Software Engineer Intern (TikTok - Effects Performance) - 2027 Summer

About the Team

Creative Effects are a big part of the TikTok experience. From beauty filters to AI Effect, effects make content creation easy, fun, and dynamic — but only when they run flawlessly on the phone in your hand. We are the TikTok Effects Performance Team, powering the system behind every filter, AR effect, and visual effect used by hundreds of millions of creators every day. Our mission is to make effects feel smooth, instant, and power-efficient on every device our users hold, from the latest flagship to the most entry-level phone. If you are passionate about real-time rendering and squeezing the most out of mobile hardware, this is the right place.

Our internship program offers students hands-on experience, industry exposure, and opportunities to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges while building a strong foundation for personal and professional growth. Interns will gain practical experience, explore potential career paths, and participate in social events, learning programs, and development workshops alongside industry professionals.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the research and development of the effect performance architecture behind TikTok Camera, the system that delivers smooth, low-power effect experiences to hundreds of millions of creators.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of new effect capabilities in the business architecture layer of our self-developed rendering engine, to provide a richer and smoother creation experience for users.
• Assist in the design and implementation of automated performance analysis pipelines, such as automatic trace capture, agent-assisted bottleneck analysis, and regression detection, to assess effect performance at various stages.
• Use profiling and optimization techniques such as frame-time analysis, rendering pipeline tuning, and graceful degradation to improve effect experience across a massive range of mobile devices.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Currently pursuing an Undergraduate/Graduate degree in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Graphics, or a related technical discipline.
• Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during the Summer of 2027.
• Strong knowledge of data structures and algorithms, proficient in at least one coding language, including but not limited to C++, Python, JavaScript.
• Curiosity towards graphics, real-time rendering, and mobile performance, and outstanding ability to analyze and solve problems.
• Good grasp of software engineering and how to build a system in a scalable and extensive manner.

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion about performance and solving challenging problems on real devices.
• Understanding of real-time rendering and graphics APIs such as OpenGL ES, Metal, or Vulkan.
• Experience in GPU and rendering performance analysis tools such as RenderDoc, Xcode GPU Debugger, Perfetto, or Snapdragon Profiler.
• Interest in AI Agent development, and in exploring how LLM-powered tools can improve engineering workflows.

Pay

The hourly rate range for this position is $45-$45.

Benefits

• Day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, and more.
• 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in the first half of the year, 40 if hired in the second half).
• Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for a housing allowance.