About the role#
The Recommendation System Infrastructure team builds the online serving and data infrastructure that powers TikTok recommendation products. We focus on making these systems efficient, reliable, and scalable. You will work on core infrastructure challenges across CPU and GPU computing, data pipelines, and system automation. Our team develops closed-loop agentic systems designed to observe, diagnose, and improve infrastructure performance automatically. This internship provides hands-on experience with large-scale systems and direct exposure to industry-level engineering challenges.
What you'll do#
- Design, build, and optimize high-performance online serving systems for global recommendation platforms.
- Improve the reliability, scalability, and cross-regional consistency of our infrastructure.
- Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks related to CPU, memory, bandwidth, GPU efficiency, and serving latency.
- Drive cost optimization efforts by improving resource utilization and infrastructure-level performance.
- Build reliable workflows and pipelines for automation, including feature processing, profile generation, and training data generation.
What you'll need#
- Currently pursuing a Bachelor or Master degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
- Strong programming skills in C++, C, Go, or Java.
- Experience building scalable backend systems, distributed systems, or high-performance online services.
- Solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, operating systems, networking, and distributed system fundamentals.
- Experience with performance analysis, system debugging, and service optimization.
- Ability to work with cross-functional teams, including infrastructure, algorithm, and product engineering groups.
- Preferred experience includes working with large-scale data processing frameworks like Flink, Spark, or Kafka.
- Preferred experience with optimizing high-throughput, low-latency C++ services in production environments.
- Preferred experience designing agentic workflows or building automation systems using LLMs or workflow orchestration.
Location & details#
- Location: San Jose, California
- Term: Summer 2027
- Status: Full-time, paid internship
- Modality: On-site
About TikTok
TikTok operates as an entertainment provider. The company maintains a global presence with offices in cities including Los Angeles, Singapore, New York, London, and Tokyo. It employs over 92,000 people. The organization is privately held.
How to get in at TikTok
Landing an internship at TikTok requires speed because early applicants often get seen before the pile grows. Intern Insider sends an instant alert the moment a role matching your target is published anywhere, so you can apply among the first. This gives you a better chance of your resume being reviewed while the team is still actively filling the position. You should aim to be one of the first people to submit your materials. Reaching out to the right person can also improve your chances of getting a response. Intern Insider surfaces the recruiters behind the company roles so you can contact them directly to ask about the role or a referral. This direct approach often works better than waiting for a response from a general application queue.
