Overview
TikTok’s Search E-Commerce team is looking for PhD interns to help build the next generation of e-commerce search systems. You will work on large-scale machine learning, NLP, CV, and multi-modal technologies to enhance the shopping experience for over a billion monthly users worldwide. This internship offers hands-on exposure to core search ranking, relevance optimization, and end-to-end system design.
What You'll Get Out of This Internship
- Gain experience designing and implementing ranking systems for search and recommendation engines
- Work on improving multi-modal search relevance and personalized shopping models
- Collaborate with engineers and product teams to optimize end-to-end user experience from browsing to after-sales
- Exposure to real-world e-commerce data, large-scale machine learning pipelines, and performance evaluation
- Mentorship from senior data scientists and engineers in a globally recognized tech company
Key Responsibilities
- Enhance search quality by optimizing query analysis, text relevance, and multi-modal matching
- Design and implement ranking pipelines, including recall, first-stage ranking, final-stage ranking, and mixed-row strategies
- Improve personalized shopping models to boost conversion rates and user satisfaction
- Analyze supply-demand dynamics, address cold-start challenges, and support sustainable GMV growth
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams on product and system development
- Apply statistical, scripting, and programming skills to implement and test machine learning models
- Monitor and refine deployed models to ensure robustness and high performance
Requirements
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a quantitative field
- Strong programming skills and solid knowledge of data structures and algorithms
- Proficient in statistical analysis, modeling, and problem-solving
- Familiarity with machine learning frameworks and experience applying ML to real-world data
- Strong interest in e-commerce search, recommendation systems, and user experience
- Self-driven, adaptable, and able to work effectively in fast-changing environments
- Publications in top-tier ML/AI conferences or competitive programming experience is a plus
Who This Internship Is Ideal For
PhD students eager to apply advanced machine learning and AI techniques to improve global e-commerce search and drive impactful user experiences.
About the Company
TikTok is a global leader in short-form mobile video, inspiring creativity and bringing joy to billions worldwide. Its diverse teams leverage cutting-edge technology to connect users and enable authentic self-expression.
Internship Details
Location: Singapore
Duration: Minimum 3 months
Commitment: Full-time
Working Arrangement: Onsite/Hybrid (as per team)
Stipend: Not specified
Application Deadline: Rolling
