Machine Learning Engineer Graduate (TikTok-Data-Search-Visual Search) - 2027 Start

About the role

Our Search Engineering Team is responsible for building and owning TikTok's search engine, providing users with the best search experience. In this role, you'll build full-stack search engine systems and combine information retrieval technology with modern machine learning methods from fields such as NLP, CV, and recommender systems. We embrace self-direction, intellectual curiosity, openness, and problem-solving.

As a graduate, you will pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth. Successful candidates must commit to an onboarding date by the end of the year.

Responsibilities

As a full-time Graduate Engineer, you will:

• Participate in improving the search core algorithm, focusing on areas such as:
  • Content understanding: Apply cutting-edge NLP and CV technology, leverage LLMs to match relevant videos for search queries, and continuously improve search relevance.
  • User Behavior Modeling: Solve recommendation problems in search to enhance personalization while maintaining relevance and better understanding users.
  • Video understanding: Use NLP, CV, and LLMs for comprehensive video analysis—from the video itself and social network perspectives—to improve authority, credibility, and usefulness of search results.
  • Search systems engineering: Design, build, test, and maintain search services, data pipelines, tools, or platform components that support search quality, reliability, latency, and user experience.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Completing or recently completed a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience with at least one programming language such as Python, Java, C++, Go, or JavaScript through coursework, internships, projects, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with search, recommendation, machine learning, information retrieval, natural language processing, ranking, data mining, or backend systems.
• Familiarity with distributed systems, databases, data pipelines, online experimentation, or large-scale service development.
• Experience using data or metrics to debug, evaluate, or improve a product or system.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Interest in building Search products and systems for a large-scale consumer platform.

All successful candidates must be able to establish authorization to work in the United States. Sponsorship or immigration-related benefits are not provided for this position.

Pay

The base salary range for this position is $128,000 - $256,000 annually. Compensation may vary based on qualifications, skills, competencies, experience, and location. This role may also be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses, incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits

• Day-one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) savings plan with company match.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• Life insurance.
• Wellbeing benefits.
• 10 paid holidays per year.
• 10 paid sick days per year.
• 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

Benefits may vary depending on employment type and work location. The company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time.