Backend Engineering Intern (2027 Summer Internship)

About AppLovin

AppLovin makes technologies that help businesses of every size connect to their ideal customers. The company provides end-to-end advertising solutions for businesses to reach, monetize, and grow their global audiences. For more information, visit www.applovin.com.

To deliver on this mission, AppLovin’s global team is composed of individuals with life experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives that mirror its developers and customers around the world. The company is intentional about the team and culture it is building, seeking candidates who are outstanding in their own right and demonstrate their support of others.

About Gist

Gist is a new social media platform for people who want substance—practical, thoughtful content spanning philosophy debates, city-specific recommendations, seasonal gift guides, and wellness tips. Across categories like travel, food, career, and family, Gist is described as “a handbook for the curious.”

Gist is built by AppLovin Corporation, a company that hit $5.3B in revenue last year and sits alongside Google and Meta as one of the world’s leading ad tech platforms. Fortune recognizes AppLovin as one of the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area, and the company has been a Certified Great Place to Work for the last four years (2021–2024).

Job Description

At AppLovin, the best engineers don’t just write code—they shape products. This new social platform venture is building the digital backbone for the next generation of content discovery and creator tools, powered by distributed systems, real-time engagement, and AI-driven recommendations. As a founding member of this team, you’ll work alongside experienced engineers on systems that will serve millions of users, learning and contributing at a pace that few other environments can offer.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain backend services and APIs that support content delivery, user interactions, and social features.
• Collaborate with product managers and AI engineers to translate product requirements into sound technical designs.
• Participate in system design discussions and contribute to architectural decisions across the platform.
• Build and iterate on MVPs quickly for creator-facing and internal operations platforms.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to correctness, reliability, and system performance.
• Learn and grow alongside a senior team in a fast-moving, high-ownership environment.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree or above in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Proficiency in at least one major backend programming language such as Go, Java, or Python.
• Strong computer science fundamentals—data structures and algorithms, operating systems, networking, and databases.
• Sharp logical thinking and problem-solving ability; you enjoy breaking down ambiguous problems.
• Strong ownership mindset, good communication skills, and the ability to work collaboratively and independently.
• Genuine curiosity about how large-scale systems work and an eagerness to build them.

Good To Have

• Hands-on experience with Go.
• Familiarity with relational or NoSQL databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB).
• Exposure to caching or message queue systems such as Redis or Kafka.
• Interest in or project experience with real-time systems, media processing, or content recommendation.
• Comfortable working in a Linux environment.