PhD ML Research Intern: Recommender Systems & LLMs

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

10 paid holidays per year

Paid sick time

Housing allowance

Job summary

TikTok is seeking PhD interns to contribute to the recommendation algorithm team, driving research and production ML for a leading short-form video platform. You will work on end-to-end ML pipelines, multi-framework deep learning, and collaboration across teams to shape product strategies and growth in global markets.

The internship offers hands-on learning, community-building, and professional development with access to health insurance, holidays, and housing support for non-remote roles.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD with a background in computer science, machine learning, or similar fields;
• Good knowledge of theoretical and empirical research in addressing research problems;
• Solid knowledge and experience with at least one popular deep learning framework (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) and familiarity with deep neural network architectures.

Responsibilities

• Drive the development of industry-leading recommendation systems that elevate user experience, strengthen platform safety, and empower a vibrant content ecosystem.
• Deliver impactful, end-to-end machine learning solutions that tackle high-priority product challenges related to content understanding, LLMs, robustness, and fairness.
• Own and optimize the full-stack ML pipeline—from algorithm design to system infrastructure—to continuously push the boundaries of recommendation performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to craft innovative product strategies and develop intelligent solutions that fuel TikTok’s growth in key global markets.

Skills

Deep learning

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Research

Education

PhD in CS/ML

Tools

Python

C/C++

Shell

Job description

TikTok is seeking PhD interns to contribute to the recommendation algorithm team, driving research and production ML for a leading short-form video platform. You will work on end-to-end ML pipelines, multi-framework deep learning, and collaboration across teams to shape product strategies and growth in global markets.

The internship offers hands-on learning, community-building, and professional development with access to health insurance, holidays, and housing support for non-remote roles.