AI Engineer Graduate (Client Arch) - 2027 Start

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 128,000 - 256,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is hiring for its General Architecture team to advance AI-native engineering infrastructure and scalable platform solutions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive AI-enabled development, improve R&D efficiency, and maintain system stability across large codebases.

Qualifications include a CS degree, hands-on development, system design ability, and strong problem-solving. This full-time role emphasizes learning and impactful contributions in a fast-growing tech company.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS or related field.
• Hands-on software development experience and ability to deliver features.
• End-to-end delivery across client/server/data layers.
• Basic system design ability and understanding of build/dependency management/CI/CD.
• Interest in engineering/infrastructure work and AI-assisted engineering.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Explore and implement AI-Native Engineering Infrastructure with AI Agents as first-class citizens.
• Use AI to drive maintenance, refactoring, diagnosis/repair, CI/CD optimization and knowledge management.
• Establish evaluation standards for AI-assisted R&D efficiency and measure productivity and stability.
• Design architectures, interfaces, and frameworks for AI-driven scenarios.
• Stay current with tech, evaluate and adopt new tools/frameworks.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver scalable platform solutions.

Skills

Bachelor's degree in CS

Hands-on software development

End-to-end delivery mindset

System design ability

CI/CD / automation interest

Strong communication

AI-assisted engineering interest

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related discipline

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Observability tooling

Automation tools

Job description

Responsibilities

The TikTok General Architecture team sits between business and infrastructure. Our mission is to embrace AI, build the most advanced business architecture infrastructure, establish public trust and compliance, focus on resource management and cost optimization, user experience and stability, improve engineering quality and R&D efficiency. Here, you can both feel how technology empowers upper-layer business and deepen your technical understanding at the architecture level. We look forward to your joining!

Responsibilities

The TikTok General Architecture team sits between business and infrastructure. Our mission is to embrace AI, build the most advanced business architecture infrastructure, establish public trust and compliance, focus on resource management and cost optimization, user experience and stability, improve engineering quality and R&D efficiency. Here, you can both feel how technology empowers upper-layer business and deepen your technical understanding at the architecture level. We look forward to your joining!

• Explore and implement "AI-Native Engineering Infrastructure", treating AI Agents and human developers as first-class citizens of the platform and redefining R&D efficiency.
• Leverage AI to drive automated maintenance, intelligent refactoring, precise diagnosis/repair, CI/CD optimization, and knowledge management across large codebases-transforming the development experience.
• Establish and continuously improve evaluation standards and benchmarking for AI-assisted R&D efficiency, measuring productivity, system stability, and code correctness.
• Design and build application architectures, service interfaces, and supporting frameworks for AI-driven scenarios, providing a solid foundation for upper-layer innovation.
• Stay current with software engineering and systems technologies; evaluate and adopt new tools, frameworks, and methodologies to evolve the team's stack.
• Partner with business R&D and cross-functional teams to understand pain points, deliver highly available platform solutions at scale, and drive adoption with measurable impact.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related discipline.
• Hands-on software development experience (coursework, internship, open source, or personal projects); able to independently implement, debug, and deliver features.
• End-to-end delivery mindset: hands-on practice in at least two of client/application, server, and data layers, with basic understanding of the rest.
• Basic system design ability: decompose and model small-to-medium systems; articulate module boundaries, data flow, critical paths, and key trade-offs (performance, complexity, scalability, etc.).
• Understanding of engineering basics (build, dependency management, CI/CD, automation, or deployment), with interest in engineering/infrastructure work.
• Strong problem-solving and code-reading skills; able to navigate unfamiliar codebases and deliver improvements. Clear communication and collaboration.
• Interest in or early practice with AI-assisted engineering, and motivation to apply AI in real engineering scenarios.

Preferred Qualifications

• Project or internship experience building AI applications/agents, or integrating LLMs into developer workflows.
• Experience with engineering productivity, internal tools, developer platforms, or R&D efficiency projects (internship, open source, or coursework).
• Hands-on exposure to CI/CD, build & deployment, automation, or observability tooling, with awareness of design trade-offs.
• Internship experience in full-stack, client, or server-side roles at Internet companies or technology-driven teams.
• Independent understanding of software architecture and system design, with a strong willingness to keep learning.
• Technical writing, open-source contributions, talks, or clear explanation of design trade-offs.
• Deeper project experience in Web, mobile, backend services, data, or infrastructure (a plus, not a requirement).

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $128000 - $256000 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range 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 judgement.

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.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request