Research Scientist Graduate (Global E-commerce Content Recommendation) - 2026 Start (PhD)

Responsibilities

Design algorithms and systems that leverage LLMs and generative models for content-to-commerce matching, product summarization, etc

Explore novel architectures and strategies for generative recommendation systems

Contribute to the research community via internal papers, patents, or external publications

Drive scientific rigor while balancing real-world constraints

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications: Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, or a related technical field
• Experience with LLMs (e.g., GPT, LLaMA, PaLM) or diffusion/generative models, through research or practical application
• Proficient coding skills in Python and hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch
• Demonstrated ability to conduct rigorous research and analyze large-scale data
• Strong problem-solving skills and a high sense of ownership

Preferred Qualifications

• Publications in ML/AI conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, SIGIR, KDD, CVPR, RecSys)
• Experience with recommendation systems, retrieval models, or multi-modal learning
• Familiarity with building and deploying real-time, scalable ML systems in production
• Background in e-commerce or related applied AI research domains

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually) The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $156000 - $387600 annually.

Compensation may vary 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).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates: Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

• Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
• Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
• Exercising sound judgment.

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.

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.