Backend Engineer Graduate - Social Foundation

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

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Parental leave

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

Paid holidays

Paid sick days

Paid personal time

Job summary

TikTok’s Social Foundation team is the technical bedrock for a global graph data platform and real-time insights. We design high-performance storage and distributed graph engines to support billions of users and trillions of edges.

Join to build features like friend recommendations, live streaming, and risk control with millisecond multi-hop queries and real-time reasoning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field.
• Experience building backend services for large-scale consumer-facing apps.
• Proficient in Go, Java, C++, Python or similar languages.
• Deep understanding of architectures, data structures and algorithms.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-performance data storage and management systems for trillion-scale social graph data.
• Develop distributed graph database engines handling billions of vertices and trillions of edges with millisecond queries.
• Build a real-time graph mining platform for relationships, patterns and communities.
• Lead integration of Social Graph with core systems (recs, search, risk control) for live interactions.

Skills

Go

Java

C++

Python

Algorithms

Data structures

Backend systems

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Job description

About the Team

The Social Foundation team is the technical bedrock of TikTok’s global ecosystem, dedicated to building a world-class social data platform and industry-leading graph engine. We operate at the forefront of large-scale graph computing, designing the core infrastructure that processes trillions of edges to deliver real-time relationship insights to billions of users. By providing "Graph Data as a Service"—encompassing user connections, interactions, and high-performance counters, we empower TikTok’s diverse business scenarios with millisecond-level multi-hop queries and real-time graph mining. Our mission is to build a robust, overseas graph infrastructure that fuels global connectivity, powering mission-critical features like friend recommendations, live streaming, and risk control to redefine the social experience worldwide.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-performance data storage and management systems for trillion-scale social graph data, ensuring seamless integration and rapid iteration for mission-critical applications.
• Develop distributed graph database engines capable of handling billions of vertices and trillions of edges, enabling millisecond-level multi-hop queries and real-time graph reasoning.
• Build a real-time graph mining platform to extract social relationships, patterns, clusters, and communities, fueling product strategies and personalized recommendations.
• Lead the integration of the Social Graph with core systems (e.g., recommendation, search, risk control) to support social interactions, live-streaming, and various TikTok business use cases.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification(s)

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related discipline.
• Experienced in building backend services for large-scale consumer-facing applications
• Proficient in at least one of the following languages: Go, Java, C++, Python
• Deep understanding of computer architectures, data structures, and algorithms
• Strong communication and teamwork skills

Preferred Qualification(s)

• Demonstrated software engineering experience from previous internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications
• Curiosity towards new technologies and entrepreneurship
• High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities

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:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;

2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and

3. Exercising sound judgment.

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

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