ML Data Engineer - Monetization Platform

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

Job summary

TikTok is hiring for a data engineering role focused on monetization and targeting data. You will own core data pipelines, dimensions like gender, age, geo, and device, and build scalable batch/stream systems for ads delivery.

You’ll ensure data quality and collaborate with ML, compliance, and product teams to improve performance and UX. Candidates should have a BS in a related field and 3+ years in data engineering, strong SQL, and experience with Spark/Hive/Kafka/Flink/Airflow, plus

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
• 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)

Responsibilities

• 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)

Skills

SQL

Data modeling

Java/Scala/Python

Cross-functional communication

Education

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

Tools

Spark

Hive

Kafka

Flink

Airflow

Job description

TikTok is hiring for a data engineering role focused on monetization and targeting data. You will own core data pipelines, dimensions like gender, age, geo, and device, and build scalable batch/stream systems for ads delivery.

You’ll ensure data quality and collaborate with ML, compliance, and product teams to improve performance and UX. Candidates should have a BS in a related field and 3+ years in data engineering, strong SQL, and experience with Spark/Hive/Kafka/Flink/Airflow, plus