Machine Learning Engineer Graduate (E-Commerce Knowledge Graph) - 2027 Start (PhD)

TikTok Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 162,000 - 388,000; 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 Inc. is seeking talents to join the Knowledge Graph team to build large-scale knowledge graphs that power product categorization, tagging, and attributes.

You will collaborate with product managers, data scientists, and operations to shape future features and strategies while exploring mappings between buyers and products. This role emphasizes ML/NLP, multimodal insights, and scalable graph construction.

Qualifications

• PhD degree in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related discipline.
• Passion or exposure to ML, NLP, multimodal systems and computer vision.
• Familiarity with programming languages such as C++, Python, Go, or Java.
• Strong teamwork and communication skills; hands-on projects are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Dive deep into constructing knowledge graphs for products to aid feed ranking, recommendations, and ads.
• Collaborate with product managers, data scientists, and ops teams to craft forward-looking strategies and features.
• Craft knowledge graphs covering product/content insights and category/brand/SPU development.
• Architect knowledge maps detailing buyer and product connections.

Skills

ML/NLP/Multimodal

Knowledge graphs

Teamwork & communication

C++

Python

Go

Java

Education

PhD in Computer Science/Software Engineering or related field

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Hadoop

Spark

Hive

Flink

Job description

Responsibilities

The Knowledge Graph team is responsible for the neural network of e-commerce, which includes tasks such as categorizing products, influencers, and merchants, mining product information, and providing this data to the recommendation team. Additionally, they manage operations related to product tags and category attributes. When we come across a product, they determine whether it belongs to the clothing or sports category, who thie product will be suitable for, etc. Furthermore, the team conducts competitive research, identifying top-performing items on the platform and analyzing why one similar product outperforms others. They are also involved in brand recognition. This team plays a pivotal role, in bridging various aspects of our business and maintaining close collaboration with other teams.

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.

• Dive deep into the construction and development of vast knowledge graphs that encapsulate real-world products, aiding in feed ranking, recommendations, and ads.
• Collaborate closely with our dedicated product managers, astute data scientists, and the strategic product & operation team to craft forward-thinking product strategies and features.
• Craft intricate knowledge graphs, encompassing areas like product/content insights and category/brand/SPU development.
• Architect knowledge maps detailing buyer and product connections.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD degree in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related discipline.
• Passion or exposure to areas like machine learning, NLP (Natural Language Processing), multimodal systems, and computer vision.
• Familiarity with or coursework related to programming languages like C++, Python, Go, or Java.
• Strong teamwork and communication skills. Any hands‑on experience or group projects in relevant technical scenarios will be a plus

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with deep learning frameworks like TensorFlow/PyTorch.
• Coursework or projects related to text classification, text matching, sequence labeling, and knowledge graphs.
• Knowledge of domain adaptation, text mining, and unsupervised/semi-supervised methodologies.
• Experience with machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and text representation methods.
• Exposure to large‑scale text data processing or tools like Hadoop/Spark/Hive/Flink.

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:

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.