About the role#
The Model Infrastructure team builds the systems that power the TikTok recommendation feed. We focus on the engineering efficiency and architectural evolution of recommendation models at scale. You will work on the convergence of generative AI and recommendation architecture, optimizing throughput for multi-billion parameter models and improving the retrieval of sparse features across distributed memory fabrics.
What you'll do#
- Optimize training and inference pipelines to maximize hardware utilization for models with hundreds of billions of dense parameters.
- Architect systems to integrate LLMs into the recommendation stack, focusing on memory-efficient attention and KV cache management.
- Build and optimize high-concurrency engines for Petabyte-scale streaming training to handle continuous parameter updates and high-frequency data ingestion.
- Collaborate with researchers to design recommendation architectures optimized for modern GPU and NPU interconnects.
- Develop methods to store and synchronize massive model states across heterogeneous memory hierarchies including HBM, DDR, and NVMe.
What you'll need#
- Current enrollment in an undergraduate or master program in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Strong programming skills in C++ and Python.
- Understanding of computer architecture and the GPU software stack, such as CUDA, Triton, or NCCL.
- Experience with deep learning frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow and an interest in model execution runtimes.
- Interest in solving system-level bottlenecks within large-scale distributed environments.
- Experience with Transformer-based architectures and 3D parallelism.
- Knowledge of the torch.compile stack, including TorchDynamo and TorchInductor.
- Hands-on experience writing high-performance kernels or optimizing collective communication.
- Familiarity with RDMA networking, high-performance storage, or parameter server architectures.
- Success in programming competitions or contributions to open-source AI infrastructure or high-performance computing projects.
Location & details#
- Location: San Jose, California, United States.
- Modality: On-site.
- Employment: Full-time intern.
- Compensation: $45 per hour.
- Process: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
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
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