Research Intern (Inference Infrastructure) - 2027 Start (PhD)

ByteDance; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 50,000 - 83,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

Housing allowance

Paid holidays

Paid sick time

Job summary

ByteDance is seeking PhD students for a Summer 2027 internship to contribute to our DPU team, building scalable cloud-native GPU and AI accelerator infrastructure, and advancing LLM inference platforms. You will work with vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, and related technologies across cloud and AI systems.

You will collaborate with global teams, gain hands-on experience, and participate in professional development events designed for researchers and engineers pursuing cutting-edge cloud and AI

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2027.
• Strong understanding of large model inference, distributed and parallel systems, and/or high-performance networking systems.
• Hands‑on experience building cloud or ML infrastructure in areas such as resource management, scheduling, request routing, monitoring, or orchestration.
• Solid knowledge of container and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Proficiency in at least one major programming language (Go, Rust, Python, or C++).

Responsibilities

• Design and build large-scale, container-based cluster management and orchestration systems with extreme performance, scalability, and resilience.
• Architect next-generation cloud-native GPU and AI accelerator infrastructure to deliver cost-efficient and secure ML platforms.
• Collaborate across teams to deliver world-class inference solutions using vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, and other LLM engines.
• Stay current with open source and AI/ML infrastructure advances; integrate best practices into production systems.
• Write high-quality, production-ready code that is maintainable, testable, and scalable.

Skills

Large model inference

Distributed systems

High-performance networking

Cloud infrastructure

Container orchestration

Programming: Go/Python/C++

Education

PhD in CS/CE/EE or related

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Responsibilities

About the Team

The ByteDance DPU (Data Processing Unit) team builds foundational cloud and AI computing infrastructure for ByteDance and Volcano Engine. Our mission is to advance the architecture, development, and research of next-generation software-hardware co-design technologies across compute, networking, and storage for cloud and AI computing. Our technology stack spans

• Cloud virtualization, hypervisors, and operating systems
• High-performance networking, including DPDK and RDMA
• High-speed interconnects, virtual switching, and network offload
• Distributed storage and I/O acceleration
• Orchestration and scheduling for AI/ML workloads

We work at the intersection of systems research, distributed infrastructure, and hardware acceleration. Our technologies operate at cloud scale and help shape the next generation of cloud and AI computing platforms.

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.

Responsibilities

• Design and build large-scale, container-based cluster management and orchestration systems with extreme performance, scalability, and resilience.
• Architect next-generation cloud-native GPU and AI accelerator infrastructure to deliver cost-efficient and secure ML platforms.
• Collaborate across teams to deliver world‑class inference solutions using vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, and other LLM engines.
• Stay current with the latest advances in open source (Kubernetes, Ray, etc.), AI/ML and LLM infrastructure, and systems research; integrate best practices into production systems.
• Write high-quality, production-ready code that is maintainable, testable, and scalable.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2027
• Strong understanding of large model inference, distributed and parallel systems, and/or high-performance networking systems.
• Hands‑on experience building cloud or ML infrastructure in areas such as resource management, scheduling, request routing, monitoring, or orchestration.
• Solid knowledge of container and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Proficiency in at least one major programming language (Go, Rust, Python, or C++).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience contributing to or operating large‑scale cluster management systems (e.g., Kubernetes, Ray).
• Experience with workload scheduling, GPU orchestration, scaling, and isolation in production environments.
• Hands‑on experience with GPU programming (CUDA) or inference engines (vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM).
• Familiarity with public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their ML platforms (SageMaker, Azure ML, Vertex AI).
• Strong knowledge of ML systems (Ray, DeepSpeed, PyTorch) and distributed training/inference platforms.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate across global, cross‑functional teams.
• Passion for system efficiency, performance optimization, and open‑source innovation.

Job Information

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

The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $60- $60.

• 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

• 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 Us

Founded in 2012, ByteDance's mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. With a suite of more than a dozen products, including TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and Pico as well as platforms specific to the China market, including Toutiao, Douyin, and Xigua, ByteDance has made it easier and more fun for people to connect with, consume, and create content.

Why Join ByteDance

Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are 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 enrich life - a mission we work towards every day.

As ByteDancers, 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. 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

ByteDance 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 ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. 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.

Reasonable Accommodation

ByteDance 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