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TikTok · 2 weeks ago

Research Scientist Intern (Data-TnS-Algo-Foundations & Intelligence Service)- 2026 Start (PhD)

United States

Internship

Remote

Intern

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 foundation-model team focused on LLM and VLM capabilities. This internship will provide hands-on experience in developing approaches to improve AI safety and capability while collaborating with industry experts.

Content CreatorsContent DiscoveryMedia and EntertainmentSocial MediaVideo

H1B Sponsor Likely

Responsibilities

Explore and develop approaches that improve general capability and safety for LLMs and VLMs via pretraining/CPT

Build advanced evaluation systems to study emerging LLM/VLM skills and safety behaviors, aligned with real downstream use

Develop advanced reinforcement-learning strategies (e.g., RLHF/RLAIF/DPO variants), and investigate how to balance pretraining and post-training for better capability and safety alignment

Probe new failure modes and pitfalls in scaffolded environments (agents, workflows, tool use), and translate insights into robust mitigations

Qualification

Research experience in LLMsDeep learning frameworksAI SafetyComputer VisionMultimodalityAnalytical skillsAI-safety developmentsPublications in AI venuesProblem-solving abilityCommunication skillsCollaboration skills

Required

Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field

Research experience in at least one of: LLMs, AI Safety, Computer Vision, Multimodality

Actively track recent AI-safety developments (familiar with current papers, benchmarks, and terminology)

Proficient with at least one deep learning framework (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow)

Excellent analytical/problem-solving ability, clear logical thinking, and strong communication/collaboration skills

Preferred

Publications in top AI or Security venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, COLM, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, USENIX Security, ACM CCS, IEEE S&P, NDSS)

Benefits

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

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Trends of Total Sponsorships

2025 (979)

2024 (601)

2023 (387)

2022 (322)

2021 (133)

2020 (72)