Machine Learning Engineer Intern (E-Commerce User Growth) - 2027 Summer

TikTok; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 48,000 - 68,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance from day one

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

10 paid holidays per year

Housing allowance (if not remote)

Job summary

TikTok is seeking talented interns to join its E-commerce Recommendation and Marketing Algorithm team in Seattle. The role focuses on algorithm and big data work for e-commerce innovations, including recommendations, risk control, and platform governance.

Interns gain hands-on experience applying ML to real-world challenges within a fast-paced tech company. The internship offers exposure to large-scale knowledge graphs, supply chain optimization, and AI-powered merchant tooling, with

Qualifications

• Pursuing an undergraduate degree in CS/CE or related field.
• Solid ML and engineering fundamentals, strong code and data-structure knowledge.
• Interest in LLMs, foundation models, NLP, CV, RL, or recommender/search/ads.
• Genuine enthusiasm for bringing frontier methods into production.
• Strong problem definition and decomposition in ambiguous situations.

Responsibilities

• Participate in optimizing TikTok e-commerce growth and marketing algorithms, including core capabilities like user value modelling and personalized messaging.
• Establish a user lifecycle data and value system to address growth challenges.
• Contribute to product and technical solutions for growth engines like personalized push notifications/emails.
• Optimize recall/sorting algorithms for new user recommendations for relevance and diversity.
• Improve marketing efficiency using uplift models and operations research methods.

Skills

ML fundamentals

Algorithms & data structures

Programming

LLM/LRM enthusiasm

Problem solving

Education

Undergraduate degree in Software Development/CS/CE or related

Job description

Responsibilities

The TikTok E-commerce Recommendation and Marketing Algorithm team is responsible for algorithm and big data work on e-commerce innovation projects. Leveraging on our products, the team helps users discover and acquire great products, enriching their lives. In this team, we not only use recommendation and search algorithms to help users find items they are interested in but also employ risk control algorithms and intelligent platform governance algorithms to detect violations, ensuring a secure shopping experience. We build intelligent customer service technologies and large-scale product knowledge graphs to improve the efficiency of various transaction processes. Furthermore, we develop logistics and operations research algorithms to enhance supply chain efficiency, and we apply artificial intelligence to help merchants improve their operational capabilities. Our mission: To make high-quality products easily accessible, enabling everyone to enjoy a better life.

The TikTok E-commerce Recommendation and Marketing Algorithm team is responsible for algorithm and big data work on e-commerce innovation projects. Leveraging on our products, the team helps users discover and acquire great products, enriching their lives. In this team, we not only use recommendation and search algorithms to help users find items they are interested in but also employ risk control algorithms and intelligent platform governance algorithms to detect violations, ensuring a secure shopping experience. We build intelligent customer service technologies and large-scale product knowledge graphs to improve the efficiency of various transaction processes. Furthermore, we develop logistics and operations research algorithms to enhance supply chain efficiency, and we apply artificial intelligence to help merchants improve their operational capabilities. Our mission: To make high-quality products easily accessible, enabling everyone to enjoy a better life.

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.

Candidates may apply to a maximum of two positions across Our Company and its affiliates globally. Applications will be considered in the order they are submitted. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume, including your start and end dates.

Responsibilities:

• Participate in optimizing TikTok e-commerce growth and marketing algorithms, including core capabilities such as user value modelling, personalized messaging, recommendations, and intelligent marketing.
• Establish a user lifecycle data and value system to address core pain points and business challenges related to TikTok Mall user growth.
• Contribute to the implementation of product and technical solutions for user growth engines, such as personalized push notifications/emails, recommendation handling, etc., to increase e-commerce DAU and penetration rates.
• Optimize algorithms related to recall/sorting for new user recommendations, improving the relevance of traffic source handling and the accuracy and diversity of new user recommendations.
• Optimize intelligent marketing algorithms, utilizing uplift models and operations research methods to improve marketing efficiency and drive e-commerce GMV growth.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a Undergraduate degree in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related discipline.
• Solid ML and engineering fundamentals: you understand the math behind the models, and you write clean, efficient, reproducible code with a strong command of algorithms and data structures.
• Deep research or engineering practice in at least one of: LLMs / foundation models, NLP, CV, RL, or recommendation / search / ads — and you can articulate why you made the choices you made, and where they fell short.
• Genuine enthusiasm for LLM / LRM techniques: you want frontier methods live in production, not parked at offline metrics.
• Strong problem definition and decomposition: faced with an ambiguous problem that has no standard answer, you find your own foothold.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Candidates who have published papers in top AI conferences/journals or achieved notable results in ACM/Machine Learning competitions
• Experience in recommendation systems, advertising, user growth, intelligent marketing, or related fields, with expertise in LTV estimation, uplift modelling, operations research, sequence modelling, or multi-scenario modelling optimization is a plus.

Job Information

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

The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $42.75- $42.75.

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