Machine Learning Engineer Graduate (Audio Understanding) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TikTok; Singapore; On-site; SGD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok Singapore is seeking a PhD-level researcher to advance speech and audio understanding, building cutting‑edge voice interaction systems that power TikTok and related products.

Join a fast-moving team focused on deep learning, NLP and multimodal tech, with opportunities to publish and contribute to real-world applications; onboarding by year end.

As a graduate, you will tackle bold ideas and collaborate across teams.

Qualifications

• PhD in Software Development, CS, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Hands-on experience in speech recognition and audio understanding with large-scale data.
• Deep learning/LLM knowledge, familiarity with PyTorch.
• Strong coding skills in C++ and Python; comfortable in Linux environment.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating with others.

Responsibilities

• Support the full-duplex voice interaction technology in practical applications and research its use.
• Assist in implementing speech recognition across business scenarios and optimize core technologies.
• Build core audio understanding tech and explore cutting-edge algorithms.

Skills

PhD in related field

Speech recognition

Audio understanding

Deep learning/LLM

C++ and Python

Linux development

Independent yet team player

Education

PhD in CS/Engineering

Tools

PyTorch

Job description

Discover a career that energizes and excites you every day.

@2026 TikTok

Technology

Location:

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Code:

A56630B

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About the Team

The speech team's mission is to empower content understanding, interaction and creation across TikTok and other products using speech & audio related technologies. We focus on cutting-edge R&D in areas like speech & audio, music processing, natural language understanding and multimodal deep learning. We are looking for top talents to work on these exciting technologies, integrate them into various TikTok and other products and ultimately bring joy to our global user base!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

• 1. support the full-duplex voice interaction technology in practical applications, and conduct cutting-edge research in the application of voice interaction;
• 2. Support the implementation of speech recognition technology in diverse business scenarios both inside and outside the company, and continuously optimize the performance of core speech recognition technologies;
• 3. Build the core technology system for audio understanding, focus on cutting-edge technologies and algorithm performance in audio understanding, and pursue and explore the most cutting-edge algorithms in the industry.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• 1. Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD degree in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 2. Familiar with speech recognition, audio understanding, and voice interaction algorithms, with hands-on experience in optimizing models using large-scale data;
• 3. In-depth understanding and practical experience in deep learning and LLM technologies, familiar with platforms such as PyTorch;
• 4. Strong coding skills, familiar with Linux development environment, proficient in C++ and Python programming languages;
• 5. Ability to work independently while maintaining good teamwork and interpersonal relationships.

Preferred Qualifications

• 1. Published papers in relevant international conferences or mainstream journals (ICASSP, Interspeech, ASRU, IEEE/ACM Transactions, etc.).
• 2. Top international rankings in speech-related competitions or machine learning competitions, or awards in programming competitions such as ACM/NOI/IOI/TopCoder.
• 3. Participation in influential open-source projects;
• 4. Excellent communication skills, strong sense of ownership, organizational and coordination abilities, optimistic and self-reflective.

Job Information

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.