Machine Learning Engineer Intern - (LLM Risk Surface) - 2025 Summer (PhD)

$124,800 - $156,000/Yr

Tiktok - San Jose, CA

Full-time - Intern

San Jose, CA

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services

About the position

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video, and our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. The Business Risk Integrated Control (BRIC) team is dedicated to protecting TikTok users, including content consumers, creators, and advertisers, while ensuring platform health and community experience authenticity. This team is responsible for minimizing the impact of inauthentic behaviors across TikTok's platforms, including TikTok, CapCut, Resso, and Lark. The BRIC team addresses various community and business risk areas such as account integrity, engagement authenticity, anti-spam measures, API abuse, growth fraud, live streaming security, and financial safety in advertising and e-commerce. As a Machine Learning Engineer Intern, you will have the unique opportunity to engage with the company's key security initiatives, particularly in developing scalable, robust, and intelligent systems that prioritize user privacy and product-friendliness. The challenges you will face are not typical technical puzzles; instead, you will be part of a team that is innovating solutions to unprecedented challenges within a rapidly evolving product ecosystem. Your work will be fast-paced and impactful, contributing to significant improvements in the user experience and platform security. Internships at TikTok are designed to provide students with hands-on experience and industry exposure, allowing you to apply your knowledge in real-world scenarios while laying a strong foundation for personal and professional growth. The internship program runs for 12 weeks, starting in May/June 2025, and includes a variety of social events and development workshops to enhance your experience. Successful candidates must clearly state their availability for the internship in their resumes, as we prioritize candidates who can commit to specific start dates.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for the research and development of algorithms for AI native applications and optimization of LLM (Large Language Models), driving the exploration and application of cutting-edge technologies.
• Enhance the capabilities of natural language understanding based on LLM, such as content understanding/classification, vector retrieval, structuring, and representation learning of short/long texts.
• Combine the most advanced LLM technology to summarize, understand, and classify user behavior/features.
• Explore the application of Agent in complex tasks and achieve the application of complex tasks in the risk control field based on LLM.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Math, Statistics or a related technical discipline.
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2025.
• Good coding standards, a passion for writing code, and the ability to produce high-quality designs and code.
• Excellent problem analysis and problem-solving abilities, capable of identifying the essence of issues from complex data.
• Experience in algorithmic research and development of mainstream risk control strategies and LLM systems development experience is a plus.
• Strong sense of responsibility, proactive attitude, and good communication and teamwork skills.

Nice-to-haves

• Graduating December 2025 onwards with the intent to return to degree program after the completion of the internship.
• Priority will be given to those who master the algorithm principles of LLM (Large Language Models), Fine-tuning, Prompt Engineering, vector databases, and Agent application frameworks such as LangChain/Autogen; familiarity with the latest LLM technologies and experience in training or applying them is a plus.

Benefits

• Hourly rate range of $60-$75 for the internship position.
• 100% premium coverage for Full-Time intern medical insurance after 90 days from the date of hire (medical coverage only, no dental or vision coverage).
• Paid holidays and paid sick leave, with sick leave entitlement based on the time of joining.
• Mental and emotional health benefits through the Employee Assistance Program.
• Reimbursements for mobile phone expenses.