[Remote] Machine Learning Engineer Intern (TikTok Short Video Content Understanding/Multimodal Recommendation) - 2026 Summer (BS/MS)

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. They are seeking a Machine Learning Engineer Intern to empower content understanding for TikTok's Short Video business by developing advanced algorithms and applications in multimodal recommendation systems. Responsibilities Lead multimodal algorithm development for TikTok’s short-video business, explore applications of multimodal technologies in recommendation systems and other scenarios to improve key business metrics Conduct cutting-edge research in multimodal and MLLM technologies, design advanced algorithms to solve business requirements while achieving technical breakthroughs Drive engineering deployment and implementation, ensuring model stability, scalability, and efficiency in production environments Focus on key areas including (but not limited to): General AI platform design and development, including few-shot/zero-shot on MLLM, AI-labeling, auto prompting, active-learning, continue pretraining and RL Integration of content understanding with recommendation systems (e.g., UGC ecosystems, cold start, interest exploration, comment understanding) Leveraging multimodal techniques to develop next-generation recommendation systems, such as generative models and end-to-end approaches Skills Proven experience in multimodal content understanding, with expertise in large language models (LLMs) and familiarity with cutting-edge progress in the field Strong technical foundation in at least one major deep learning framework (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) Proactive mindset, strong sense of ownership, excellent communication skills, and ability to collaborate across teams Currently pursuing a Master degree with a background in computer science, machine learning, or similar fields Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2026 Hands-on experience deploying content understanding solutions in search, advertising, recommendation, or related domains Benefits Interns have day one access to health insurance Life insurance Wellbeing benefits 10 paid holidays per year Paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year) Housing allowance Company Overview TikTok is a short-form video entertainment app and social network platform. It is a sub-organization of ByteDance. It was founded in 2003, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA, with a workforce of 10001+ employees. Its website is Company H1B Sponsorship TikTok has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 979 in 2025, 601 in 2024, 387 in 2023, 322 in 2022, 133 in 2021, 72 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.