Senior Software Engineer, Ads - Core Infra - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 216,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) match

Parental leave

Disability insurance

Life Insurance

Wellbeing benefits

Paid holidays

Paid sick days

Paid personal time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture seeks a software engineer to help build scalable ads infrastructure for ML, ranking and data processing. You will lead projects, develop backend services and improve DevOps maturity while driving cross-team collaboration.

You will mentor peers, optimize systems for high availability and performance, and push for innovative technologies within a fast-growing ads platform.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or above in computer science or related technical disciplines.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or distributed systems.
• Experience in network architecture, database modeling, cloud systems and large-scale distributed systems.
• Excellent problem-solving, strategic thinking and debugging skills.
• Strong communication, ownership and drive.
• Experience in managing projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects to build, optimize and operate automation tools for large-scale Ads ranking and ML data systems.
• Develop backend services and platform capabilities to boost engineering efficiency and DevOps maturity.
• Continuously optimize systems for availability, observability, maintainability and performance.
• Provide technical leadership to team members and peers.
• Communicate across teams and stakeholders to drive engineering efforts.
• Lead innovation and bring in new ideas and technologies.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud systems

Network architecture

Problem solving

Debug complex systems

Project management

Ownership

Communication

3+ years experience

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Responsibilities

About the team The ads system at TikTok operates on a massive scale and serves millions of advertisers, clients and influencers across the world. The quality of the ads system highly depends on the ability to handle massive data, and machine learning is widely used to improve the quality of our ads. The USDS Ads Infra team is responsible for building highly efficient, scalable and stable infrastructure to support Ads machine learning, ranking and big data systems. We are seeking innovative Software Engineers to drive our technology forward. You will spearhead key projects and elevate the team through strong technical leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects committed to building, optimizing and operating automation procedures and efficiency toolings to empower large-scale Ads ranking, machine learning, data processing and storage systems.
• Develop backend services and platform capabilities that improve engineering efficiency, DevOps maturity, and the overall developer experience.
• Continuously optimize systems and infrastructure to improve availability, observability, maintainability, and performance.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to team members and project peers.
• Communicate cross-functionally across various teams, organizations and internal and external stakeholders to drive engineering efforts.
• Lead the innovation efforts, and bring in new ideas and technologies.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or above, major in computer science or related technical disciplines.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or developing complex and scalable distributed systems.
• Experience in network architecture, database modeling, cloud systems and large-scale distributed systems.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and a strong ability to debug complex systems.
• 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.
• Experience in managing projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Ads domain.
• Experience with building large-scale ranking and machine learning infrastructure.
• Experience of Peta Byte level data processing.

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 $187040 - $359720 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:

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.