Machine Learning Engineer, Search - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 246,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture in Seattle is seeking a skilled ML/engineering leader to advance our search and recommendation systems powering video search, ecommerce search, and local service search. You will tackle scalable ranking, multi-modal matching, and generative approaches to content recommendations in a fast-paced environment.

Join cross-functional teams to improve relevance, optimize user experience, and drive sustainable growth while working in a fully in-person team in Seattle.

Qualifications

• 2+ years in developing large-scale search or recommendation systems (feed, search, advertising, etc).
• Familiarity with generative recommendation frameworks and their application in large-scale systems is highly desirable.
• Proficient in building scalable ML systems and understanding of ranking and retrieval.

Responsibilities

• Improve basic search quality and user experience via query analysis and text relevance matching.
• Design and implement end-to-end ranking systems using large-scale behavioral data.
• Address supply-demand matching, cold-start challenges, and sustainable GMV growth.
• Advance Generative Recommendation systems using LLMs to generate personalized content.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, data science, and infra teams.

Skills

Python

Java

C++

Algorithms & data structures

Education

Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Job description

Responsibilities

About the Team
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 top-class search engines to provide the best search experience, for more than 1 billion monthly TikTok users around the world.

• Improve the basic search quality and user experience: Optimize query analysis and text relevance matching. Understand video content and implement multi-modal matching. Improve users' perception of product authority, and deeply participate in the design and implementation of core search products. Comprehensively improve the end-to-end user experience.
• Design and implement the end-to-end ranking system (recall, first stage ranking, final stage ranking and mixed row): Use massive behavioral data to deeply model users' personalized interests.
• Promote the development of the ecosystem: From the perspective of technology and businesses, solve challenging problems such as supply and demand matching, business cold start, and sustainable business growth, etc. Think, analyze and adjust the evolution of the system to achieve long-term and sustainable growth of GMV
• Innovation with Generative Recommendation Systems: Drive the integration of generative recommendation approaches, leveraging LLMs to directly generate personalized content recommendations, moving beyond traditional ranking-based methods. This includes exploring frameworks like GenRec, which utilize LLMs 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

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Proficient in machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch), programming languages (e.g., Python, Java, C++), and deep understanding of data structures and algorithms.
• 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in search, recommendation, or advertisement algorithms.
• Publication records in journals or conferences.

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 $129960 - $246240 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.