Apply on Employer Site

TikTok · 2 weeks ago

Research Scientist Intern (Compute Platform - Database Acceleration)- 2026 Start (PhD)

United States

Internship

Remote

Intern

$36/hr - $45/hr

Start in 2026

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video, and they are seeking a Research Scientist Intern to contribute to their Data Platform team. The role involves designing and developing kernel modules for cloud-native distributed analytical database systems and conducting research in database and data management technologies.

Content CreatorsContent DiscoveryMedia and EntertainmentSocial MediaVideo

H1B Sponsor Likely

Responsibilities

Design and develop kernel modules or core features for cloud-native distributed analytical database systems

Conduct research for cutting-edge technology evolvement in database and data management area and identify the potential future directions

Solve unique and complex problems on large-scale, high-performance cloud infrastructure

Partner with different teams on building backend support for cloud native database service

Qualification

PhD in Computer ScienceSystem programming languagesOLAP databasesCloud native infrastructureOpen-source databasesProblem-solvingCreativity

Required

Currently has or is in the process of obtaining a PhD in Computer Science, related STEM or quantitative field

Final year or recent graduate with a background in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline

Experience with at least one system programming language: C++, Rust etc

Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment

Preferred

Graduating December 2026 onwards with the intent to return to degree program after the completion of the internship

Research or deep working experience in OLAP databases and data management systems is preferred, including but not limited to database kernel, query processing, query optimization, storage system, hardware acceleration, cloud native infrastructure, etc

Experience with open-source and industry databases and data management systems like Velox, DataFusion, DuckDB, Polars, Clickhouse, Spark, Presto etc is a plus

Passionate & experienced for contributing to open source communities

High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities

Benefits

Interns have day one access to health insurance

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

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)

Housing allowance

Company

TikTok

Glassdoor3.4

TikTok is a short-form video entertainment app and social network platform. It is a sub-organization of ByteDance.

Founded in 2003

Los Angeles, California, USA

10001+ employees

https://www.tiktok.com

H1B Sponsorship

TikTok has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)

Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship

Represents job field similar to this job

Trends of Total Sponsorships

2025 (979)

2024 (601)

2023 (387)

2022 (322)

2021 (133)

2020 (72)