Machine Learning Engineer, Emerging Product - USDS

About the role

TikTok is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer to join the core R&D team of TRAE. The successful candidate will design, train, and optimize large language models (LLMs) supporting TRAE’s core reasoning and code generation capabilities. They will collaborate with infrastructure and product teams to deploy and monitor models efficiently on GPU clusters, continuously optimizing for latency, throughput, and accuracy. The role requires proficiency in PyTorch or TensorFlow, experience with large-scale distributed training, and hands-on experience with model quantization and CUDA-based deployment optimization.

Responsibilities

• Design, train, and fine-tune large language models (LLMs) that support TRAE’s core reasoning and code generation capabilities.
• Build efficient and scalable model training and evaluation pipelines.
• Collaborate with infrastructure and product teams to deploy and monitor models efficiently on GPU clusters.
• Continuously optimize models for latency, throughput, and accuracy.
• Stay up to date with and apply cutting-edge techniques in large model optimization and inference acceleration.

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Solid foundation in machine learning, deep learning, and optimization algorithms.
• Proficiency in PyTorch or TensorFlow, with programming skills in Python and C++/CUDA.
• Experience with large-scale distributed training, mixed-precision training, or model parallelism.
• Hands-on experience with model quantization, pruning, or CUDA-based deployment optimization.
• Passionate about building efficient, production-ready AI systems and advancing the future of AI-driven software development.
• Preferred Qualifications:
• Master's degree or above in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field.

About USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale. On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day. We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

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.

USDS Reasonable Accommodation

USDS 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://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA.

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (Annually): The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $136800 - $359720 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units. Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).