Research Scientist/Architect (LLM/Agent Platform)

About the role

The Content Ecology Algorithm Team drives TikTok’s AI innovations in LLMs, NLP, Computer Vision (CV), multimodal learning, and recommendation algorithms. We develop cutting-edge AI capabilities that power multiple business lines. We are seeking exceptional, experienced Research Scientists/Architects in the areas of LLM/Agent Platform.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build standardized, configurable, and reusable pipelines for the entire lifecycle of models and agents—from data processing and training to deployment, monitoring, and governance.
• Partner with algorithm teams to understand their needs and provide a world-class infrastructure platform that accelerates their research and development cycles.
• Build robust observability and evaluation frameworks to ensure the reproducibility, reliability, and cost-efficiency of AI workloads at scale.
• Design and implement core platform infrastructure, including model/agent registries, feature stores, and high-throughput retrieval/RAG systems.
• Design, build, and optimize advanced Agentic AI systems, focusing on core components like planning, tool use, and memory.

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications:
  • BS/BA or Master in Computer Science or related technical field or equivalent technical experience
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, with a focus on machine learning, distributed systems, or AI infrastructure.
  • Strong proficiency in integrating AI tools into knowledge discovery and research workflows.
  • Familiarity with building robust evaluation frameworks and ensuring experimental reproducibility.
  • Expertise in deep learning frameworks and tensor libraries like PyTorch, Tensorflow, JAX/FLAX
  • Solid understanding of machine learning fundamentals and the modern AI stack.
  • Excellent communication skills to collaborate across teams.
• Preferred Qualifications:
  • PhD in Computer Science or related technical discipline.
  • 5+ years of experience as an architect, or technical leadership position
  • Experience with the ML infrastructure ecosystem, including GPU scheduling, model serving (Triton, TensorRT-LLM), vector databases (FAISS, Milvus), and MLOps principles.
  • Experience with large-scale model training and inference, including distributed training, KV cache–aware serving, GPU/accelerator optimization, and high-performance networking (e.g., RDMA, NCCL).
  • Experience with performance optimization of large model training and inference (e.g., DeepSpeed/ZeRO, vLLM).
  • Deep knowledge of agent architectures, including planning, tool use (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex), and memory systems.
  • Publications in systems and/or machine learning conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, OSDI, SOSP, ASPLOS, MLSys).

About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

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.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok 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/RA-request.