Software Engineer Intern (Data Arch - ShortText Rec) - 2026 Summer (BS/MS)

Responsibilities

Our team cover almost all short-text recommendation scenarios in TikTok, such as search suggestions, the video-related search bar, and comment entities. Our recommendation system supports personalized sorting for queries, optimizing the user experience and improving TikTok's search awareness. Our Recommendation Architecture Team is responsible for building up and optimizing the architecture for recommendation system to provide the most stable and best experience for our TikTok users.

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. Turn your ambitions into reality as your inspiration brings infinite opportunities at TikTok.

Internships at TikTok aim to provide students with hands-on experience in developing fundamental skills and exploring potential career paths. A vibrant blend of social events and enriching development workshops will be available for you to explore. Here, you will utilize your knowledge in real-world scenarios while laying a strong foundation for personal and professional growth. It runs for 12 weeks.

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 as early as possible. Please state your availability clearly in your resume (Start date, End date).

Summer Start Dates:
- May 11th, 2026
- May 18th, 2026
- May 26th, 2026
- June 8th, 2026
- June 22nd, 2026

Responsibilities
• Build and maintain high performance online services for TikTok recommendation system.
• Build extremely efficient and reliable data pipelines for candidates generation, profile generation, training examples generation, realtime online training, etc.
• Build globalized large-scale recommendation system.
• Design and develop high performance computing frameworks and storage systems.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
• Currently pursuing an Undergraduate/Master in Computer Science or a related technical discipline
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2026
• Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment.
• Experience in programming, included but not limited to, the following programming languages: C, C++, Java or Golang.
• Effective communication skills and a sense of ownership and drive.

Preferred Qualification:
• Experience in one of the following areas is preferred: personalized recommendations, search engine, machine learning, distributed storage system, big data frameworks.