Machine Learning Scientist Intern (TikTok - Content Ecology - LLM application) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 68,000 - 97,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Housing allowance

Paid holidays

Job summary

TikTok invites PhD interns to join the Content Ecology team for a 12-week summer research program. You will develop, optimize, and deploy cutting-edge AI models and Agentic AI frameworks across multimodal data, collaborating with researchers and engineers to advance content understanding and governance.

You will work on planning, tool use, skills, and memory systems, with hands-on experience in TensorFlow, PyTorch, LangChain, and LlamaIndex, contributing to real-world applications and

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, or a related field.
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during the Summer of 2027.
• Strong programming skills in Python, C++, or similar languages.
• Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Solid understanding of machine learning fundamentals and the modern AI stack.
• Strong proficiency in integrating AI tools into knowledge discovery and research workflows.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize LLM/MLLM, Agent, NLP, CV, and recommendation models to improve TikTok’s content ecosystem.
• Design, build, and optimize advanced Agentic AI frameworks, focusing on planning, tool use, skills, and memory.
• Implement multimodal AI solutions, integrating video, text, and speech understanding.
• Train and fine-tune deep learning models using TensorFlow, PyTorch, or other ML frameworks.
• Deploy and scale machine learning solutions in a distributed computing environment.
• Work closely with AI researchers, software engineers, and business teams to apply AI technologies effectively.

Skills

Python

C++

Deep learning

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Knowledge discovery

Research workflows

Multimodal AI

Education

PhD in Computer Science/ML/AI

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Job description

Responsibilities

About the team: The Content Ecology team builds next-generation AI products and scalable platform capabilities that power how content is created, understood, discovered, and governed across TikTok globally. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as LLMs/MLLMs, multimodal learning, and Agentic AI, the team addresses complex, high-impact challenges across Local Services, Search, Short Drama, Creator Assistance, and AIGC. By uniting frontier AI research with product innovation, our team drives scalable solutions that elevate experiences for users, creators, and merchants worldwide.

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.

• Develop and optimize LLM/MLLM, Agent, NLP, CV, and recommendation models to improve TikTok’s content ecosystem.
• Design, build, and optimize advanced Agentic AI frameworks, focusing on core components like planning, tool use, skills, and memory.
• Implement multimodal AI solutions, integrating video, text, and speech understanding.
• Train and fine‑tune deep learning models using TensorFlow, PyTorch, or other ML frameworks.
• Deploy and scale machine learning solutions in a distributed computing environment.
• Work closely with AI researchers, software engineers, and business teams to apply AI technologies effectively.

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, or a related field.
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during the Summer of 2027.
• Strong programming skills in Python, C++, or similar languages.
• Hands‑on experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Solid understanding of machine learning fundamentals and the modern AI stack.
• Strong proficiency in integrating AI tools into knowledge discovery and research workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with distributed computing and optimizing AI models for real‑world applications.
• Ability to apply machine learning techniques to enhance business and user experiences.
• Deep knowledge of agent architectures, including planning, tool use (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex), skills, and memory systems.
• Publications in top AI/ML conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, ACL, etc.) or strong contributions to open‑source AI projects.
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate across teams.

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

By submitting an application for this role, you accept and agree to our global applicant privacy policy, which may be accessed here: https://careers.tiktok.com/legal/privacy