Backend Infrastructure Engineer Graduate (AI Development) - 2025 Start (PhD)

At TikTok, we create together and grow together. That's how we drive impact - for ourselves, our company, and the communities we serve.
Join us.

About the team
We are a team of engineers and researchers dedicated to building and optimizing the foundation of TikTok's backend infrastructure. Our focus is on data access control, backend traffic control, and data center layout, ensuring a secure, efficient, and scalable architecture for TikTok's global operations. We also aim to balance cost efficiency, performance optimization, and security across TikTok's massive-scale infrastructure by leveraging advanced algorithms, real-time traffic analysis, and distributed system strategies.

Our team is passionate about tackling complex large-scale challenges in backend infrastructure, security, and distributed systems. We thrive on turning cutting-edge research into practical, high-impact solutions that power TikTok's growth and user experience.

Responsibilities
- Research, explore, and implement cutting-edge LLM (Large Language Models), RL (Reinforcement Learning), and other AI-driven techniques to solve emerging engineering challenges and drive innovation in infrastructure optimization.
- Research and build agents to enhance development productivity and code quality, specifically with tasks such as feature development, test automation, code optimization, etc.
- Analyze and optimize large-scale TikTok backend codebase to reduce operational costs and enhance execution efficiency, ensuring optimal system performance.
- Analyze online traffic patterns and develop optimized traffic scheduling solutions to improve data center's cost-effectiveness, stability and efficiency
- Turn the latest algorithm research results into scalable, and highly complicated systems in TikTok's real-world engineering environments.
- Design and build supporting/debugging tools as needed.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
- Master's degree or higher in Computer Science or related fields.
- Strong programming and problem-solving ability.
- Experience in Deep Learning architectures (Transformer, LLM, Reinforced Learning, etc.)
- Experience in Deep Learning Tools such as tensorflow/pytorch.
- Experience with at least one programming language like Python/Golang or equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications
- PhD in Computer Science or related fields with focus on LLM or other deep learning areas
- Experience in distributed backend systems
- Experience with Linguistic/Natural Language Process/Code Processing
- Publications at Deep Learning conferences/journals, or experience in data mining/machine learning competitions such as Kaggle/KDD-cup etc.

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 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://shorturl.at/cdpT2

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $145000 - $250000 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.