Machine Learning Scientist Intern (Global E-Commerce Content Recommendation) - 2026 Summer (PhD)

Public source summary from intern-list.com / Jobright.

TikTok is a short-form mobile video platform focused on inspiring creativity and enabling discovery and connection. The Machine Learning Scientist Intern will contribute to recommendation research and product development by building generative, multimodal, and cross-scenario recommendation systems, delivering end-to-end machine learning solutions, and optimizing algorithms and infrastructure.

The role also involves collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop product strategies and solutions for important markets.

Responsibilities

Build industry-leading recommendation system, improving user experience, content ecosystem and platform security Explore generative recommendation techniques, including Diffusion Models, prompt learning, and multimodal content generation, to unlock new capabilities in content discovery Build multi-model and cross-scenario systems enabling unified recommendation across livestreams, short videos, and search Deliver end-to-end machine learning solution 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 to grow TikTok in important markets

Qualifications: Currently pursuing a PhD with a background in computer science, machine learning, or similar fields Good knowledge of theoretical and empirical research in addressing research problems Solid knowledge and experience with at least one popular deep learning framework (e.g., PyTorch,TensorFlow) and familiarity with deep neural network architectures Research experience in one or more of the following fields: applied machine learning, machine learning infrastructure, large-scale recommendation system, market-facing machine learning product Strong first-author publications record in top AI conferences or journals(e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL etc.)

Proficient in C/C++, Python, and shell programming languages, and have a deep understanding of data structure and algorithm design Internship experience in an AI research organization

Benefits: Interns have day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits and more. Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year). Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance.