Quick Facts
ByteDance internship · at a glance
Roles open and close throughout the year. Check ByteDance's careers portal for what is live today, and apply in the first week a role posts.
Before you applyWould your profile get you in?6 questions, under a minute. Compared with real interns who landed similar roles.Check my oddsAlso in this guide
Put real project work on your résumé, with the SQL & Database Architecture Externship with Breaking Games or the Reggie Stephens Foundation AI Strategy Consulting.
Explore all externships →All quick facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where to apply | joinbytedance.com/search, filtered to the United States. Program details and start dates are on the Americas early careers page. This is ByteDance's own board, not TikTok's (lifeattiktok.com) |
| Application window (2027–28) | Summer 2027: open now. The undergraduate and master's roles for summer 2027 were created in ByteDance's system between late July and late October 2026 (ATS timestamps, a lower bound on the posting date). No close date is published. Summer 2028: expected around late July to August 2027 |
| Rolling? | Yes. Every posting says "Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early" |
| Eligibility | Undergraduate and master's program: penultimate-year students. Must have work authorization in the country of hire. Sponsorship varies by posting. You may apply to at most two positions across ByteDance and its affiliates, TikTok included |
| Duration | 12 weeks for the undergraduate, master's and MBA programs; PhD internships have a 12-week minimum. Summer 2027 starts May 10, May 17, May 24, June 7 or June 21; fall 2027 starts August 9 to September 20 |
| Compensation | Hourly, posted per city on each role: $45 for San Jose software and SRE interns, $42.75 for Seattle engineering interns, $55 to $75 for research and PhD roles, $23.75 to $35 for operations and project roles |
| Return offers | "High-performing interns may also be considered for future full-time opportunities." Conversion rate: not published |
| Locations | San Jose (105 roles), Seattle (38), San Diego (3), plus one each in Los Angeles, New York and Boston |
| # Programs | 4 US programs: Undergraduate/Masters, MBA, PhD and the Global Frontier Tech Recruitment Program, plus year-round Project Intern roles and Seed Student Researcher roles |
Last updated: November 2026
ByteDance's summer 2027 internships are open now. On November 11, 2026 its own careers board listed 149 US internship roles, separate from TikTok's board: 46 undergraduate and master's roles for a 2027 start, 30 PhD roles for 2027, 24 Seed foundation-model Student Researcher roles, 25 Project Intern roles and 7 Global Frontier Tech Recruitment Program roles, plus 17 older 2026-start roles still listed. 105 are in San Jose and 38 in Seattle. Every posting says applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and none gives a closing date. In plain words: you apply during fall 2026, you intern in summer 2027, with start dates from May 10 to June 21, 2027.
What Is a ByteDance Internship?
A ByteDance internship is a paid internship on ByteDance's own careers board, joinbytedance.com, which is a different board from TikTok's. ByteDance's postings describe its products as TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and Pico, plus China-market platforms such as Toutiao, Douyin and Xigua. The US internships sit mostly in research and infrastructure: Seed (foundation models), Applied Machine Learning, data and AI infrastructure, CDN and networking, Global Payment and the Multimedia Lab in San Diego. Of 1,420 posts on the board on November 11, 2026, 612 were in the US and 149 of those were internships. None of the US ByteDance internship roles appeared on TikTok's board when we compared the two on November 10. If you want TikTok product, ads or TikTok Shop roles, see our TikTok internship guide.
When Do ByteDance Internship Applications Open for 2027–2028?
ByteDance doesn't publish open or close dates, but its job IDs carry a creation timestamp. The 2027-start undergraduate and master's roles were created between July 28 and October 27, 2026, most of them in August. That's a lower bound on when they went public, not a confirmed open date. The summer 2026 wave followed the same calendar: the PhD 2026-start roles still listed were created between late July and mid-August 2025. So applications for a summer internship open about 9.5 to 10 months before the May or June start. The summer 2028 wave should land around late July to August 2027.
Applications for summer 2027 are open right now: 46 undergraduate and master's roles, 30 PhD roles and 24 Seed Student Researcher roles in the US, all reviewed on a rolling basis. Pick your two applications carefully and send them soon.
Rolling review for summer 2027 continues. Engineering applicants who pass the resume screen get a technical online assessment, then interviews. ByteDance says it can't promise a timeline after the assessment.
Expected: remaining interviews and offers for summer 2027. ByteDance says its MBA openings for summer 2027 are posted and filled on a rolling basis from fall through the end of spring.
The internship itself: 12 weeks, starting May 10, May 17, May 24, June 7 or June 21, 2027. High performers may be considered for full-time roles.
Expected: the summer 2028 roles appear, based on the late-July-to-August waves in 2025 and 2026. Fall 2027 interns start between August 9 and September 20, 2027.
How to read this page: our dates come from tracking previous recruiting cycles and daily posting data. Treat them as informed estimates based on historical patterns, not confirmed dates. The company's official careers page is always the most current source. If a role is posted there, go by that, even if this page suggests the window hasn't opened yet.
Why You Must Apply the Week Applications Open
ByteDance's mode is rolling. Every posting says "Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early," and none states a close date, so there's no hard deadline to aim at, only a pool that fills. Two things raise the cost of waiting. First, you get at most two applications across ByteDance and its affiliates worldwide, and they're "considered in the order they are submitted", so a late first choice can't be swapped. Second, the summer 2026 undergraduate wave is almost entirely gone from the board, which shows the pool empties before the next one posts. If a summer 2027 role fits you, apply now.
Which ByteDance Internship Programs Should You Target?
ByteDance groups its US roles into programs on its own board. The table counts the live US roles in each on November 11, 2026.
| Program | Live US roles | Duration | Key details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate/Master Intern, 2027 start | 46 | 12 weeks; summer or fall 2027 | Penultimate-year students; nearly all software, SRE, ML and infrastructure |
| PhD Intern, 2027 start | 30 | 12 weeks minimum; variable start | Research and engineering across Seed, AML, multimedia and infrastructure |
| Seed Student Researcher | 24 | Variable | Foundation-model research: LLM, vision, speech, video, AI for Science |
| Project Intern | 25 | Flexible, short-term | Posted year-round; includes payments product, HR operations data and facilities roles |
| Global Frontier Tech Recruitment Program | 7 | Variable start | "A highly selective opportunity for PhD students and graduates" |
| MBA Internship | No MBA-titled role live | 12 weeks; May or June start | Strategy, product, operations, marketing and sales; posted fall through spring |
There are also 17 roles with a 2026 start still on the board (16 PhD, 1 fall 2026), which aren't part of the summer 2027 cycle. Read every program on the Americas early careers page.
What Are the Eligibility Requirements?
These come from ByteDance's early careers page and the text of its live postings.
• Class year: the undergraduate and master's program is for "Penultimate-year students", so summer 2027 suits students graduating in 2028.
• Degree: engineering roles ask for a bachelor's or master's in computer science or a related technical field.
• Commitment: "Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during Summer 2027" on the summer roles. Put your start and end dates on your resume.
• Work authorization: "Must have work authorization and right to work in country of hire." ByteDance's FAQ says it has historically welcomed CPT and STEM-OPT holders.
• Sponsorship: varies by role. 15 of the 148 US internship postings we checked on November 10 say the company "does not provide sponsorship or any immigration-related benefits".
• Application cap: at most two positions across ByteDance and its affiliates worldwide, TikTok included.
• GPA: none of the postings we read states a minimum.
Do TikTok Applications Count Toward the Two-Role Cap?
Yes, by ByteDance's own wording. The postings say candidates may apply to a maximum of two positions "across Our Company and its affiliates globally", and applications are considered in the order they're submitted. TikTok is a ByteDance affiliate, so one TikTok application and one ByteDance application use up the cap. Decide which board fits you before you apply: ByteDance for research and infrastructure, TikTok for product, ads and commerce.
Profile Match · Extern Data
Could You Get In at ByteDance? Compare Your Profile
Based on 403 software engineering interns who started their first software internship between 2024 and 2026 (public LinkedIn profiles, aggregated). Six questions, under a minute.
Which summer are you applying for?
Recruiting timelines differ by class year, so we compare you with the right group.
Which group is your school closest to?
Firms recruit on campus in tiers. We match you against admits from schools like yours.
Is your major computer science, software engineering, data science or electrical engineering?
Almost every software intern in our data studied one of these. Other majors get in, but the coursework has to show elsewhere.
How many internships, externships or research positions have you held so far?
Count anything with a real employer, mentor or principal investigator attached. Retail and food service do not count.
Has any of that experience been tech-related?
Software, data, IT, engineering or a research lab. Any size of company counts.
Do you have at least one project on your resume or LinkedIn?
Personal, class, hackathon or open-source projects all count.
Aggregated from public LinkedIn profiles of people who held the internship. No individual profile is shown. Read the cross-industry study of 2,500+ intern profiles.
What Skills Does ByteDance Look For, and How Do You Build Them?
We read all 45 US undergraduate and master's postings for a 2027 start that were live on November 10, 2026. Three groups stand out. Programming languages come first: most list Python, Go, C or C++, Java or Rust, such as "Experience programming in one of the following Languages: C, C++, Java, Python, Go, and Rust." Computer science basics are next: "Strong CS fundamentals (algorithms and data structures)" and Linux and distributed systems. Infrastructure tools show up on the SRE and data roles, which name "Kubernetes, Redis, MySQL, Flink". Communication appears in 19 of 45 postings.
What ByteDance looks for in interns
Skills across 45 ByteDance intern & analyst job descriptions · live US Undergraduate/Master 2027-start postings, November 2026
Method: full-text count across all 45 US Undergraduate/Master Intern 2027-start postings on ByteDance's own board, read November 10, 2026. One employer, mostly engineering roles, so the mix leans technical; PhD and research roles aren't included.
How Is Demand for Software Engineer Interns Moving Right Now?
Software engineer intern postings · Jul–Oct 2026
all internships 2.5×
For ByteDance applicants: ByteDance's own board listed 149 US internship roles on November 11, 2026, including 46 undergraduate and master's roles for a 2027 start, all reviewed on a rolling basis.
Daily US job-posting counts, Jul–Oct 2026; each bar is that month's daily average. Growth = October vs July; “all internships” = the 48 intern searches tracked across the whole period. Covers under half of US postings; shows direction, not market size.
Build These Skills Before You Apply
Each skill below comes from ByteDance's live postings and maps to a remote Externship you can finish while your applications are under review.
| Skill (from real JDs) | JD evidence | Externship that builds it |
|---|---|---|
| SQL and databases | "Experience in MySQL, Redis, Ngnix, Kubernetes" (infrastructure roles) | SQL & Database Architecture Externship with Breaking Games |
| Applied AI | AI platform, Applied Machine Learning and Seed roles | Reggie Stephens Foundation AI Strategy Consulting |
| AI agents and automation | "Apply AI-assisted engineering tools" (Global Payment software role); agent evaluation roles in Applied Machine Learning | Wayfair n8n AI Agent Engineering |
| Security | Security engineering and security data project roles | vCISO Cybersecurity Risk Assessment |
| Product management | Product Management Project Intern (Global Payment) | BeReal Product Management |
No Externship replaces coding practice for the online assessment. These add a finished project to show next to it.
What Is the ByteDance Application and Interview Process Like?
ByteDance describes the first steps on its early careers page and in its postings. Later rounds vary by team.
1. Choose two roles. Apply on joinbytedance.com. The cap covers ByteDance and its affiliates, and applications are considered in the order you submit them.
2. Resume screen. State your availability, including start and end dates, as the postings ask.
3. Technical online assessment. Engineering postings say candidates who pass the resume screen are invited to an online assessment. If you don't pass, you get a rejection email.
4. Interviews. ByteDance says it will reach out when it's ready to schedule interviews and can't promise a timeline.
5. Offer and start date. Summer 2027 starts are May 10, May 17, May 24, June 7 or June 21; fall 2027 starts run August 9 to September 20.
ByteDance doesn't publish the number of interview rounds, an acceptance rate or a class size.
What Students on Reddit Say
Reddit threads about ByteDance internships focus on the online assessment, timing and return offers. Some older threads mix ByteDance and TikTok roles, so we've labelled those.
A former ByteDance intern, extended to 20 weeks, learned in week 18 that the team had no headcount for a return offer. They walked the office floors handing resumes to other managers and got a new-grad offer from another team after four interview rounds in about two days.
An applicant for a summer 2026 ByteDance/TikTok frontend intern role applied on November 7 and got the online assessment by November 29; a commenter who applied November 13 got it too. That's about three weeks from application to assessment.
For a 2024 backend intern role on a ByteDance/TikTok e-commerce team, the first round was a 45-minute HackerRank test. Replies expected LeetCode-style data structures and algorithms questions and suggested reviewing a standard practice list.
How Do You Stand Out for a ByteDance Internship?
First, aim at the right board. ByteDance's US internships are almost all technical (123 of 148 were R&D roles on November 10), so a business or marketing student will usually find more on TikTok's board, and both count toward the same two-application cap. Second, match the posting's own stack: Python and Go lead, and the infrastructure roles name Kubernetes, Redis, MySQL and Flink, so a project that uses them is worth more than a generic one. Third, prepare for the online assessment before you apply, since it comes right after the resume screen. ByteDance says high performers "may also be considered for future full-time opportunities" but doesn't publish a conversion rate.
What Other Companies Should You Consider?
If you're targeting AI research and infrastructure internships, these employers are worth comparing:
- TikTokByteDance affiliate with its own board for product, ads and commerce roles; shares the two-application capGuide →
- Google DeepMindAI research internships, heavily PhDGuide →
- OpenAIAI research and engineering rolesGuide →
- NVIDIAAI hardware, software and research internshipsGuide →
- AlibabaChinese tech group with cloud and AI rolesGuide →
Our tech internships guide compares more software, AI and infrastructure employers for summer 2027.
FAQ
Can I still apply for a summer 2026 ByteDance internship?
No. The summer 2026 undergraduate roles are gone from ByteDance's board, and that class has finished. A few 2026-start PhD roles and one fall 2026 role are still listed, but the cycle to target is summer 2027, which is open now with rolling review and start dates from May 10 to June 21, 2027.
Is a ByteDance internship the same as a TikTok internship?
No. ByteDance posts its roles on joinbytedance.com and TikTok posts on lifeattiktok.com. When we compared the two boards on November 10, 2026, none of ByteDance's US internship roles appeared on TikTok's. The one link is the application cap: two positions across ByteDance and its affiliates, TikTok included.
When do ByteDance internship applications open?
The summer 2027 roles were created between late July and late October 2026, and they're open now. ByteDance doesn't publish a close date and reviews applications on a rolling basis. Based on the 2025 and 2026 waves, we expect summer 2028 roles around late July to August 2027.
How much do ByteDance interns earn?
ByteDance posts an hourly rate for each city on every role. San Jose software and SRE interns are listed at $45 an hour and Seattle engineering interns at $42.75. Research and PhD roles range from $55 to $75, and operations and project roles from $23.75 to $35.
Does ByteDance sponsor visas for interns?
It depends on the role. 15 of the 148 US internship postings we checked on November 10 say ByteDance doesn't provide sponsorship or immigration-related benefits for that position. ByteDance's FAQ says it has historically welcomed CPT and STEM-OPT holders for US internships. Read the sponsorship line on each posting before you spend one of your two applications.
Where are ByteDance internships located?
Mostly in San Jose and Seattle. On November 11, 2026, 105 of the 149 US internship roles were in San Jose and 38 in Seattle, with three in San Diego at the Multimedia Lab and one each in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. Work arrangements are set per posting.
Does ByteDance offer non-engineering internships?
A few. Most of its US roles are in research and engineering. The exceptions are Project Intern roles in payments product and partnerships, HR operations and facilities, plus one CapCut creator operations role in Los Angeles. Business, marketing and ads internships are mostly on TikTok's board instead.
How long is a ByteDance internship?
Twelve weeks for the undergraduate, master's and MBA programs, and at least 12 weeks for PhD interns. Summer 2027 starts on May 10, May 17, May 24, June 7 or June 21, and fall 2027 starts run from August 9 to September 20. Project Intern roles have flexible terms.
ByteDance's summer 2027 roles are open now, so choose your two applications and send them early. While you wait to hear back, a remote Externship gives you a finished project to talk about in interviews.
About the Author
Bifei Wang has spent 17 years focused on human flow and the growth of young professionals, spanning international education, career training and coaching, and recruitment process outsourcing. Over 7 years at Extern, he has had one-on-one sessions with thousands of students exploring careers in consulting, finance, tech, marketing, and data, giving him a firsthand view of how the job market has shifted for early-career professionals and what it actually takes to break in.
