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, you came to the right place.

You will be working in the business architecture layer of our self-developed rendering engine - the system that turns effect assets into a fluid, low-power camera experience. Partnering closely with rendering, algorithm, and camera pipeline teams, you'll help profile and optimize frame rate, first-frame latency, memory footprint, and power consumption, and help build the tooling that makes this work scale. Every millisecond and every milliwatt saved is felt by hundreds of millions of TikTok creators around the world.

We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. 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. Candidates may apply to a maximum of two positions across Our Company and its affiliates globally. Applications will be considered in the order they are submitted. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume, including your start and end dates.

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
• Using 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 Minimum Qualifications
• Currently pursuing an Undergraduate/Graduate 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.

By submitting an application for this role, you accept and agree to our global applicant privacy policy, which may be accessed here: https://careers.tiktok.com/legal/privacy