Backend Engineer Graduate (TikTok Vertical Recommendation Architecture) - 2027 Start

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 128,000 - 317,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with match

Parental leave

Paid holidays

Job summary

TikTok is seeking graduates to join the Recommendation Architecture Team to design and optimize the recommendation system for vertical businesses. The role focuses on stable, high-availability architectures and efficient data flows.

Successful candidates should be ready to commit to onboarding by year-end and clearly state their availability and graduation date in their resume. Apply early, as rolling reviews are used globally.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Strong programming skills with Go, C++, Java, or Python.
• Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, operating systems, computer networking, and distributed systems design.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the design of the recommendation system to enhance development efficiency, performance, scalability, and recommendation effectiveness.
• Build and maintain high-performance, high-availability online services (retrieval, ranking orchestration, feature and index services) for the TikTok recommendation system.
• Build efficient and reliable data pipelines for candidate generation, profile generation, and training-example generation.
• Pursue extreme performance optimization in the storage layer, computing layer, or application layer; optimize latency (P99), throughput, and resource cost at scale.
• Troubleshoot production issues and build mechanisms that ensure operational stability, including capacity planning, disaster recovery, and monitoring.
• Collaborate with machine learning engineers to productionize models efficiently and safely.

Skills

Go

C++

Java

Python

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Redis

Kafka

Job description

About the Team

Our Recommendation Architecture Team is responsible for building up and optimizing the architecture of the recommendation system for TikTok's vertical businesses, providing the most stable and best experience for TikTok users. We focus on optimizing the recommendation system architecture, ensuring stability and high availability, and improving the performance of both online services and offline data flows. We work closely with algorithm teams to improve recommendation effectiveness while boosting performance and reducing costs.

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.

Candidates can apply to a maximum of two positions and will be considered for jobs in the order you apply. The application limit is applicable to our Company and its affiliates' jobs globally. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis - we encourage you to apply early.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the design of the recommendation system to enhance development efficiency, performance, scalability, and recommendation effectiveness.
• Build and maintain high-performance, high-availability online services (retrieval, ranking orchestration, feature and index services) for the TikTok recommendation system.
• Build efficient and reliable data pipelines for candidate generation, profile generation, and training-example generation.
• Pursue extreme performance optimization in the storage layer, computing layer, or application layer; optimize latency (P99), throughput, and resource cost at scale.
• Troubleshoot production issues and build mechanisms that ensure operational stability, including capacity planning, disaster recovery, and monitoring.
• Collaborate with machine learning engineers to productionize models efficiently and safely.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related discipline.
• Strong programming skills with good code design and style; familiarity with at least one of Go, C++, Java, or Python.
• Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, operating systems, computer networking, and distributed/scalable systems design.

Preferred Qualifications

• Interest in recommendation systems, with an understanding of their principles or execution processes.
• Internship experience in performance optimization or architecture work in high-traffic scenarios.
• Familiarity with RPC frameworks, caching, or large-scale storage/messaging systems (Redis, Kafka, etc.).
• Agile and quick learner with self-motivation, a sense of ownership, and creative problem-solving abilities.

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $128000 - $316800 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.

• 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 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