Machine Learning Engineer, AI Search - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 137,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is seeking an independent developer for the Search team to advance its scalable, personalized search and recommendation systems using cutting-edge ML, LLMs and multi-modal tech.

The role emphasizes independent execution, LLM integration in the recommendation pipeline, and collaboration with product managers, data scientists and infrastructure engineers to deliver engaging user experiences for a broad global audience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, ML, or a related field.
• Proficient in ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch) and programming languages (Python, Java, C++).
• 2+ years in developing large-scale search or recommendation systems.
• Hands-on experience deploying LLMs for real-world applications, incl. prompt engineering & RLHF.

Responsibilities

• Independent development, experimentation, analysis and deployment of large-scale personalized search & recommendation systems.
• Research and integrate LLMs to enhance content understanding, user intent, and personalization.
• Explore generative recommender approaches (GenRec) with LLMs/VLMs to generate relevant recommendations.
• Collaborate with product, data science & infra teams to enable search personalization strategies.

Skills

ML frameworks

Python

Java

C++

Large-scale search

LLM experience

Education

Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science / ML

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Job description

Responsibilities

The Search team is responsible for the machine learning algorithm for TikTok's rapidly growing video search, ecommerce search, local service search and AI search business. We use state-of-the-art large-scale machine learning technology, cutting-edge NLP, CV and multi-modal technology and generative models (LLM, VLM) to build the industry's search engines to provide the best search experience, for more than 1 billion monthly TikTok users around the world.

About the Role

TikTok is seeking an independent developer for the Search team. This role is pivotal in advancing TikTok's search capabilities by integrating cutting-edge recommendation algorithms and large language models (LLMs) technologies to deliver highly personalized and engaging user experiences.

Responsibilities

• Independent execution: Independent development, experiment, analysis and deployment of large-scale personalized search and recommendation systems, ensuring scalability, efficiency, and robustness.


• LLM Integration: Research and integrate LLMs within the recommendation pipeline to enhance content understanding, user intent recognition, personalization and content generation. Explore hybrid models that combine LLMs with traditional recommendation systems to mitigate feedback loops and uncover novel user interests.


• Innovation with Generative Recommendation Systems: Drive the integration of generative recommendation approaches, leveraging generative models to directly generate personalized content recommendations, moving beyond traditional ranking-based methods. This includes exploring frameworks like GenRec, which utilize LLMs/VLMs to interpret user contexts and generate relevant recommendations.


• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, data scientists, infrastructure engineers, operation teams to enable search personalization strategies with overall product goals.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Educational Background: Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.


• Technical Expertise: Proficient in machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch), programming languages (e.g., Python, Java, C++), and deep understanding of data structures and algorithms.


• Industry experience: 2+ years in developing large-scale search or recommendation systems (feed, search, advertisement, etc). Familiarity with generative recommendation frameworks and their application in large-scale systems is highly desirable.


• LLM experience: Hands-on experience with deploying and improving LLMs for real-world applications, including techniques like prompt engineering, supervised fine tuning, reinforcement learning, and retrieval-augmented generation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Global Experience: Experience working with international teams and understanding of diverse user behaviors across different regions.


• Open Source Contributions: Active participation in open-source projects related to search, recommendation, or NLP.


• Publications: Contributions to conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, or RecSys are a plus.

About USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.

On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.

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.

USDS Reasonable Accommodation

USDS 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/USDS-RA

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $136800 - $359720 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;


3. Exercising sound judgment.