruiter said they extend return offers to most interns who perform well but it's not automatic. A few people in my cohort didn't get return offers. It tracked pretty clearly with who shipped their project vs. who struggled to define scope.
Why I signed. The team I was on was doing interesting work. I liked the culture, even the blunt feedback part. And the comp was solid for a new grad 2026 offer. The main thing I'd tell other interns: scope your project tightly and communicate weekly with your manager even if they don't ask.