Research Scientist Graduate (Seed Model - Multimodal Interaction & World Model) - 2026 Start (PhD)

Bytedance; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 254,000 - 480,000; Full time

Job summary

ByteDance Seed is seeking researchers to advance multimodal AI, MLLM, GenMedia, AI for Science, and Robotics, with a global presence across the US, China, and Singapore. The team has launched leading foundation models and multimodal capabilities powering over 50 applications, and serves enterprise customers through Volcano Engine and BytePlus.

As a graduate, you will tackle bold ideas, join a fast-growing group, and have opportunities to contribute to scalable research.

Qualifications

• PhD or near-completion in CS/EE/Physics/Math.
• Publications in leading AI/ML venues (CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML).
• Strong research background in RL, multimodal learning, video understanding, or vision-language modeling.

Responsibilities

• Drive research and engineering to advance models for multimodal data understanding and reasoning.
• Explore ideas to optimize model performance and efficiency.
• Establish scaling laws and conduct systematic ablations with transferrable conclusions.

Skills

PhD completed

Publications in top venues

Reinforcement learning

Multimodal learning

Video understanding

Vision‑language modeling

Transformers

PyTorch

JAX

Distributed training

Education

PhD or near-completion in CS/EE/Physics/Math

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Distributed training frameworks

Job description

Responsibilities

About the Team

Established in 2023, the ByteDance Seed team is dedicated to pioneering new paths toward artificial general intelligence. We aspire to advance the frontier of intelligence to drive progress for both technology and society.

With a long-term vision for the AI sector, the Seed team's research spans MLLM, GenMedia, AI for Science, and Robotics. We maintain a global presence with laboratories and career opportunities across China, Singapore, and the United States. To date, we have launched industry-leading general foundation models and cutting-edge multimodal capabilities. Our technology powers over 50 application scenarios — including Doubao, Jimeng, TRAE, Dola and Dreamnia — and serves enterprise customers through Volcano Engine and BytePlus. Third-party data shows that the Doubao App ranks first in user volume in the Chinese market, while Doubao foundation models lead the industry in average daily token consumption.

The Seed Multimodal Interaction and World Model team is dedicated to developing models that boast human-level multimodal understanding and interaction capabilities. The team is working also aspires to advance the exploration and development of multimodal assistant products

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team. As a graduate, you will get opportunities to pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by the end of the year. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume.

Responsibilities

• Drive research and engineering to advance models that enhance understanding of multimodal data and enlarge reasoning capabilities.
• Explore research ideas that optimize both the model's performance and efficiency.
• Establish scaling laws, design and conduct systematic ablations that result in transferrable conclusions.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• Publications in accredited venues, such as CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, or other leading conferences in AI and ML.
• Strong research background in at least one of the following: reinforcement learning, multimodal learning, video understanding, or vision-language modeling.

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in Transformers (Dense and MoE) and familiar with how to scale Transformers on GPUs or TPUs.
• Rich hands‑on experience in PyTorch/JAX and distributed training framework.
• Familiar with state‑of‑the‑art techniques for preparing multimodal training data.

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $254400 - $480000 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

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 Doubao (Seed)

Established in 2023, the ByteDance Seed team is dedicated to pioneering new paths toward artificial general intelligence. We aspire to advance the frontier of intelligence to drive progress for both technology and society.

With a long‑term vision for the AI sector, the Seed team's research spans MLLM, GenMedia, AI for Science, and Robotics. We maintain a global presence with laboratories and career opportunities across China, Singapore, and the United States. To date, we have launched industry‑leading general foundation models and cutting‑edge multimodal capabilities. Our technology powers over 50 application scenarios — including Doubao, Jimeng, TRAE, Dola and Dreamnia — and serves enterprise customers through Volcano Engine and BytePlus. Third‑party data shows that the Doubao App ranks first in user volume in the Chinese market, while Doubao foundation models lead the industry in average daily token consumption.

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