Applied Scientist, Search, E-Commerce Alliance

$136,000 - $205,000/Yr

Tiktok - San Jose, CA

Full-time - Entry Level

San Jose, CA

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services

About the position

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video, with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy to over 1 billion users globally. The e-commerce alliance team is dedicated to enhancing the experience for merchants and creators on the e-commerce platform, focusing on improving business indicators for merchants and boosting creative efficiency for creators. This role is pivotal in providing high-quality content and a personalized shopping experience for TikTok users, while also developing efficient shopping tools at seller centers and fostering collaboration between merchants and creators. As an Applied Scientist in the Global E-Commerce Alliance Team, you will be responsible for driving innovative and practical solutions that enhance our search system through advanced machine learning models. This position requires collaboration with cross-functional teams to influence decision-making across various business units. The ideal candidate will possess strong expertise in machine learning and will leverage this knowledge to optimize our search systems, ensuring a seamless user experience. In this role, you will define the scope and design end-to-end machine learning models tailored for search systems, analyze large-scale data to extract insights, and create, test, and implement machine learning models to improve search functionalities. Staying current with the latest developments in machine learning and search systems is essential, as is the ability to present complex findings to non-technical audiences, thereby influencing strategic decisions. Adherence to strict data governance and privacy policies is also a critical aspect of this position, ensuring that user data is managed responsibly.

Responsibilities

• Work collaboratively with cross-functional teams to develop and implement advanced machine learning algorithms to improve the search and recommendation systems.
• Define the scope and design end-to-end machine learning models for search systems.
• Analyze complex, large-scale data to extract insights and to identify potential areas where our search system can be improved.
• Create, test, implement, and iterate on machine learning models to optimize search functions and improve the user experience.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest developments in machine learning and search systems.
• Present complex findings and algorithms to a non-technical audience and influence decision-making.
• Follow strict data governance and privacy policies to ensure that user data is handled with the utmost care.

Requirements

• PhD, Master or Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or related quantitative field.
• Extensive experience in machine learning, deep learning, data mining, or artificial intelligence.
• Strong programming skills in Python, C++, Java, GO, or similar.
• Strong knowledge of search algorithms, information retrieval, and ranking systems.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex concepts to a non-technical audience.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques.
• Proven modeling/algorithms competition records on Kaggle or top conferences' challenges.
• Proven programming competition records on ICPC, IOI or USACO.
• Experience working with recommendation systems, computational advertising, search engine, E-commerce search systems.
• Publication records in machine learning or related conferences or journals is a plus.

Benefits

• 100% premium coverage for employee medical insurance, approximately 75% premium coverage for dependents, and a Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company match.
• Dental, Vision, Short/Long term Disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life and AD&D insurance plans.
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Options like Health Care, Limited Purpose and Dependent Care.
• 10 paid holidays per year plus 17 days of Paid Personal Time Off (PPTO) (prorated upon hire and increased by tenure) and 10 paid sick days per year.
• 12 weeks of paid Parental leave and 8 weeks of paid Supplemental Disability.
• Mental and emotional health benefits through EAP and Lyra.
• 401K company match, gym and cellphone service reimbursements.