Research Engineer Intern (Ads ML Infra) - 2026 Start (PhD)

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 68,191 - 97,120; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life insurance

Paid holidays (10 per year)

Paid sick time

Housing allowance (if not remote)

Job summary

A leading social media platform is seeking interns for its Ads machine learning data platform team in San Jose, California. As an intern, you'll lead projects focusing on building scalable Ads ranking infrastructure systems and provide technical leadership. Applicants should have a Bachelor's in Computer Science and strong problem-solving skills. This internship offers hands-on experience in an innovative environment, along with competitive hourly compensation of $60 and various benefits.

Qualifications

• Strong coding skills and a good understanding of algorithms, especially causal inference, uplift model, and deep learning.
• Experience in managing projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects committed to building and operating scalable and reliable Ads ranking infrastructure systems.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to team members.
• Communicate cross‑functionally across various teams.
• Lead innovation efforts and bring in new ideas and technologies.

Skills

Strong Computer Science fundamentals

Problem-solving skills

Solid coding skills

Experience in managing projects

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical disciplines

Job description

Responsibilities

The ads system at TikTok operates on a massive scale and serves millions of advertisers, clients and influencers across the world. The quality of the ads system highly depends on the ability to handle massive data, and machine learning is widely used to improve the quality of our ads. The Ads machine learning data platform team is responsible for building highly efficient and stable infrastructure to collect and process data for the usage of machine learning training, serving, and privacy enforcement, including feature engineering, feature store, training data generation, etc.

We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship in 2026. Internships at TikTok aim to offer students industry exposure and hands‑on experience. Watch your ambitions become reality as your inspiration brings infinite opportunities at TikTok.

PhD internships at TikTok provide students with the opportunity to actively contribute to our products and research, and to the organization’s future plans and emerging technologies. Our dynamic internship experience blends hands‑on learning, enriching community‑building and development events, and collaboration with industry experts.

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

Summer Start Dates

• May 11th, 2026
• May 18th, 2026
• May 26th, 2026
• June 8th, 2026
• June 22nd, 2026

Responsibilities

• Lead projects committed to building and operating scalable and reliable Ads ranking infrastructure systems.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to team members and project peers.
• Communicate cross‑functionally across various teams, organizations and internal and external stakeholders to drive engineering efforts.
• Lead the innovation efforts, and bring in new ideas and technologies.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical disciplines.
• Strong Computer Science fundamentals (algorithms, data structures, software design) and problem‑solving skills.
• Solid coding skills and a good understanding of algorithms, especially causal inference, uplift model, and deep learning.
• Experience in managing projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Ads domain.
• Experience with building large‑scale ranking infrastructure.

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

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

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