Machine Learning Engineer Intern (TikTok-Data-Search-Search Quality) - 2026 Start (PhD)
Core
Build search retrieval, ranking, and recommendation systems to improve content discovery quality for TikTok's global user base.
Role type
PhD intern, machine learning engineer (search & recommendation)
Builds
Search features, services, and tools for TikTok's content discovery platform
Domain
Consumer social media, large-scale search, machine learning
Deliverable
production ML models
Required skills
NLP, ranking algorithms, recommender systems, distributed systems, machine learning, data analysis, algorithm design, data structures, coding proficiency
Preferred skills
Information retrieval, content understanding, data mining, experimentation, large-scale backend services, data pipelines
Technologies
NLP frameworks, distributed system frameworks, search engine components, recommendation engines
Responsibilities
Design and implement search features and tools; analyze large-scale data and logs to understand user behavior; collaborate with cross-functional teams to define requirements and deliver milestones; write maintainable code and documentation; communicate progress and risks to mentors.
Seniority
Intern, research & development
