Software Engineer Intern ( Search Architecture; Summer San Jose Undergraduate​/Master Intern

Discover a career that energizes and excites you every day.

@2026 Tik Tok

Technology

Location:

San Jose

Employment Type:

Intern

Job Code:

A133556B

About the Team Tik Tok  Search is building the next-generation search experience for hundreds of millions of users around the world. Our team is responsible for developing and improving Tik Tok’s search engine, with the goal of helping users discover the most relevant, useful, and engaging content through search.

We are actively exploring how to deeply integrate traditional search engine technologies with Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance the Tik Tok Search experience and pioneer new search paradigms. You will have the opportunity to work on challenging problems at the intersection of information retrieval, machine learning, natural language understanding, recommendation systems, and large-scale distributed systems.

We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. Our internship program offers students hands-on experience, industry exposure, and opportunities to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges while building a strong foundation for personal and professional growth.

Interns will gain practical experience, explore potential career paths, and participate in social events, learning programs, and development workshops alongside industry professionals.

• Build and optimize search systems and features that serve hundreds of millions of users globally.
• Work on large-scale, complex technical problems in search quality, ranking, query understanding, retrieval, and system reliability.
• Explore the integration of search engine technologies and LLMs to improve user experience and search result relevance.
• Develop algorithms and systems that support next-generation search experiences and new search interaction paradigms.
• Collaborate with product managers, researchers, and engineers to understand user needs and translate them into scalable technical solutions.
• Apply modern machine learning, information retrieval, NLP, and LLM techniques to improve search quality and user perception.

Minimum Qualification(s)- Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.

- Solid foundation in computer science fundamentals, with strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and operating systems.

- Strong programming skills and good coding habits; experience with one or more programming languages such as C++, Python, Go or Java.

- Strong curiosity, willingness to learn, and ability to quickly understand and solve complex technical problems.

- Good communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively in a team environment.

- Able to commit to a 12-week internship in 2027.Preferred Qualification(s)- Currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.

- Experience in search, recommendation systems, machine learning, NLP, LLMs, distributed systems, or related areas.

- Demonstrated software engineering experience through internships, research projects, open-source contributions, or publications.

- Award-winning experience in programming competitions such as ICPC, CCPC, NOI, IOI, or other comparable competitions is a plus.

- High levels of creativity, self-motivation, and strong problem-solving capability.

The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $45- $45.

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.

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

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:

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