Software Engineer, Machine Learning Infrastructure - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) match

Parental leave

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer to build and optimize a global-scale ML infrastructure for feeds, ads, and search ranking. You will design core ML components, optimize pipelines, and contribute to multi-tenant ML systems across a high-traffic platform.

The role emphasizes designing scalable ML infrastructure, mentoring teammates, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to advance real-time decision making and product quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's/Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related fields or equivalent years of experience in a software engineering role.
• Proficient in at least one programming language such as Go/Python in Linux environment, with excellent coding skills.
• Familiar with open source distributed scheduling/orchestration/storage frameworks, such as Kubernetes (K8S), Yarn (Flink, MapReduce), Mesos, Celery, HDFS, Redis, S3, etc., with rich practical experience in machine learning system development.
• Experience in developing and deploying large-scale systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement a global-scale machine learning system for feeds, ads and search ranking models.
• Improve usability and flexibility of the machine learning infrastructure.
• Improve workflow of model training and serving, data pipelines, storage system and resource management for multi-tenancy ML systems.
• Design and develop key components of ML infrastructure and mentor interns.

Skills

Go/Python programming

Distributed ML systems

Large-scale system development

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in CS/CE or related

Tools

Kubernetes

Yarn

Flink

Mesos

Celery

HDFS

Redis

S3

Job description

Responsibilities

About the team: The mission of our AML team is to push the next-generation AI infrastructure and recommendation platform for the ads ranking, search ranking, live & e-comm ranking in our company. We also drive substantial impact on core businesses of the company. Currently, we are looking for Machine Learning Engineer - Machine Learning Infrastructure to join our team to support and advance that mission.

• Responsible for the design and implementation of a global-scale machine learning system for feeds, ads and search ranking models.
• Responsible for improving use-ability and flexibility of the machine learning infrastructure.
• Responsible for improving the workflow of model training and serving, data pipelines, storage system and resource management for multi-tenancy machine learning systems.
• Responsible for designing and developing key components of ML infrastructure and mentoring interns.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's/Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related fields or equivalent years of experience in a software engineering role
• Proficient in at least one programming language such as Go/Python in Linux environment, with excellent coding skills.
• Familiar with open source distributed scheduling/orchestration/storage frameworks, such as Kubernetes (K8S), Yarn (Flink, MapReduce), Mesos, Celery, HDFS, Redis, S3, etc., with rich practical experience in machine learning system development.
• Experience in developing and deploying large-scale systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience contributing to an open sourced machine learning framework (TensorFlow/PyTorch).
• Experience in big data frameworks (e.g., Spark/Hadoop/Flink), experience in resource management and task scheduling for large scale distributed systems.

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 $136800 - $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;
• 3. Exercising sound judgment.