Backend Software Engineer Intern (Global LIVE Service Arch) - 2026 Start (BS/MS)

Responsibilities

With the enormous growth of live streaming in recent years, our mission is to inspire real-time interactions and help live streamers connect to people from all corners of the globe.
We are looking for passionate and talented engineers to join us to build and optimize a real-time, high-performance, large-scale distributed infrastructure for live streaming in TikTok. You will be deeply involved in the developmental lifecycle of critical product features and collaborate closely with product managers to deliver the best live streaming experience for all live streamers and audience alike.

Global Live Service Arch's Major Objectives are,
1. Ensure Global Live to meet compliance requirements, and promote cross-team architecture governance.
2. Build Global Live architecture with stability, low-latency and resilience to support long-term business development
3. Optimize end-to-end stability and engineering efficiency

Our Key Problems To Solve,
Under the strict Compliance requirements, how to construct Global Live platform with Stability, better Performance (Low-Latency and High-Concurrency), Resilience and Efficiency.

We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship in 2026. Internships at TikTok aim to offer students industry exposure and hands-on experience. Watch your ambitions become reality as your inspiration brings infinite opportunities at TikTok.

You will:
- Play a critical role in planning and leading large-scale technical projects to lay the foundation for the iterative development and scale of early products
- Participate in developing robust, efficient technology products that serve 1 billion users
- Be a key member in improving architecture to ensure high stability and performance
- Be Involved in researching and applying cutting-edge domain and technical knowledge into products which could benefit world wide TikTok users.

Candidates can apply to a maximum of two positions and will be considered for jobs in the order you apply. The application limit is applicable to TikTok and its affiliates' jobs globally.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis - we encourage you to apply early.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to at least 3 months long internship period.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to either of the following Internships
- From January to June
- From May to August (Summer)

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
- Undergraduate or Postgraduate currently pursuing a Degree/Master in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- Proficient in at least one of the following languages: Go, Python, Java, C++.
- Deep understanding of computer architecture, data structures and algorithms in depth knowledge of common databases and messaging frameworks like MySQL/Redis/Kafka
- Able to work closely with diverse stakeholders and have good communication skills
- Self-driven, positive, cooperative and willing to keep learning enthusiasm at all times

Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in high scalable, highly available, distributed and mission-critical systems.
- Large scale client-facing industry project development experience.

By submitting an application for this role, you accept and agree to our global applicant privacy policy, which may be accessed here: https://careers.tiktok.com/legal/privacy

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at apac-earlycareers@tiktok.com