Machine Learning Engineer Intern (Search Ads) - 2027 Summer

Internship with the Search Ads team, where you’ll help push the boundaries of general search-engine monetization across TikTok, TopBuzz, BuzzVideo, and other apps by building a globally leading Search Ads system.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the development of a large-scale Ads system.
• Optimize relevance models and strategies (semantic matching, active learning, text/photo/video multi-modal, ranking strategy, etc.).
• Develop and iterate Ads algorithms using Machine Learning.
• Improve NLP capabilities and query understanding (query classification, seq2seq, NER, knowledge graph, bid-word optimization, etc.).
• Enhance CTR/CVR model estimation accuracy through data analysis, modeling, and feature engineering.
• Research and develop Ads pacing algorithms and ads traffic control.
• Partner with product managers and product strategy & operations teams to define product strategy and features.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or above degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience and strong theoretical grounding in machine learning concepts and techniques.
• Excellent programming, debugging, and optimization skills in one or more general-purpose languages (Go, C/C++, Python, etc.).
• Experience with one or more ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, MXNet, etc.).
• Ability to think critically and formulate clear, concise solutions to problems.
• Must commit to a 12-week full-time internship during Summer 2027.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with Ads systems, recommendation, search, or ranking.

Pay

Hourly rate: $45.

Benefits

• Day-one access to health insurance, life insurance, and wellbeing benefits.
• 10 paid holidays per year.
• Paid sick time (56 hours if hired in the first half of the year; 40 hours if hired in the second half).
• Eligibility for housing allowance (for interns not working 100% remote).

About the team

The Search Ads team drives monetization across TikTok’s family of apps by innovating on ad formats, creative display, and ROI-driven delivery. Interns gain hands-on experience with large-scale distributed storage, NLP, ranking, and IR problems while collaborating with industry professionals through social events, learning programs, and development workshops.