AI Engineer (LLM/Multimodal) Graduate (TikTok Search) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TIKTOK PTE. LTD.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Competitive compensation

Flexible hours

Job summary

TikTok PTE. LTD. in Singapore is seeking a talented researcher to join the Search Team to build and optimize large-scale search systems using ML and NLP. You will contribute from research to production.

You will explore generative search, multimodal signals, and LLM-based methods, collaborating with product and engineering to deliver impactful improvements.

Successful candidates have a PhD and hands-on experience with Python, C++, and ML, and enjoy solving open-ended technical challenges.

Qualifications

• PhD in Software Development, CS, or related technical discipline.
• Strong programming skills in Python and C++.
• Solid understanding of machine learning and deep learning fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience in search/retrieval, ranking, NLP, multimodal learning, or LLMs.
• Ability to conduct structured research and translate ideas into working solutions.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize algorithms for large-scale search systems, including query understanding, retrieval, ranking, reranking, and relevance modeling.
• Apply machine learning, deep learning, and foundation model technologies to improve search relevance, personalization, and user satisfaction.
• Explore LLM-powered search technologies, including generative search, retrieval-augmented generation, search agents, long-context understanding, and multi-turn search scenarios.
• Build and improve multimodal search capabilities by leveraging text, image, video, audio, user behavior, and other content signals.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and research teams to identify key search quality issues, define technical solutions, and drive algorithm improvements from research exploration to production deployment.
• Conduct data analysis, model evaluation, and online/offline experiments to continuously improve search experience and business impact.

Skills

Python

C++

ML fundamentals

Research skills

Search & retrieval

NLP

Multimodal learning

LLMs

Education

PhD in Computer Science/Software Development

Job description

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.

Job highlights

Yoga and fitness, Stock options, Positive team atmosphere, Career growth opportunity, Paid leave, Flat organization, 100+ mil users, Industry experts, Competitive compensation, Flexible hours

Team Introduction

Our Search Team is responsible for building and owning our search engine which provides our users the best search experience. On the Search Team, you'll have the opportunity to build a full-stack search engine system and combine information retrieval technology with modern machine learning methods from related fields such as NLP, Computer Vision, Multimodal, and Recommender Systems. We embrace a culture of self-direction, intellectual curiosity, openness, and problem-solving.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team. As a graduate, you will get opportunities to pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by the end of the year. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize algorithms for large-scale search systems, including query understanding, retrieval, ranking, reranking, and relevance modeling.
• Apply machine learning, deep learning, and foundation model technologies to improve search relevance, personalization, and user satisfaction.
• Explore LLM-powered search technologies, including generative search, retrieval-augmented generation, search agents, long-context understanding, and multi-turn search scenarios.
• Build and improve multimodal search capabilities by leveraging text, image, video, audio, user behavior, and other content signals.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and research teams to identify key search quality issues, define technical solutions, and drive algorithm improvements from research exploration to production deployment.
• Conduct data analysis, model evaluation, and online/offline experiments to continuously improve search experience and business impact.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD degree in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Solid programming skills in Python, C++, or a related language.
• Good understanding of machine learning and deep learning fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience in at least one relevant area: search/retrieval, ranking, recommender systems, NLP, multimodal learning, LLMs, or applied ML.
• Ability to conduct structured research or technical problem-solving and translate ideas into working solutions.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Research, project, or internship experience in search, ranking, NLP, multimodal learning, LLMs, or AI systems.
• Publications, open-source contributions, research projects, or other technical work demonstrating capability in relevant domains (top-tier conference publications are a plus, but not required).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a willingness to work on open-ended, large-scale challenges.
• Good communication and collaboration skills, with enthusiasm for building impactful products.
• Passion for applying research to real-world user and business problems.