PhD Intern – Recommendation Systems

Job Description

Research Scientist Intern (TikTok Recommendation) | TikTok

The Tone:
This is a PhD internship at TikTok for a 2026 start, with a primary location likely in Los Angeles, CA given the specific local regulations mentioned. TikTok creates the leading global destination for short-form mobile video, aiming to inspire creativity and bring joy. This role is within the recommendation algorithm team, which plays a central part in the company by driving critical product decisions and platform growth. Interns actively contribute to products, research, future plans, and emerging technologies through a blend of hands-on learning and collaboration.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship
• Type: Temporary
• Location: In-person, Los Angeles, CA
• Pay: $60 hourly
• Team: Machine learning researchers and engineers within the TikTok Recommendation organization
• Mission: Innovate and support production recommendation models to improve user experience, content ecosystem, and platform security.
• Tech Stack: C++, Python, PyTorch, Tensorflow

What You’ll Actually Do
• Build industry-leading recommendation systems to enhance user experience, content ecosystem, and platform security.
• Deliver end-to-end machine learning solutions to address critical product challenges.
• Own the full stack machine learning system and optimize algorithms and infrastructure to improve recommendation performance.
• Work with cross-functional teams to design product strategies and build solutions for growing TikTok in important markets.

The Must-Haves
• Background: PhD degree in computer science or a related technical discipline.
• Experience: Proficiency in Machine Learning, familiarity with at least one Deep Learning framework (e.g., PyTorch, Tensorflow), and experience in one or more of the following areas: NLP, CV, Recommender Systems, or Machine Learning.
• Skills: Proficient coding skills and strong understanding of algorithms and data structures using C++, Python, or other programming languages; effective communication and teamwork skills.
• Bonus: Authorship of published papers in accredited academic conferences or winners of algorithm and machine learning competitions such as ACM and Kaggle.