Research Scientist Graduate (Business Integrity) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TikTok; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is hiring Large Model/Agentic AI Research Scientists globally to advance foundation models, LLM/MLLM capabilities, and agentic AI. You will publish influential research at top conferences and translate breakthroughs into production engines for scalable commercial ecosystems.

Successful candidates should hold a PhD in CS/AI or related field, possess strong ML foundations, and be able to prototype frontier ideas in PyTorch while collaborating across teams.

Qualifications

• PhD completed or near completion in CS/AI/Statistics.
• Strong grounding in NLP, CV, RL, or ML fundamentals.
• High-quality papers in top AI conferences or journals.
• Solid mathematical foundation and prototyping with PyTorch.
• Self-motivated with ability to drive research across disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Research on foundation models and frontier generative technologies.
• Lead algorithmic innovation for Agentic AI and advanced reasoning.
• Define evaluation systems for next-generation AIGC and agent systems.
• Maintain academic influence and publish at top venues.

Skills

Natural Language Processing

Computer Vision

Reinforcement Learning

PyTorch

Academic Writing

Research Prototyping

Cross-disciplinary Communication

Education

PhD in Computer Science/AI/Statistics

Tools

PyTorch

Job description

Responsibilities

Team Introduction

We are the Business Integrity team. We put users at the center of everything we do and are committed to solving complex challenges in global business with cutting-edge AI technologies. As TikTok continues to grow rapidly worldwide, the team is building a next-generation content understanding and generation system for commercialization. We are now hiring Large Model/Agentic AI Research Scientists globally. We look forward to working with you to explore the algorithmic frontiers of large language models and multimodal technologies, publish influential research at top conferences, and translate groundbreaking research into a core engine for the next generation of commercial ecosystems.

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.

• Research on foundation models and frontier generative technologies: Explore the capability boundaries of large language models (LLMs) and multimodal large models (MLLMs), especially the evolution of foundation capabilities for agentic scenarios. Conduct in-depth research and propose innovative post-training paradigms, tackling challenges in complex reasoning such as CoT reasoning and long-horizon planning, tool use, reinforcement learning alignment such as innovative applications of PPO, GRPO, and other new RLHF algorithms for agent behavior alignment, reward model design, and AI safety. Build model capabilities for autonomous decision-making and reflection from the underlying architecture. Explore and break through the underlying architectures of frontier visual generation algorithms such as diffusion and flow matching, building a strong perception and environment simulation foundation for multimodal agents.
• Frontier breakthroughs in large model agents: Lead underlying algorithmic innovation for Agentic AI. Focus on academic challenges such as agentic reinforcement learning, complex logical reasoning and planning, long-term memory mechanisms, and knowledge injection. Explore the theoretical foundations of emergent multi-agent collaboration and optimal interaction strategies in highly complex, open-ended environments.
• Forward-looking technical evaluation and theoretical construction: Define and build the evaluation system for next-generation AIGC and agent systems. Identify fundamental problems with core academic value in real-world, large-scale commercial scenarios such as advertising and e-commerce content ecosystems, and design new algorithmic frameworks to address long-tail generalization, interpretability, and multimodal alignment challenges.
• Building academic influence: Continuously track and lead the technical frontier in AI, and strengthen the team’s technical influence.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics or a related discipline.
• Strong academic foundation in natural language processing, computer vision, reinforcement learning, or the fundamentals of machine learning. Deep theoretical insight and ability to innovate in the underlying architecture of large models (LLM/MLLM), generative models such as diffusion/flow matching, or mainstream agent frameworks.
• High-quality academic papers published as a main author in top AI conferences or journals such as NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, ACL, CVPR, and ICCV. Research outcomes in large model complex reasoning, reinforcement learning alignment, long-horizon task planning, or multimodal generation are preferred.
• Solid mathematical foundation and strong algorithm prototyping skills, with proficiency in frameworks such as PyTorch. Able to quickly turn frontier ideas into prototypes and validate their effectiveness.
• Sharp academic intuition and strong self-motivation. Able to independently define research directions, communicate effectively across disciplines, and drive two-way transformation between research and production.

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.