[Remote] Online Architecture Research Intern (TikTok-Generalized Arch)- 2026 Start (PhD)

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video, and they are seeking a PhD Intern for their General Architecture team. The role involves contributing to research and optimization of TikTok’s planet-scale business architecture while collaborating with various teams to address real-world challenges. Responsibilities Contribute to research and optimization of TikTok’s planet-scale business architecture, supporting billions of users, globally distributed ultra-large-scale data centers, and microservice clusters with millions of services Assist in data modeling and algorithmic optimization to address key challenges in large-scale infrastructure and business architecture, including but not limited to capacity forecasting and planning, service and data placement optimization, traffic scheduling optimization, and risk prediction Under the guidance of mentors, transform research insights into prototypes, tools, or frameworks, and explore their applicability in selected business scenarios Participate in analyzing research data, summarizing experimental results, and contributing to academic publications in top-tier conferences/journals Collaborate with architecture, platform, and business teams to understand real-world production challenges and explore potential optimization opportunities Skills Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Operations Research, Applied Mathematics, or related fields Solid research background in distributed systems, large-scale system optimization, or AI for Systems Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2026 Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to model planet-scale, complex business and infrastructure systems, abstract key variables and constraints, and clearly articulate solutions through rigorous logical reasoning and effective communication Familiarity with optimization algorithms such as integer programming, dynamic programming, graph optimization, heuristic search, or reinforcement learning, with the ability to apply them to large-scale optimization problems Proficiency in at least one mainstream programming language (e.g., Go, Java, C++, Python), with the capability to build research prototypes Ability to quickly learn and deeply understand complex architectural patterns, while leveraging AI tools and automation methods to improve research and development efficiency Experience in data modeling and analysis for large-scale systems or business architectures Research publications or submissions to top-tier conferences/journals such as OSDI, SOSP, NSDI, SoCC, SIGCOMM, KDD, NeurIPS Hands-on project experience in distributed systems, resource scheduling, or architecture optimization (including academic projects or previous internships) Familiarity with performance and optimization challenges in cross-data-center or cross-region architectures Benefits Interns have day one access to health insurance Life insurance Wellbeing benefits and more Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year Paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year) Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance. Company Overview TikTok is a short-form video entertainment app and social network platform. It is a sub-organization of ByteDance. It was founded in 2003, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA, with a workforce of 10001+ employees. Its website is Company H1B Sponsorship TikTok has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 979 in 2025, 601 in 2024, 387 in 2023, 322 in 2022, 133 in 2021, 72 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.