Senior Machine Learning Engineer, SMB

$187,040 - $280,000/Yr

Tiktok - San Jose, CA

Full-time - Senior

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. The SMB engineering team is dedicated to developing software that empowers small and medium businesses to succeed by building scalable platforms, seamless products, and comprehensive solutions. As the SMB revenue is expected to become a significant portion of the total ads business, the engineering team is committed to solving challenging problems in innovative ways through advanced software architecture and cutting-edge algorithms. Collaboration with strategies, data scientists, product managers, operations, and sales teams is essential, as diversity in skills, culture, and background is a source of power for the team. We are seeking machine learning engineers who are passionate about innovating and creating scalable and reliable software solutions. The role involves working on various challenging problems, including creative recommendation systems, ads delivery, personalized coupons, and LLM-based customer support. The ideal candidate will design and implement core SMB platforms and features, lead key components in architecture, and manage project priorities and deliverables. This position requires a strong ability to tackle open-ended problems and develop solutions that meet specific constraints while ensuring the maintenance of delivered features and systems. The role also involves developing, deploying, optimizing, troubleshooting, and operating large distributed systems while collaborating cross-functionally and globally.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement core SMB platforms and features.
• Design series of experiments and iterations, engage with machine learning system architects and lead key components in architecture.
• Be the expert and go-to person of architecture, technical stack, and engineering practices in the team.
• Deliver with timeline. Manage owned project priorities, deadlines, deliverables, and quality. Responsible for the maintenance of delivered features and systems.
• Take open-ended problems, create solutions with constraints and land smoothly.
• Develop, deploy, optimize, troubleshoot and operate large distributed systems.
• Collaborate cross-functionally and globally.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering with strong Computer Science fundamentals (algorithms, data structures, software design) and problem-solving skills.
• 4 years of experience with data structures or algorithms in either an academic or industrial setting.
• 4 years of experience with machine learning algorithms and tools (e.g., TensorFlow), artificial intelligence, deep learning, and/or natural language processing.
• Proficiency and experience with designing, implementing, and operating large scale distributed systems.
• Ability to think critically and formulate solutions in a clear and concise way.
• Very strong teamwork skills (e.g., communication, ownership, empathy, honesty).
• Proven record of participating in or leading highly-scale software architectures and systems.

Nice-to-haves

• Relevant experience in advertising, e-commerce, and video industries.
• Master's degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Knowledge of accelerators (e.g., Machine Learning or GPUs) or similar high-performance designs, advanced LLM architecture.
• Understanding of computer architecture/memory subsystem architecture.

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.