Software Engineer - Creative AI, Ads Creative & Ecosystem

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 156,000 - 317,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Job summary

TikTok is building an AI-driven, end-to-end creator content supply platform to empower global e-commerce, brands, and gaming clients with high-quality, scalable marketing material production and delivery.

You will design AI ranking models, pioneer AI paradigms for content production, and develop automated delivery engines to maximize ad performance across a global platform.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; practical experience.
• Experience building high-scale backend systems in fast-paced environments.
• Strong coding skills with solid data structures and algorithms.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted engineering workflows.
• Hands-on knowledge in AIGC, LLMs, or AI Agents.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement multi-layer AI ranking models (recall, ranking) for ad creatives.
• Explore AI paradigms across content briefing, production, and QA with multi-agent systems.
• Build an AI-driven content material supply platform for creators and clients.
• Develop automated creative delivery engines tying materials to landing pages and product IDs.

Skills

Distributed backend systems

Algorithms & data structures

AI/LLMs/AI Agents

Problem abstraction

Engineering execution

AI-assisted workflows

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

LLMs

AI Agents

Job description

Responsibilities

About the Team

TikTok Ads Creative team is dedicated to revolutionizing brand marketing by merging creative content with cutting-edge AI. We provide full-funnel marketing solutions—from brand awareness to GMV growth—maximizing ROI for global advertisers.

We are building an AI-driven, end-to-end creator content supply platform. Leveraging TikTok's dynamic content ecosystem and state-of-the-art technologies like LLMs, VLMs, and AI Agents, we are reshaping traditional creator marketing. Our mission is to empower global e-commerce, brands, and gaming clients with a closed-loop system for high-quality, scalable marketing material production and delivery. Your work here will directly drive TikTok's core advertising revenue growth.

Responsibilities

• Architect Intelligent Content Understanding Systems: Design and implement multi-layered AI ranking models (recall, rough/fine ranking) based on multi-modal content. Your systems will help global brands discover highly engaging and commercially viable ad creatives from our vast content platform.
• Pioneer AI Paradigms for Content Production: Explore new opportunities at the intersection of creators and AI. Apply AIGC technologies across content briefing, intelligent production, and quality assurance. You will build a Multi-Agent content production system leveraging LLMs to improve the efficiency and quality of global creator supply.
• Build an Efficient Authorization & Retrieval Platform: Streamline creator outreach and build LLM-based video search and recommendation systems to help clients find the perfect videos effortlessly. You will construct a unified "Agent for Creator Material Supply," equipped with advanced skills for material production, management, and data analytics to intelligently meet client needs.
• Develop Automated Creative Delivery Engines: Engineer automated creative selection and delivery systems. Integrate creator materials, client-owned assets, and AIGC content. Utilize advanced recognition and matching capabilities to precisely link high-quality creatives with landing pages and product IDs, maximizing ad performance.

Why Join Us?

• Cutting-Edge Tech & Real Impact: Deeply engage with the industry's hottest AIGC and Agent technologies in real-world commercial scenarios. You will build the core engines that directly drive our revenue growth.
• Rapid Growth & Global Scale: Own the end-to-end lifecycle from content production to commercial delivery. Thrive in a rapidly expanding business that offers immense room for personal and professional advancement while collaborating with a global team.
• Open & Collaborative Culture: We champion an open, transparent, and vibrant environment where bold innovation, rapid iteration, and continuous learning are highly encouraged.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated experience building, maintaining, and optimizing high-scale, distributed backend systems in fast-paced environments.
• Exceptional coding skills with a rock-solid foundation in data structures and algorithms. Strong engineering execution capabilities.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted engineering workflows to accelerate development cycles.
• Hands-on experience or deep personal knowledge in one or more of the following areas: AIGC, Large Language Models (LLMs), or AI Agents.
• Genuine passion for AI applications, with a deep understanding of the product and technical logic behind at least one major AI application.
• Strong problem-abstraction skills, with the ability to analyze, debug, and tune complex production systems efficiently.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Domain expertise or background in Influencer Marketing, Ad Creative Supply, or Affiliate Networks.
• A strong track record of independently leading the architecture, development, and delivery of complex engineering 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 $156000 - $316800 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.