Machine Learning Researcher-Search

TikTok; Singapore; On-site; SGD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Job summary

TikTok is seeking a PhD-level researcher to join the Search Team in Singapore. You will work on advanced NLP, cross-modal matching, and large-scale streaming ML systems for search across Douyin, Toutiao, Xigua Video, and related services.

You will prototype novel retrieval and ranking methods, explore LLM-based retrieval, and build high-performance data pipelines. Candidates must have a PhD, strong ML/DL background, and experience in C/C++ or Python. Excellent collaboration skills are essential.

Qualifications

• PhD in AI/CS/ML or related field with strong research track record.
• Solid foundation in ML/DL algorithms and coding skills.
• Experience in high-quality publications is preferred.
• Good teamwork and collaboration capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Research NLP and cross-modal matching techniques for search.
• Develop large-scale ML systems for retrieval and ranking.
• Explore generative retrieval methods and LLM-assisted search.
• Prototype high-performance architectures for hundreds of billions of data points.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Machine learning

Deep learning

Research

Education

PhD in AI/CS/ML

Job description

Responsibilities

Team Introduction：

The Search Team is primarily responsible for the innovation of search algorithm and architecture research and development (R&D) for products such as Douyin, Toutiao, and Xigua Video, as well as businesses like E-commerce and Local Services. We leverage cutting-edge machine learning technologies for end-to-end modeling and continuously push for breakthroughs. We also focus on the construction and performance optimization of distributed and machine learning systems - ranging from memory and disk optimization to innovations in index compression and exploration of recall and ranking algorithms - providing students with ample opportunities to grow and develop themselves.

The Main Areas Of Work Include

• Exploring Cutting-Edge NLP Technologies: From basic tasks like word segmentation and Named Entity Recognition (NER) to advanced business functions like text and multimodal pre-training, query analysis, and fundamental relevance modeling, we apply deep learning models throughout the pipeline where every detail presents a challenge.
• Cross-Modal Matching Technologies: Applying deep learning techniques that combine Computer Vision (CV) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) in search, we aim to achieve powerful semantic understanding and retrieval capabilities for multimodal video search.
• Large-Scale Streaming Machine Learning Technologies: Utilising large-scale machine learning to address recommendation challenges in search, making the search more personalized and intuitive in understanding user needs.
• Architecture for data at the scale of hundreds of billions: Conducting in-depth research and innovation in all aspects, from large-scale offline computing and performance and scheduling optimization of distributed systems to building high-availability, high-throughput, and low-latency online services.
• Recommendation Technologies: Leveraging ultra-large-scale machine learning to build industry-leading search recommendation systems and continuously explore and innovate in search recommendation technologies.

Specific Objectives Include

• Exploring the integration of large models with ranking algorithms to improve the accuracy of personalized ranking and user experience.
• Researching generative retrieval algorithms to solve ultra-large-scale retrieval problems in candidate libraries with tens or hundreds of billions of entries.
• Leveraging large language models (LLMs) to enhance search satisfaction for complex and polysemous queries.
• Building high-performance, low-resource-consumption large-scale batch-stream integrated retrieval and computing systems to improve resource utilization.

Challenge

• Challenges in Personalized Ranking

Traditional ranking algorithms struggle to fully utilize multimodal information (e.g., text, images, video) and have limited model complexity, failing to meet users’ demands for precise and personalized search results.

• Challenges in Ultra-Large-Scale Retrieval

In retrieval scenarios with candidate libraries containing hundreds of billions of entries, traditional discriminative models face issues such as insufficient model capacity and low indexing efficiency, urgently requiring next-generation retrieval algorithms.

• Challenges in Complex Query Understanding

User search intents are becoming increasingly complex. Traditional search engines struggle to accurately interpret the semantics of long/complex sentences and polysemous queries, leading to low satisfaction with search results.

• Challenges in Resource Utilization

The storage-computation separation architecture of search systems results in low resource utilization. Optimizing resource usage while maintaining performance has become a critical issue.

• Necessity of Large Model-Based Intelligent Search

Introducing large model technologies is essential to address the above challenges. It can significantly enhance the semantic understanding, retrieval efficiency, and resource utilization of search systems, thereby delivering more accurate and efficient search experiences to users.

Details

• Research on Large Models for Personalized Ranking
• Research on Ultra-Large-Scale Generative Retrieval Algorithms
• Improving Search Satisfaction for Complex Polysemous Queries Based on LLMs
• High-Performance Large-Scale Batch-Stream Integrated Retrieval and Computing Systems

Involved Research Directions

• Large models for ranking
• Generative retrieval and cross-modal fusion
• Large language models (LLMs) and complex query understanding
• High-performance computing and storage architectures

Qualifications

• Got doctor degree. Majors in artificial intelligence, computer science, natural language processing, computer vision, and other related fields are preferred. PhD holders are preferred.
• Candidates with published papers at top AI conferences or in-depth research experience are preferred.
• Solid foundation in machine learning/deep learning algorithms and coding skills, proficient in C/C++ or Python.
• Intelligent, confident, dare for more, with a persistent pursuit and passion for technology.
• Good team communication and collaboration skills.

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.