Student Researcher (Foundation Model- Speech Understanding) - 2025 Start (PhD)

Responsibilities

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and its offices include New York, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Why Join Us
Creation is the core of TikTok's purpose. Our platform is built to help imaginations thrive. This is doubly true of the teams that make TikTok possible.
Together, we inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we all believe in and aim towards achieving every day.
To us, every challenge, no matter how difficult, is an opportunity; to learn, to innovate, and to grow as one team. Status quo? Never. Courage? Always.
At TikTok, we create together and grow together. That's how we drive impact - for ourselves, our company, and the communities we serve.
Join us.

Team Introduction

With a long-term vision and a strong commitment to the AI field, the team conducts research in a range of areas including natural language processing (NLP), computer vision (CV), and speech recognition and generation. It has labs and researcher roles in China, Singapore, and the US.

Leveraging substantial data and computing resources and through continued investment in these domains, our team has built a proprietary general-purpose model with multimodal capabilities. Doubao models power over 50 ByteDance apps and business lines, including Doubao, Coze, and Dreamina, and was launched to external enterprise clients through Volcano Engine. The Doubao app is the most used AIGC app in China.
The speech team's mission is to empower content understanding, interaction and creation across our company and other products using speech & audio related technologies. We focus on cutting-edge R&D in areas like speech & audio, music processing, natural language understanding and multimodal deep learning. We are looking for top talents to work on these exciting technologies, integrate them into various products and ultimately bring joy to our global user base!

We are looking for talented individuals to join us for a Student Researcher opportunity in 2025. Student Researcher opportunities aim to offer students industry exposure and hands-on experience. Turn your ambitions into reality as your inspiration brings infinite opportunities.

The Student Researcher position provides unique opportunities that go beyond the constraints of our standard internship program, allowing for flexibility in duration, time commitment, and location of work.

Candidates can apply to a maximum of two positions and will be considered for jobs in the order you apply. The application limit is applicable to TikTok and its affiliates' jobs globally. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis - we encourage you to apply early.

Responsibilities:
- Conduct cutting-edge research and development in speech/audio foundation models.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify key research areas and contribute to the development of innovative speech/audio models.
- Work with product development teams to integrate research findings into practical applications for TikTok and other platforms.
- Collaborate on team-driven projects to address complex challenges and enhance the overall effectiveness of the research team.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment.

Preferred Qualification
- Publications in top-tier ML/DL venues such as NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, AAAI and speech venues such as ICASSP, ASRU, Interspeech.
- Deep understanding of Large Language models.
- Familiar with distributed computing and large scale model training.
- Familiar with deep learning frameworks such as Tensorflow and Pytorch.
- Familiar with engineering principles and best practices.
- Highly competent in algorithms and programming; Strong coding skills in C/C++ and Python.
- Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, multi-functional environments.

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://shorturl.at/cdpT2

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description Intern (hourly)

The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $57- $57. We cover 100% premium coverage for Full-Time intern medical insurance after 90 days from the date of hire. Medical coverage only, no dental or vision coverage.​

Our time off and leave plans are: Paid holidays and paid sick leave. The sick leave entitlement is based on the time you join.​

We also provide mental and emotional health benefits through our Employee Assistance Program and provide reimbursements for your mobile phone expense. The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.​

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:​

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:​

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;​

2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and​

3. Exercising sound judgment.​