Senior Software Development Engineer, Streaming Media

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 212,800 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is seeking a seasoned engineer to join the Media Network team in San Jose, CA, building real-time media servers for live streaming and RTC with a focus on low latency and high reliability.

You will contribute to a large-scale distributed system serving billions of users, applying AI to boost streaming performance and efficiency, and ensuring robust, fault-tolerant operations across the platform.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience with streaming protocols RTP/RTCP, RTMP, DASH, CMAF.
• Familiarity with OPUS, AAC, and H.264 codecs and networking fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-performance, latency-sensitive media servers.
• Optimize network efficiency for media delivery, balancing cost and quality.
• Design, implement, and optimize media protocols, while staying current with industry trends.
• Leverage AI technologies to enhance streaming media scenarios and improve the flexibility and performance of the Media Network.
• Design and build resilient, decoupled systems to minimize single points of failure and improve overall reliability.

Skills

Streaming protocols

Codecs

Networking basics

Programming languages

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering

Job description

Responsibilities

About the Team: The Media Network team is building an industry-leading real-time media distributed system that plays a critical role in TikTok’s live streaming and RTC scenarios. Serving billions of users worldwide, our network is among the largest real-time media networks globally. Join the Media Network team to work on large-scale distributed systems and help deliver an exceptional real-time media experience to TikTok users.

• Design and implement high-performance, latency-sensitive media servers.
• Optimize network efficiency for media delivery, balancing cost and quality.
• Design, implement, and optimize media protocols, while staying current with industry trends.
• Leverage AI technologies to enhance streaming media scenarios and improve the flexibility and performance of the Media Network.
• Design and build resilient, decoupled systems to minimize single points of failure and improve overall reliability.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience with streaming transport protocols such as RTP/RTCP, RTMP, DASH, and CMAF.
• Familiarity with audio and video codec standards, including OPUS, AAC, and H.264.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, NAT, IPv4/IPv6, routing protocols, and packet processing (e.g., iptables, deep packet inspection).
• Proficiency in at least one programming language: C, C++, Java, Python, Rust, or Go.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with CDN, multimedia systems, live streaming, or WebRTC.
• Experience building or operating large-scale distributed systems.
• Experience applying AI/ML techniques to improve efficiency or performance in streaming media systems.

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

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $212800 - $450000 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.