About the role#
The Recommendation System Infrastructure team builds the online serving and data infrastructure that powers TikTok globally. We focus on creating efficient, reliable, and scalable systems. Our work spans GPU and CPU computing, data pipelines, and system automation. We are currently developing closed-loop agentic systems to observe, diagnose, and improve infrastructure performance automatically.
What you'll do#
- Design and optimize high-performance online serving systems to improve recommendation quality and business efficiency.
- Enhance the reliability, scalability, and cross-regional consistency of our infrastructure.
- Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks related to CPU, memory, bandwidth, and GPU utilization.
- Drive cost optimization efforts by improving compute resource utilization and infrastructure-level strategies.
- Build automated workflows for candidate generation, feature processing, and training data pipelines.
What you'll need#
- Current pursuit of a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
- Strong programming skills in C++, C, Go, or Java.
- Experience building scalable backend, distributed, or high-performance online systems.
- Solid grasp of algorithms, data structures, operating systems, and networking fundamentals.
- Experience with system debugging, performance analysis, and service optimization.
- Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams, including algorithm researchers and product engineers.
- Preferred experience includes work with C++ services in production, large-scale data frameworks like Flink or Spark, and building agentic workflows for system automation.
Location & details#
- Location: San Jose, California
- Term: Fall 2027
- Work Modality: On-site
- Employment: Full-time internship
- Compensation: $45 per hour
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.
