Student Researcher (LLM - Seed) - 2027 Start (PhD)

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Paid holidays

Housing allowance

Job summary

ByteDance is seeking a research intern for the Seed LLM team in San Jose, California, focusing on advancing next-generation large language models. This role involves conducting research, exploring methods for model enhancement, and collaborating with a dedicated team.

The ideal candidate is currently pursuing a PhD in a relevant field and possesses strong programming skills in Python or C/C++. This position offers an hourly rate of $60 and several benefits including health insurance and paid holidays.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in computer science, mathematics, engineering, or a related field.
• Strong programming skills and solid foundation in algorithms and data structures, proficient in Python or C/C++.
• Demonstrated research track record with publications in conferences related to natural language processing, machine learning, or large language models.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research on foundation models and related systems.
• Explore methods to improve model capabilities, reasoning, and performance.
• Design and prototype algorithms, models, or system components.
• Collaborate with the team to advance research directions and outcomes.

Skills

Programming skills in Python or C/C++

Strong foundation in algorithms and data structures

Research experience in NLP or machine learning

Problem-solving ability

Education

Currently pursuing a PhD in a relevant field

Job description

Team Overview

The Seed LLM team is dedicated to advancing the next generation of LLMs and solving fundamental challenges in LLM development. Our areas of focus include model pretraining, posttraining, inference, memory capabilities, learning, interpretability and other related directions. We dive deep into the latest technologies and create comprehensive solutions from concept to completion. In our endeavor to adopt LLMs in real‑life scenarios, we explore methods to enhance applications through technological innovation.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research on foundation models and related systems.
• Explore methods to improve model capabilities, reasoning, and performance, including areas such as post‑training, horizon‑level capability, and evaluation.
• Design and prototype algorithms, models, or system components.
• Collaborate with the team to advance research directions and outcomes.

Minimum Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in computer science, mathematics, engineering, or a related field.
• Strong programming skills and solid foundation in algorithms and data structures, proficient in Python or C/C++.
• Demonstrated research track record with publications in conferences related to natural language processing, machine learning, or large language models.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience related to large‑scale models, training, or evaluation.
• Strong problem‑solving ability and experience conducting independent research.
• Ability to collaborate effectively in a research environment.

Compensation & Benefits

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.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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 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.

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