Machine Learning Engineer, E-Commerce Risk Control - USDS Seattle Regular R&D Job ID: A148522

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is hiring a Machine Learning Engineer for E-Commerce Risk Control in Seattle. You will design and deploy ML models to mitigate fraud, account abuse, and other risks across the TikTok e-commerce ecosystem.

You’ll work with representation learning, graph models, and deep learning methods, focusing on scalable, privacy-conscious solutions that deliver measurable risk reduction and improved user trust.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant STEM field.
• 1+ years of hands-on ML model delivery for large-scale internet projects.
• Proficiency in C++/Java/Python; familiarity with ML/deep learning platforms.

Responsibilities

• Invent, implement, and deploy state-of-the-art ML algorithms for risk control in e-commerce.
• Utilize representation learning, graph models, deep learning, transfer learning, and multi-task learning to improve detection.
• Monitor metrics to identify risk changes and refine risk governance strategies.

Skills

Machine learning

C++/Java/Python

Data-driven decisions

Education

Master’s degree in Computer Science/Math/Machine Learning

PhD (preferred) in CS/ML/Stats/OR

Tools

Common ML platforms

Job description

Machine Learning Engineer, E-Commerce Risk Control - USDS

Seattle Regular R&D Job ID: A148522

About the team

The E-Commerce Risk Control team works to minimize the damage of inauthentic behaviors on Tiktok E-Commerce platforms, covering multiple classical and novel business risk areas such as account integrity, incentive abuse, malicious behaviors, brushing, click-farm, information leakage, etc. In this team you'll have a unique opportunity to have first-hand exposure to the strategy of the company in key security initiatives, especially in building scalable and robust, intelligent and privacy-safe, secure and product-friendly systems and solutions. Our challenges are not some regular day-to-day technical puzzles - You'll be part of a team that's developing novel solutions to first-seen challenges of a non-stop evolution of a phenomenal product eco-system. The work needs to be fast, transferable, while still down to the ground to make quick and solid differences.

Responsibilities

• Invent, implement, and deploy state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, build prototypes, and explore entirely new conceptual solutions to address and mitigate business risks in TikTok e-commerce/platforms, including but not limited to fraudulent merchants, cheating influencers, malicious users, information security issues, and cross-domain risk challenges.
• Utilize techniques such as representation learning, graph models, deep learning, transfer learning, and multi-task learning to improve the efficiency of problem detection, enabling rapid risk mitigation and optimizing various metrics of the e-commerce community ecosystem.
• Monitor and attribute key metrics to promptly perceive changes in risk and business, proactively identify potential attacks, continuously optimize and adjust risk control strategies, and drive the development of risk governance and business model adjustments.
• Mine and analyze massive e-commerce content and user behavior data to build both short-term and long-term user profiles, improving model accuracy and recall, as well as enhancing robustness, automation, and generalization capabilities.
• Advance risk machine learning capabilities in privacy/compliance, interpretability, risk perception, and analysis; innovate models and algorithms tailored to the characteristics of content e-commerce, building an industry-leading content e-commerce risk control algorithm system.

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Machine Learning, or other relevant STEM fields.
• 1+ years of hands-on experience building and delivering machine learning models for large-scale projects in internet companies.
• Proficient in C++/Java/Python with strong coding skills, and familiarity with at least one common machine learning/deep learning platform.
• Experience in e-commerce/internet companies in fraud or risk control roles, with a track record of building fraud detection, anomaly detection, or other risk control models using relevant algorithms.
• Strong critical, objective, and thinking skills; able to reason and communicate in a results-oriented, data-driven manner with high autonomy.

• Preferred Qualifications- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Operations Research, or related fields.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in building and delivering large-scale risk control projects in internet/e-commerce companies, with proven success in large-scale anti-fraud data mining; strong coding (backend, infrastructure, algorithms) and system design skills.
• Strong technical leadership combined with hands-on data mining and machine learning expertise; passionate about tackling TikTok’s data scale and business complexity; able to identify, plan, and lead both quick-win tactics and long-term strategies, guiding teams to counteract malicious actors on the platform.
• High sense of ownership, excellent communication and collaboration skills; able to end-to-end manage one or more critical, highly adversarial, constantly expanding, and cross-functional platform/community security business areas.

Job Information

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