Software Engineer Intern (TikTok Search Data Infra) - 2027 Summer

Centro Escolar University; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 41,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Centro Escolar University is seeking engineers to build and own large-scale data pipelines, including ingestion, enrichment, and streaming/batch indexing. You will develop a feature engineering platform ensuring online/offline consistency and create pipelines turning user actions into high-quality training data.

The role emphasizes strong distributed systems fundamentals, production debugging skills, and familiarity with real-time indexing or embedding/vector retrieval.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Strong programming skills in Java, C++, or Python.
• Production experience with Spark, Flink, or Hive/Iceberg.
• Solid distributed systems fundamentals and debugging in production.
• Master's degree in CS or related field preferred.
• Experience with search, recommendation, or ads data infrastructure preferred.
• Experience with feature stores and training sample pipelines preferred.
• Familiarity with real-time indexing, inverted index, or embedding/vector retrieval pipelines preferred.
• Experience with AI coding assistants and agents to improve productivity preferred.

Responsibilities

• Build and own large-scale query and video pipelines including ingestion, enrichment, and index construction.
• Develop a feature engineering platform covering computation, backfill, storage, and serving with strong online/offline consistency.
• Build streaming and batch sample pipelines converting user actions into high-quality training data.
• Improve data quality, observability, and cost efficiency across petabyte-scale storage and compute.

Skills

Java

C++

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Spark

Flink

Hive/Iceberg

Big data pipelines

Job description

Your Role

Here’s what you will be doing:

• Build and own query/video pipelines including ingestion, enrichment, and streaming/batch index construction at billion-document scale with near-real-time freshness.
• Develop the feature engineering platform covering computation, backfill, storage, and serving, ensuring strong online/offline consistency guarantees.
• Build streaming and batch sample pipelines that convert user actions and features into high-quality training data.
• Improve data quality, observability, and cost efficiency across petabyte-scale storage and compute.

About You

The company is looking for candidates with:

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
• Strong programming skills in Java, C++, or Python.
• Production experience with data frameworks such as Spark, Flink, or Hive/Iceberg.
• Solid distributed systems fundamentals and the ability to debug and optimize complex systems in production.
• Preferred: Currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Preferred: Experience with search, recommendation, or ads data infrastructure.
• Preferred: Experience with feature stores and training sample pipelines.
• Preferred: Familiarity with real-time indexing, inverted index, or embedding/vector retrieval pipelines.
• Preferred: Experience using AI coding assistants and agents to improve development productivity.