Research Scientist Intern (Multi-modal Agentic Databases) - 2027 Start (PhD)

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Housing allowance

Paid holidays

Paid sick time

Job summary

ByteDance invites a campus intern in San Jose, CA to join a lab focusing on LLM/AI infrastructure, distributed systems, and new system design. You will explore research questions, develop prototypes, and measure performance in a scale-driven environment.

You will collaborate with mentors, conduct advanced research under supervision, and document findings through technical reports and papers, with compensation described for pay transparency.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or related discipline.
• Understand how distributed systems work
• Great programming skill in one or more of the following programming languages: C/C++, Go, Java or Python
• Be able to conduct advanced research under supervision

Responsibilities

• Do research survey and come up with a new system and algorithm design
• Develop prototyping systems
• Be able to debug systems and measure system performance
• Collaborate with mentors and other lab members
• Write technical reports and publish papers

Skills

Distributed systems

C/C++

Go

Java

Python

Education

PhD in Computer Science or related

Job description

Responsibilities

About Team: With the fast growth of Bytedance's business, Bytedance's system infrastructure is currently at a massive scale and requires versatile system solutions. Our lab collaborates with HQ teams on advanced R&D projects, focusing on LLM/AI + Infrastructure technologies, which includes both infrastructure for LLM/AI and LLM/AI for infrastructure. To name a few, we are building a new cloud-native vector index library. Our TextToSQL project ranks top on well known industry benchmarks. We also work on advanced AIOps technologies that are used by our Volcano cloud products.

Besides achieving great business impacts, we also encourage publishing on top tier conferences. In year 2025 alone, our lab published nearly 20 papers in top tier conferences, such as SIGMOD, VLDB, FSE, ICLR, EuroSys, WWW etc. We hire students with great technical skills, willingness to learn and solve complex technical challenges and passion in making an impact on millions of users.

• Do research survey and come up with a new system and algorithm design
• Develop prototyping systems
• Be able to debug systems and measure system performance
• Collaborate with mentors and other lab members
• Write technical reports and publish papers

Minimum Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or related discipline.
• Understand how distributed systems work
• Great programming skill in one or more of the following programming languages: C/C++, Go, Java or Python
• Be able to conduct advanced research under supervision

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong past research experience in infrastructure system areas
• Research experience with LLM

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 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 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