PhD Intern – Computer Vision / Machine Learning

Job Description

Research Scientist Intern (PICO) Computational Photography Algorithms- 2026 Start (PhD) | ByteDance

The Tone:
This is a PhD internship at ByteDance, located in Los Angeles, CA. ByteDance builds innovative products designed to help people authentically express themselves, discover, and connect globally, while PICO’s Imaging Systems & Human Engineering team develops next-generation imaging and visual intelligence technologies for premium VR/MR/AR experiences. This role allows interns to actively contribute to the company’s products, research, future plans, and emerging technologies by bridging innovation with real-world product deployment. The dynamic experience blends hands-on learning, community building, and collaboration with industry experts.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship (PhD)
• Type: Temporary
• Location: In-person, Los Angeles, CA
• Pay: $60 hourly
• Team: PICO’s Imaging Systems & Human Engineering team
• Mission: Develop and validate computational photography, computer vision, and machine learning algorithms for enhanced visual experiences in VR/MR/AR products.
• Tech Stack: PyTorch, TensorFlow

What You’ll Actually Do
• Research: Research, prototype, and validate vision algorithms across computational photography, computer vision, and machine learning.
• Develop: Develop models for image enhancement/restoration, including denoising, super-resolution, deblurring, and HDR, as well as perception tasks like segmentation, detection, tracking, and scene understanding.
• Evaluate: Conduct algorithm evaluation using image quality assessment and perceptual analysis, and compare quality and performance across different models.
• Explore: Explore on-device feasibility, focusing on efficiency, deployment, and quantization, with direct mentorship.
• Communicate: Communicate research results through clear technical documentation and presentations.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Currently pursuing a PhD or Master’s in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Imaging Science, Physics, Math, or a related field.
• Experience: Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2026, with hands-on model training experience.
• Skills: Strong fundamentals in computer vision, image processing, and machine learning, along with proficiency in PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Bonus: Deep understanding of image quality metrics and human visual systems; familiarity with software/hardware architecture and efficiency optimizations; proven track record of first-authored publications at accredited conferences such as CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, SIGGRAPH, or SIGGRAPH Asia.