Machine Learning Engineer, Data Mining (Ads Core)

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 162,000 - 388,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

Paid time off: holidays, sick days, &

Paid Personal Time (PPT)

Job summary

TikTok is hiring for a Monetization Technology data engineering role in California. You will own foundational targeting data and build scalable pipelines for audiences, tagging, and profile generation, enabling ads delivery and measurement across TikTok's platforms.

The role collaborates with ML, product, and compliance to ensure stable production rollout, performance, and UX improvements, while maintaining data governance and quality across systems.

Qualifications

• BS+ in CS/SE/Data Engineering or related field required.
• 3+ years in data engineering/platform roles with end-to-end pipeline ownership.
• Strong SQL and data modeling skills; hands-on with big data stack.
• Proficient in Java/Scala/Python; solid engineering and performance tuning.
• Ownership of data governance, quality and stability.

Responsibilities

• Own core targeting data pipelines with high availability and scalability.
• Design/implement large-scale batch/stream pipelines for ingestion, ETL, and profile generation.
• Build a data quality framework with validation, lineage and monitoring.
• Provide standardized ads delivery and targeting capabilities.
• Collaborate with ML/product/compliance for production readiness.

Skills

SQL

Big Data Stack

Java/Scala/Python

Data Governance & Quality

Cross-functional communication

Education

BS+ in CS/SE/Data Engineering or related fields

Tools

Spark

Hive

Kafka

Flink

Airflow

ETL

Job description

Responsibilities

Monetization Technology teams are building the next-generation monetization platforms to help millions of customers grow their businesses, utilizing our products like TikTok. Our team develops a wide variety of advertisements for numerous uses including feeds, live streaming, branding, measurement, targeting, search, vertical solutions, creative solutions, and business integrity.

What You'll Do:

• Own foundational targeting data and platform capabilities with high availability, accuracy, freshness, and scalability:
• Base targeting dimensions: gender, age, geo, device, language, network, etc.
• Audience & tagging system: definitions, hierarchy, refresh strategy, backfills, cross-device unification
• Design and implement large-scale batch/stream pipelines: ingestion, ETL, aggregation, profile generation, tag updates, external serving
• Build a reliable data quality framework: validation, lineage, monitoring/alerting, SLAs, automated backfill and repair
• Provide standardized capabilities for ads delivery/strategy systems:
• Audience package generation/management, tag query services, foundational targeting rule engine, access control & auditing
• Collaborate with ML/product/compliance to ensure stable production rollout and iterative improvements (performance/reach/cost/UX)

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• BS+ in CS/SE/Data Engineering or related fields
• 3+ years (adjustable) in data engineering/platform roles; able to own critical pipelines end-to-end
• Strong SQL and data modeling; hands-on with big data stack (Spark/Hive/Kafka/Flink/Airflow, etc.)
• Proficient in Java/Scala/Python; solid engineering and performance tuning skills
• Strong ownership of data governance, definitions, quality and stability
• Effective cross-functional communication and execution

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in ads/recommender data platforms: user profiles, tagging, audience segmentation, DMP/CDP
• Real-time profile or low-latency serving at scale (high QPS, caching/consistency)
• Privacy/compliance implementation experience (minimization, anonymization, access control, auditing)

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

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $162000 - $387600 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:

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.