Targeting Data Engineer - Ads Core Platform

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

Job summary

TikTok monetization data team is expanding to build next-generation ad targeting and measurement platforms in the San Jose area. You will own large-scale pipelines for targeting data, enabling high-availability, high-fidelity data that powers ads across feeds, live, and branding ecosystems.

Collaboration with ML, product, and compliance teams will drive stable production rollouts, improved performance, and cost efficiency as the ads platform grows globally.

Qualifications

• BS+ in CS/SE/Data Engineering or related fields.
• 3+ years (adjustable) in data engineering/platform roles; able to own critical pipelines end-to-end
• Strong SQL and data modeling; hands-on with big data stack (Spark/Hive/Kafka/Flink/Airflow, etc.)
• Proficient in Java/Scala/Python; solid engineering and performance tuning skills
• Strong ownership of data governance, definitions, quality and stability
• Effective cross-functional communication and execution

Responsibilities

• Own foundational targeting data and platform capabilities with high availability, accuracy, freshness, and scalability
• Base targeting dimensions: gender, age, geo, device, language, network, etc.
• Audience & tagging system: definitions, hierarchy, refresh strategy, backfills, cross-device unification
• Design and implement large-scale batch/stream pipelines: ingestion, ETL, aggregation, profile generation, tag updates, external serving
• Build a reliable data quality framework: validation, lineage, monitoring/alerting, SLAs, automated backfill and repair
• Provide standardized capabilities for ads delivery/strategy systems: Audience package generation/management, tag query services, foundational targeting rule engine, access control & auditing
• Collaborate with ML/product/compliance to ensure stable production rollout and iterative improvements (performance/reach/cost/UX)

Skills

SQL

Data modeling

Big data stack

Spark

Hive

Kafka

Flink

Airflow

Java/Scala/Python

Data governance

Education

BS in CS/SE/Data Engineering or related field

Tools

Spark

Hive

Kafka

Flink

Airflow

Job description

TikTok monetization data team is expanding to build next-generation ad targeting and measurement platforms in the San Jose area. You will own large-scale pipelines for targeting data, enabling high-availability, high-fidelity data that powers ads across feeds, live, and branding ecosystems.

Collaboration with ML, product, and compliance teams will drive stable production rollouts, improved performance, and cost efficiency as the ads platform grows globally.