AI Agent Algorithm Engineer Intern (Global E-Commerce, Conversational AI) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TikTok; Singapore; On-site; SGD 17,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is seeking an AI Agent Algorithm Engineer Intern (Global E-Commerce, Conversational AI) for a 2027 start. You will design and ship end-to-end agent loops, memory systems, and tool integration across 30+ languages, contributing to real production systems from day one.

As a PhD candidate, you will apply ML/DL/NLP fundamentals to post-train and fine-tune models, build runtimes, and evaluate performance with a focus on CSAT and containment metrics.

Qualifications

• Minimum: Currently pursuing a PhD in Software Development, CS, CE, or related field.
• Strong Python plus one of C++ / Go / Rust / Java.
• Solid ML/DL/NLP fundamentals with hands-on experience with LLMs or agents.
• Able to read a paper or engineering blog and turn it into working code.
• Preferred: Built the runtime with an agent loop / memory / tool integration.

Responsibilities

• Build and evolve the agent runtime powering customer-service agents — orchestrate skills, tools, and context; implement loop control & guardrails.
• Engineer context and memory for long multi-turn agents — memory, context editing, retrieval.
• Post-train and fine-tune LLMs and build data flywheel from conversations into signals.
• Design and integrate tools, Skills, and MCP connectors; tool search for large inventories.
• Build evaluation harnesses and close offline-online gaps.
• Develop the self-evolving loop for continual improvement.
• Own an end-to-end surface and ship to production across 30+ languages.

Skills

Python

C++

Go

Rust

Java

ML/DL/NLP

LLMs/Agents

Education

Pursuing a PhD

Tools

Agent runtime

MCP connectors

Context memory

Job description

Discover a career that energizes and excites you every day.

@2026 TikTok

Technology

AI Agent Algorithm Engineer Intern (Global E-Commerce, Conversational AI) - 2027 Start (PhD)

Location:

Employment Type:

Intern

Job Code:

A34364

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Responsibilities

About the TeamWe build the next-generation unified Agent system for TikTok's global e-commerce customer service — running in 30+ languages across one of the largest e-commerce surfaces on the internet. Our north star is a self-evolving Agent, where post-training, harness, memory / context engineering, tools, and evaluation form one closed loop, and every served conversation becomes the next iteration's training / eval / retrieval / skill-induction signal. We build the agent runtime itself — Codex / Claude-Code-class — not prompts on top of a vendor API. As a new grad, you'll own a real end-to-end piece from day one and ship it to production. We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. PhD internships at Our Company provide students with the opportunity to actively contribute to our products and research, as well as to the organization's future plans and emerging technologies. Our dynamic internship experience blends hands-on learning, enriching community-building and professional development events, and collaboration with industry experts.

• Build and evolve the agent runtime (harness / agent loop) powering our customer-service agents — orchestrate skills, tools, and context; implement loop control & intervention, progressive disclosure, and behavior-level guardrails.
• Engineer context & memory for long multi-turn agents — agentic memory (structured note-taking), context compaction / summarization, context editing / observation masking, and just-in-time (retrieve-then-load) retrieval.
• Post-train and fine-tune LLMs (SFT / DPO / RL) and build the data flywheel that turns served conversations into training / eval / retrieval signals.
• Design and integrate tools, Skills, and MCP connectors (tools-as-APIs), plus skill / tool search for large tool inventories.
• Build evaluation — LLM-as-judge with human-agreement calibration; regression / safety / cost / latency-aware harnesses; close the offline online gap.
• Build the self-evolving loop — replay + user-simulator + Auto-RCA / Auto-GSB / Auto-Policy — so the system continuously improves itself.
• Own one high-leverage end-to-end surface and ship it to production across 30+ languages, measured on real business metrics (CSAT, resolution / containment rate).

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications- Currently Pursuing a PhD in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Strong Python plus one of C++ / Go / Rust / Java
• Solid ML / DL / NLP fundamentals, with genuine hands-on experience with LLMs or agents (coursework, research, internship, competition, open-source, or a serious side project)
• Able to read a paper or an engineering blog and turn it into working code
• Preferred Qualifications- Have built the runtime, not just called an API — even at research / hobby / competition scale: your own agent loop / harness, a memory / context-management system, a RAG or tool-use agent, or a fine-tuned / post-trained model
• Hands-on experience in any one of: post-training (SFT / DPO / RLHF / RLAIF / RLVR, reward modeling); agent systems (harness, context engineering, MCP / Skills, sub-agents, tool search); evaluation (LLM-as-judge, τ-bench / SWE-bench / GAIA / BFCL); inference & serving (vLLM / TensorRT-LLM, MoE, KV / prompt caching); or multilingual NLP — depth in one is enough, breadth welcome
• Publications, strong competition results (ACM-ICPC / Kaggle / ML competitions), or notable open-source contributions

Job Information

About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.

We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.