Senior Software Engineer, Ads Core & Commerce Ads - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is seeking a skilled ML Engineer to build scalable machine learning systems for ads ranking and optimization. The team focuses on improving open-loop and closed-loop shop ads and driving revenue for advertisers of all sizes.

Senior engineers will work with data engineers, ML researchers, and product teams to deliver high-throughput, low-latency ML solutions, with an emphasis on scalability, performance, and impact across the ads ecosystem.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS or related field.
• 3+ years hands-on experience with big data processing and storage frameworks.
• Strong CS fundamentals and problem-solving skills.
• Effective communication and sense of ownership and drive.

Responsibilities

• Build scalable ML systems to improve ad ranking quality and optimize advertiser strategies.
• Explore and experiment with new features to improve model accuracy.
• Understand ads platform objectives and leverage ML to improve relevance and quantity of ads.
• Collaborate with PMs, designers, and others to shape next-gen shopping experiences on TikTok.

Skills

Big data processing

Machine learning

Problem solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related

Tools

Hadoop

Spark

Kafka

Redis

Hive

Job description

Responsibilities

About the team

The TikTok USDS shop Ads team is dedicated to blending advertiser focus with technical expertise. Our mission is to enhance shop ads—both open-loop and closed-loop—to establish TikTok US as an essential growth engine for businesses of all sizes and a top destination for consumers to discover and buy products, content, and services. We are crucial to driving TikTok's ad revenue and are committed to developing the next-generation shop ad solutions for the platform.

• Build highly scalable machine learning systems and state-of-the‑art machine learning models to improve ad ranking quality and optimize advertisers' marketing strategies. Examples include but are not limited to click through rate prediction, conversion rate prediction, intelligent format selection and user journey optimization.
• Explore, develop and experiment with new features to improve model accuracy.
• Understand ads platform objectives and take full advantage of modern machine learning to improve ads relevance, quality, and quantity delivered to end-users.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Designers, and other disciplines to explore the next generation of shopping experiences on TikTok.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or above, major in computer science or related technical disciplines.
• 3+ years of hands‑on experience in big data processing and storage frameworks, e.g. Hadoop, Flink, Spark, Kafka, Hive, HBase, Redis, RocksDB, etc.
• Strong Computer Science fundamentals (coding, algorithms, data structures, software design) and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to think critically and to formulate solutions to problems in a clear and concise way;
• Effective communication skills and a sense of ownership and drive.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Ads domain.
• Strong programming expertise in C++ or Go, including debugging and performance optimization in general‑purpose languages.
• Experience building or maintaining large‑scale advertising infrastructure or similar high‑throughput, low‑latency systems.
• Excellent teamwork and communication skills, with a strong sense of ownership and the ability to move projects forward independently.
• Strong business and data intuition, passion for tackling complex problems, and proven ability in abstraction, project execution, and innovation.

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 $177688 - $341734 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;
3. Exercising sound judgment.