Senior Software Engineer, AI Agent and Automation - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 438,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is seeking a senior software engineer to own the end-to-end technical roadmap for AI agent workflows in the USDS safety domain. You will design platform components, build agent runtimes, and create tooling to monitor and coordinate multi-agent tasks.

Collaborate with data science to integrate LLMs, ensure low latency, and drive data pipeline migrations with robust recovery. This role requires 5+ years of backend prod experience and a track record of delivering

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience building large-scale production systems.
• Strong backend experience in Go (preferred), Java, or Python, with distributed systems knowledge.
• Hands-on experience with modern web technologies (TypeScript, React) to build internal tools.
• Experience integrating LLM/ML capabilities into products.
• Experience in a 0→1 or early-stage builder role, shipping ambiguous projects.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end technical roadmap for AI agent workflows or platforms within the USDS safety domain.
• Design and build core platform components including agent runtime, state management, and tool-calling frameworks for multi-agent coordination.
• Build modern UIs and workflow editors for monitoring, debugging, and configuring AI workflows.
• Partner with Data Science teams to integrate LLMs and detection models into reusable workflow nodes with high reliability and low latency.
• Drive migration of critical data pipelines to USDS with 100% recovery for safety-critical services.
• Collaborate with product teams to translate safety needs into scalable engineering solutions.

Skills

Go / GoLang

Java

Python

Distributed systems

TypeScript / React

LLM integration

0→1 / early-stage builder

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Temporal

Airflow

React Flow

Tool-calling frameworks

Job description

Responsibilities

Team Intro: We are the TikTok USDS Platform Responsibility - Automation Solutions team. Our mission is to build the foundational AI agent platform and intelligent automation workflows that safeguard the TikTok US ecosystem. Unlike traditional safety tools, we are moving towards an Agentic Future. We develop the "Agentic Service Bot" and "Multi-agent Orchestration" systems that empower Policy, SRE, and Compliance operations to handle complex risks (e.g. Election Safety, Minor Safety) at scale. We bridge the gap between advanced ML models and production-grade operational excellence in the secure TTP environment.

• Own the end-to-end technical roadmap for AI agent workflows or platforms within the USDS safety domain.


• Design and build core platform components including agent runtime, state management, and tool-calling frameworks to enable multi-agent coordination.


• Build modern UIs and workflow editors that allow operations teams to monitor, debug, and configure complex AI workflows.


• Partner with Data Science teams to integrate LLMs and detection models into reusable workflow nodes with high reliability and low latency.


• Drive the migration of critical data pipelines to USDS and ensure 100% recovery for safety-critical services via robust system design.


• Collaborate closely with product team to identify high-impact automation scenarios and translate ambiguous safety needs into scalable engineering solutions.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, or a related technical field.


• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience building large-scale production systems.


• Strong backend experience in Go (preferred), Java, or Python, with a deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, and microservices architecture.


• Hands-on experience with modern web technologies (e.g. TypeScript, React), with the ability to build complex, interactive internal tools.


• Practical experience integrating LLM/ML capabilities into products (e.g. prompt engineering, handling model latency, evaluation flows).


• Prior experience in a 0→1 or early-stage builder role, with a track record of shipping ambiguous projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building workflow engines (e.g. Temporal, Airflow) or node-based editors (e.g. React Flow).


• Familiarity with applied LLM patterns like RAG, Multi-step Agents, and Tool-calling.


• Prior experience in Trust & Safety, Privacy, or Regulatory engineering is a plus.

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 - $438000 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:


• Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;


• Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems;


• Exercising sound judgment.