Machine Learning Scientist- LLM/AI (Privacy and Data Protection Office) - 2026 Start (PhD)

- Communicate final recommendations and drive decision making.

You will utilize data-driven techniques in building solutions to help measure, validate, identify, and envision TikTok's privacy evolution. You will design and scope out projects, build operationalized analytics tools and platforms, and most importantly, use data and AI models to find insights, diagnose problems and tell compelling stories.

Besides the technical side, you will also get the opportunity to work closely with various XFN teams, including but not limited to engineering, legal, audit, security, public, government relations, and products. You will be expected to build deep domain knowledge and build a strong domain expertise in privacy.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

- PhD in CS, CE, ML or related field experience
- Solid background in NLP and LLM/AI, personalization/recommendation and hands-on experience and solid understanding of machine learning and deep learning methods.
- Experience performing data extraction, cleaning, analysis and presentation for medium to large datasets
- Experience with at least one programming language (i.e. Python, R, Java, or C++) and SQL queries.
- Experience in at least one of the following areas: natural language processing, generative AI, reinforcement learning
- Experience with Large Language Model fine tuning and open source LLM deployment.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Experience developing LLM-based AI agents or autonomous systems
- Knowledge of optimization techniques including linear, non-linear, mixed-integer, large-scale, and robust optimization
- Experience implementing explainable AI techniques for complex models
- Background in integrating LLMs with existing systems and tools
- Experience with prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and alignment techniques for LLMs
- Experience designing systems that incorporate both optimization and machine learning components

By submitting an application for this role, you accept and agree to our global applicant privacy policy, which may be accessed here: https://lifeattiktok.com/legal/privacy

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $136800 - $259200 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.

Client-provided location(s): San Jose, CA

Job ID: TikTok-7533751112541751570

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-08-05T04:35:50