Tech Lead Research Scientist/Engineer, Neural Graphics and World Models - TikTok

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 254,000 - 588,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok is seeking a Tech Lead Research Scientist/Engineer for Neural Graphics and World Models in San Jose. You will lead research directions, develop AI models, and collaborate with engineering teams to bring prototypes into real-time engine workflows.

The role requires deep ML expertise, 3D graphics knowledge, and a track record in distributed training and model scaling. You will mentor teammates and drive innovative AI-native graphics capabilities for interactive content.

Qualifications

• PhD/MS, or equivalent research experience in machine learning, computer graphics, robotics, applied mathematics, or a related technical field.
• 5 years of relevant research or industry experience in neural graphics, generative AI, computer graphics, world models, or a closely related domain; doctoral research may count toward this experience.
• Strong, up-to-date knowledge of modern machine learning, with deep expertise in at least one area of model architecture, training, data strategy, evaluation, or scaling and hands-on experience training or adapting generative models.
• Engineering fluency with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX, with practical understanding of model development and distributed training.
• Deep expertise in AI-for-graphics areas: 3D modelling, asset generation, rendering, world models, or related domains.
• Ability to formulate hypotheses, design controlled experiments, and connect data to technical decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead research directions in neural graphics, world models, 3D modeling, animation, simulation, or rendering.
• Develop, train, adapt, and evaluate AI models for interactive graphics and world-generation systems.
• Define data and evaluation strategies linking model behavior to quality, controllability, and performance.
• Build research prototypes and collaborate with engineering teams to integrate models into real-time engine workflows.
• Analyze results, identify risks, and translate findings into concrete next steps for model and system development.
• Produce reproducible research artifacts, communicate direction, and mentor team members.

Skills

ML research

3D graphics

Distributed training

PyTorch

JAX

Model scaling

Research mentorship

Education

PhD/MS or equivalent

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Job description

Tech Lead Research Scientist/Engineer, Neural Graphics and World Models - TikTok

Location:

San Jose

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Code:

A138238

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Responsibilities

About the TeamJoin the AI-3D engine team, where we push the boundaries of digital interaction by developing a proprietary next-generation neural engine for games and other interactive content experiences across TikTok and future creative platforms.Our goal is to move beyond traditional graphics pipelines, where geometry, animation, physics, materials, lighting, and rendering are predominantly driven by handcrafted systems. We are exploring an AI-native graphics engine in which learned systems can generate and represent scenes, animate characters, simulate behavior, synthesize visual output, and continuously update interactive worlds in response to user intent and changing context. This engine should enable digital worlds that are persistent, controllable, physically coherent, editable, and responsive.We are looking for a Tech Lead Research Scientist / Engineer to develop AI models, neural representations, data strategies, and evaluation methods for our neural graphics system.This is a hands-on research role for candidates who combine current ML expertise with depth in 3D or graphics domain. Depending on your primary focus track, you may define research directions and build AI models, data strategies, evaluation systems, or interactive prototypes across generative modeling, world models, 3D modeling and representations, animation, simulation, and rendering.Strong candidates combine research judgment with hands-on engineering ability: they can identify an important modeling problem, translate it into concrete research and engineering milestones, run rigorous experiments, and work with engineering teams to turn successful results into interactive, reliable engine capabilities.

Job Responsibilities

• Lead research directions in one or more areas of neural graphics, world models, 3D modeling, animation, simulation, or rendering.
• Develop, train, adapt, and evaluate AI models and representations for interactive graphics and world-generation systems.
• Define data and evaluation strategies that connect model behavior to quality, controllability, coherence, and interactive performance.
• Build research prototypes and collaborate with engineering teams to bring successful models into real-time engine workflows.
• Analyze results, identify technical risks, and translate research findings into clear next steps for model, data, and system development.
• Produce reproducible research artifacts, communicate technical direction, and mentor team members.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD/MS, or equivalent research experience in machine learning, computer graphics, robotics, applied mathematics, or a related technical field.
• 5 years of relevant research or industry experience in neural graphics, generative AI, computer graphics, world models, or a closely related domain; doctoral research may count toward this experience.
• Strong, up-to-date knowledge of modern machine learning, with deep expertise in at least one area of model architecture, training, data strategy, evaluation, or scaling and hands-on experience training or adapting generative models such as variational autoencoders, latent tokenizers, diffusion or flow-matching models, diffusion transformers, autoregressive models, or multimodal transformers.
• Engineering fluency with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX, with practical understanding of model development, representation learning, model scaling, distributed training, and pre-training and post-training tradeoffs.
• Deep expertise in at least one of the following AI-for-graphics areas: 3D modelling, asset generation, or 3D representations; animation, motion generation, or character behaviour; simulation, physical AI, or neural simulation; rendering or neural rendering; world models or video prediction; or graphics and game-engine workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to formulate original hypotheses, design controlled experiments, and connect data composition, model behavior, and evaluation results to technical decisions.
• Ability to collaborate with engineering teams to translate research prototypes into engine pipelines while preserving model quality, controllability, and interactive performance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Publications at leading research venues such as SIGGRAPH, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, RSS, CoRL, or related top-tier conferences.
• Experience creating novel model architectures, training recipes, data strategies, or evaluation methods for AI-for-graphics systems.
• Experience with 3D or world generation conditioned on text, images, video, actions, or structured scene inputs, including controllability or multimodal alignment.
• Experience with reinforcement learning, preference optimisation, imitation learning, or model-based control for interactive world models, where relevant to the focus track.
• Experience moving models into real-time graphics or engine workflows, including distributed training or inference optimisation for interactive use.

Job Information

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $254400 - $588000 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 recognise 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; and
3. Exercising sound judgement.

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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