Software Engineer Intern
TikTok
About the Role
We are the TikTok Camera Client Team, responsible for the experience and performance of the creation entry point used by hundreds of millions of people every day. Our mission is to make the camera fast to open, fluid to touch, and rock-solid on every device our users hold. You will be working on refining how creation feels and attacking performance issues at scale.
Key Responsibilities
- Participate in the user experience and performance optimization of TikTok Camera.
- Contribute to the optimization of the camera interaction experience — capture flows, effect switching, gestures, and transitions — to make creation feel faster, smoother, and more intuitive.
- Assist in the design and implementation of automated performance monitoring pipelines, such as automatic Perfetto trace capture, agent-assisted bottleneck analysis, and regression detection, to assess camera experience and performance.
- Use client-side optimization techniques such as cold start optimization, jank and memory analysis, and thread scheduling to improve camera responsiveness and stability.
Requirements & Tech Stack
- Currently pursuing an Undergraduate/Graduate in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, 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 Java, Kotlin, Swift, Objective-C.
- Curiosity towards mobile client performance and user experience optimization.
- 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 user experience and performance, and solving challenging problems on real devices.
- Understanding of Android or iOS internals, such as UI rendering, threading, memory management, and application lifecycle.
- Experience in performance profiling and analysis tools such as Perfetto, Systrace, Instruments, or Android Studio Profiler.
- Interest in AI Agent development, and in exploring how LLM-powered tools can improve engineering workflows.