Machine Learning Scientist Intern; TikTok-Recommendation PhD

Machine Learning Scientist Intern (Tik Tok-Recommendation) - 2026 Start (PhD)

Location:

San Jose

Employment Type:

Intern

Job Code: A12001

• Drive the development of industry-leading recommendation systems that elevate user experience, strengthen platform safety, and empower a vibrant content ecosystem.
• Deliver impactful, end-to-end machine learning solutions that tackle high-priority product challenges related to content understanding, LLMs, robustness, and fairness.
• Own and optimize the full-stack ML pipeline—from algorithm design to system infrastructure—to continuously push the boundaries of recommendation performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to craft innovative product strategies and develop intelligent solutions that fuel Tik Tok’s growth in key global markets.

• Currently pursuing a PhD with a background in computer science, machine learning, or similar fields.
• Good knowledge of theoretical and empirical research in addressing research problems.
• Solid knowledge and experience with at least one popular deep learning framework (e.g., PyTorch, Tensor Flow) and familiarity with deep neural network architectures.

• Research experience in applied machine learning, machine learning infrastructure, large-scale recommendation systems, market-facing machine learning product.
• Strong first-author publications record in accredited AI conferences or journals (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL).
• Proficient in C/C++, Python, and shell programming languages, and have a deep understanding of data structure and algorithm design.
• Internship experience in an AI research organization.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Interns have day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits and more. Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year). Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and 3. Exercising sound judgment.

The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $60- $60.