Staff AI Software Engineer – Code Intelligence & Quality Validation

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 254,000 - 480,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is seeking a Staff AI Software Engineer in San Jose to advance Code Intelligence and Quality Validation. You will design and optimize Code Graphs, build static and dynamic validation, and analyze production issues using traces and runtime signals.

Collaborate across teams to improve reliability of large client applications and leverage AI-driven techniques. The role demands 5+ years of software development, strong system design, and proficiency in Java/Kotlin/Go/Python/C++.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or above in CS/SE/AI or related field.
• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Strong system design and software architecture skills.
• Proficiency in at least one of Java, Kotlin, Go, Python, C++.
• Experience with large-scale or complex engineering projects.
• Strong data structures and algorithms knowledge.
• High learning agility and curiosity to learn new domains.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and optimize Code Graph capabilities, including static relationships and dynamic traces.
• Contribute to architecture and design of core systems with scalable module boundaries.
• Develop static validation capabilities based on the code graph and improve rule accuracy.
• Build dynamic validation for production issue detection, reproduction, and root cause localization.
• Analyze complex production quality issues using code, traces, and runtime signals.
• Understand code organization, module dependencies, and build pipelines in large apps.
• Explore code analysis techniques and AI-assisted approaches for real-world problems.
• Collaborate with client, backend, and infrastructure teams to drive solutions.

Skills

Java

Kotlin

Go

Python

C++

Education

Bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Software Engineering, AI, or related field

Job description

Staff AI Software Engineer – Code Intelligence & Quality Validation

Location:

San Jose

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Code:

A215602C

Responsibilities

The Agentic Ops US team focuses on two major areas: Code Graph and Quality Validation. The code graph serves as the data foundation for validation, encompassing static relationships (function calls, experiment/instrumentation dependencies) and dynamic execution paths (reconstructed from traces). Quality validation covers static rule checking (mining soft and logical constraints) and dynamic issue detection, reproduction, and fixing. We aim to improve code reliability and R&D efficiency through systematic, data-driven approaches.

• Design, develop, and optimize Code Graph capabilities, including static relationship extraction, dynamic trace processing, execution path reconstruction, and graph data modeling.
• Contribute to the architecture and technical design of core systems, with a system-level view of module boundaries, dependencies, scalability, and maintainability, and drive technical solutions through implementation.
• Design and develop static validation capabilities based on the code graph, including mining and validating logical and soft constraints, while continuously improving rule accuracy and coverage.
• Build dynamic validation capabilities for production issue detection, reproduction, root cause localization, and assisted fixing, and develop reusable solutions for common problem patterns.
• Conduct in-depth analysis of complex production quality issues by leveraging code, traces, and other runtime signals, identify root causes, extract generalized patterns, and drive automated validation coverage.
• Develop a deep understanding of code organization, module dependencies, build pipelines, and runtime behavior in large-scale client applications, and explore how Code Intelligence can improve the understandability and quality of complex codebases.
• Explore and introduce techniques in code analysis, program slicing, anomaly detection, LLMs / Agents, and related areas, and apply them to real-world engineering problems.
• Collaborate closely with client, backend, and infrastructure teams to dri

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualification(s)- Bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field, with 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Strong programming fundamentals and proficiency in at least one mainstream programming language, such as Java / Kotlin / Go / Python / C++, with solid coding practices and engineering skills.
• Strong system design and software architecture skills, with the ability to decompose complex systems, define clear module boundaries, interfaces, and dependencies, and make sound trade-offs across maintainability, scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Hands-on experience with large-scale or complex engineering projects, with the ability to independently analyze problems, design technical solutions, implement core components, and drive solutions to production.
• Strong foundation in data structures and algorithms, with strong problem abstraction and analytical skills and the ability to quickly understand complex codebases and execution flows.
• Strong investigative mindset and curiosity about unfamiliar problems, with the ability to learn deeply from technical documentation, source code, papers, and other resources and translate insights into practical engineering solutions.
• Strong learning agility, with the ability to quickly ramp up on new technical domains, codebases, and complex systems.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Android development experience is preferred, especially experience with Android Framework, application architecture, modularization, build systems, performance optimization, or large-scale Android applications.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Experience with static analysis (e.g., AST, CFG, Call Graph, Data Flow / Pointer Analysis), program analysis, or compiler development.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Experience with dynamic tracing, observability, or production diagnostics, such as eBPF, OpenTelemetry, or distributed tracing.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Experience with Code Intelligence, Developer Infrastructure, automated testing, quality platforms, or Root Cause Analysis.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Experience building large-scale distributed systems, graph processing systems, search/indexing infrastructure, or related platforms.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Experience with LLMs, AI Coding Agents, Agentic Workflows, or AI for Software Engineering.
• Preferred Qualification(s)- Publications in academic conferences or journals related to code analysis, software engineering, or system reliability, or significant contributions to major open-source projects.

Job Information

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $254400 - $480000 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.

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

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