TikTok
Machine Learning Engineer Intern (TikTok Search) - 2026 Start (PhD)
San Jose, California · Internship · Posted Oct 28, 2026
- Experience
- No specific number of years stated.
- Education
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
About the job
Contribute to improving TikTok Search algorithms by applying machine learning to content understanding, personalization, and video understanding.
What you'll do
- Improve search relevance by using NLP, computer vision, and LLMs to match videos with queries.
- Model user behavior to personalize search results while maintaining relevance.
- Use NLP, computer vision, and LLMs to improve video understanding and search-result quality.
What they ask for
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Able to commit to 12 weeks of full-time work.
- Proficient coding skills and a strong foundation in algorithms and data structures.
- Experience in one or more of NLP, ranking, ads, search engines, recommender systems, distributed systems, or machine learning.
Nice to have
- Software engineering experience from an internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications.
- Creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities.
Tools
NLP, CV, LLM
AI focus
Apply machine learning, NLP, computer vision, and LLMs to search relevance, user personalization, and video understanding.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative