PhD ML Intern — Live Commerce Recommendation

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

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.