Machine Learning Engineer Intern (E-Commerce Recommendation Live) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is offering a PhD internship with the Global E-commerce Recommendation Live Algorithm team. You will work on the core recommendation stack for live commerce, integrating recall, pre-ranking, ranking, and mixed ranking while exploring generative and multimodal modeling approaches.

You'll collaborate with cross-functional teams, apply deep learning methods (including PyTorch), and translate research into measurable business impact in a fast-moving, global environment.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research or a related technical discipline.
• Solid foundation in machine learning and at least one of the following areas: recommendation systems, search, advertising, NLP, multimodal learning, or large-scale applied AI.
• Strong programming skills in Python or C++, and hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Good understanding of data structures, algorithms, and large-scale model training or production ML systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate business problems into effective modeling solutions.
• Self-driven and results-oriented, with the ability to take ownership of model iteration and online impact from end to end.

Responsibilities

• Build and optimize recommendation models across recall, pre-ranking, ranking, and mixed ranking to improve GMV, conversion, watch time, and long‑term user value.
• Develop cross-domain and multimodal modeling solutions that connect videos, live streams, products, and user behavior to better power live commerce recommendations.
• Advance next‑generation recommendation technologies, including generative recommendation, large recommendation models, reinforcement learning, and long‑term value optimization.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to launch scalable solutions, run experiments, and turn research into measurable business impact.

Skills

Python

C++

PyTorch

Machine Learning

Problem Solving

Self-motivated

Education

PhD candidate in CS/Engineering/OR

Job description

Responsibilities

The Global E-commerce Recommendation Live Algorithm team is responsible for the core recommendation stack for live commerce, covering the full pipeline from recall and pre-ranking to ranking and mixed ranking. The team operates in a highly dynamic environment where live room status changes in real time, conversion signals are sparse, and user intent must be understood across content, commerce, and transaction scenarios.

The Global E-commerce Recommendation Live Algorithm team is responsible for the core recommendation stack for live commerce, covering the full pipeline from recall and pre-ranking to ranking and mixed ranking. The team operates in a highly dynamic environment where live room status changes in real time, conversion signals are sparse, and user intent must be understood across content, commerce, and transaction scenarios.

By combining generative recommendation, large recommendation models, multimodal representation learning, and cross-domain value modeling, the team works on some of the most important algorithmic problems in live commerce. Our goal is to improve user experience, optimize ecosystem efficiency, and drive sustainable business growth for TikTok Shop across global markets.

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.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume (Start date, End date).

Responsibilities

• Build and optimize recommendation models across recall, pre-ranking, ranking, and mixed ranking to improve GMV, conversion, watch time, and long‑term user value.
• Develop cross-domain and multimodal modeling solutions that connect videos, live streams, products, and user behavior to better power live commerce recommendations.
• Advance next‑generation recommendation technologies, including generative recommendation, large recommendation models, reinforcement learning, and long‑term value optimization.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to launch scalable solutions, run experiments, and turn research into measurable business impact.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research or a related technical discipline.
• Solid foundation in machine learning and at least one of the following areas: recommendation systems, search, advertising, NLP, multimodal learning, or large-scale applied AI.
• Strong programming skills in Python or C++, and hands‑on experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Good understanding of data structures, algorithms, and large-scale model training or production machine learning systems.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to translate business problems into effective modeling solutions.
• Self‑driven and results‑oriented, with the ability to take ownership of model iteration and online impact from end to end.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in recommendation systems, especially in live commerce, e-commerce, search, ads, or other large-scale consumer products.
• Experience with generative recommendation, large recommendation models, retrieval and ranking systems, or related recommendation architecture upgrades.
• Experience with LLMs or multimodal foundation models, including pre‑training, post‑training, representation learning, contrastive learning, SFT, or RL‑based optimization.
• Experience in cross‑domain transfer learning, LTV modeling, long‑term value optimization, causal inference, or debiasing.
• Experience with long‑sequence user behavior modeling, multi‑task learning, multi‑interest modeling, or large‑scale distributed training and inference optimization.
• Publications in top‑tier conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, KDD, ACL, CVPR, SIGIR, or RecSys, or strong achievements in major technical competitions.
• Strong curiosity about new technologies, fast learning ability, and a passion for solving challenging real‑world problems.

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Hourly) - Campus Intern

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

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:

• Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
• Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
• Exercising sound judgment.

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.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request