Machine Learning Engineer Graduate (TikTok Trust and Safety) - 2027 Start

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 128,000 - 256,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

401(k)

Parental leave

Short-term disability insurance

Long-term disability insurance

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

10 paid holidays

10 paid sick days

Paid Personal Time

Job summary

TikTok in San Jose is seeking an algorithm-focused engineer to advance state-of-the-art computer vision, NLP, and multimodal models for content safety and platform quality. You will collaborate with product and engineering teams to deploy models, design scalable workflows, and push data-driven strategies while handling diverse content.

Applicants should have a CS degree and experience in ML/LLMs, strong coding skills, and a collaborative mindset.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in computer science or related field.
• Hands-on or academic experience in ML, LLMs, and recommendations systems.
• Strong coding skills.
• Curiosity towards new technologies and teamwork.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with product teams to define objectives and improve trust and safety strategy.
• Collaborate with engineers to deploy ML models, design online model workflow, and implement serving pipelines at scale.
• Collaborate with the data scientist team to understand the key challenges and propose data-driven strategies.
• Work on state-of-the-art content understanding techniques including unimodal/multimodal content classifiers, learning models, RL, and Large Language Models.

Skills

Machine Learning

Large Language Models

Recommendation Systems

Coding

Education

Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science

Job description

The algorithm team is responsible for developing state-of-the-art computer vision, NLP and multimodality models and algorithms to protect our platform and users from the content and behaviors that violate community guidelines and related regulations. With the continuous efforts from our team, TikTok is able to provide the best user experience and bring joy to everyone in the world.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with product teams to define business objectives and improve trust and safety strategy.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to deploy machine learning models, design online model workflow, and implement serving pipelines at scale.
• Collaborate with the data scientist team to understand the key challenges and propose data-driven strategies.
• Work on state-of-the‑art content understanding techniques including but not limited to unimodal/multimodal content classifiers, learning models, Reinforcement learning models, and Large Language Models.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a Bachelor's/ Master's degree in computer science or a related discipline.
• Hands‑on or academic experience in one or more of the following areas: Machine learning, Large Language Models, Recommendation Systems, and related areas.
• Strong coding skills.
• Curiosity towards new technologies and entrepreneurship, good communication and teamwork skills.

Job Information

For Pay Transparency: Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $128000 - $256000 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.

Benefits

• day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) savings plan with company match
• paid parental leave
• short-term disability coverage
• long-term disability coverage
• life insurance
• wellbeing benefits
• 10 paid holidays per year
• 10 paid sick days per year
• 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.

Trust & Safety

Content that this role interacts with includes images, video, and text related to every‑day life, but it can also include (but is not limited to) bullying; hate speech; child safety; depictions of harm to self and others, and harm to animals. Hence, it is possible that this role will be exposed to harmful content on a daily basis.

TikTok recognises that keeping our platform safe for the TikTok communities is no ordinary job which can be both rewarding and psychologically demanding and emotionally taxing for some. This is why we are sharing the potential hazards, risks and implications in this unique line of work from the start, so our candidates are well informed before joining.

We are committed to the wellbeing of all our employees and promise to provide comprehensive and evidence‑based programs, to promote and support physical and mental wellbeing throughout each employee's journey with us. We believe that wellbeing is a relationship and that everyone has a part to play, so we work in collaboration and consultation with our employees and across our functions in order to ensure a truly person‑centred, innovative and integrated approach.

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.