Research Scientist - TikTok Search (Generative AI) - Global Frontier Tech Recruitment Program - 2027 Start (PhD)

- Business Value: Significantly improve search relevance and user satisfaction, strengthening TikTok's search engagement and long-term growth.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team in 2027. As a graduate, you will get opportunities to pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth. Launch your career where inspiration is infinite at our Company.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by end of year 2027. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume.

Responsibilities
- Develop next-generation AI search systems using large models (LLMs).
- Improve ranking, personalization, and relevance in search.
- Build generative and multimodal search models (video, text, image).
- Explore LLM-based agents for complex and multi-turn queries.
- Optimize large-scale retrieval and ranking performance.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to ship research into production.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
- Individuals who are completing or recently completed a PhD in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Solid foundation in machine learning, deep learning, or information retrieval.
- Experience in at least one of the following areas: LLMs, search/recommendation systems, ranking, NLP, or multimodal learning.
- Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow).
- Demonstrated research ability through publications, projects, or internships.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Preferred Qualifications
- Track record of research contributions through publications, open-source projects, or impactful research work.
- Hands-on experience with large-scale systems, distributed training, or real-world ML deployment.
- Experience with search, recommendation, or ads ranking systems in industry or research.
- Experience with multimodal models (video, image, text) or generative AI applications.
- Familiarity with LLM fine-tuning, alignment (e.g., RLHF), or agent-based systems.
- Strong interest in building end-to-end AI systems from modeling to production.
- Internship or research experience at leading technology companies or research organizations.
- Modeling experience in one or more of the following areas: Ads, Search engine, Recommender System, NLP/CV.
- Have a solid foundation in algorithms related to LLMs, including but not limited to comprehensive learning and practical experience in areas such as single-modal/multi-modal LLM application and deployment.
- Strong publications record in accredited conferences or journals (e.g., ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, CVPR, ICCV and ECCV) .

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $212800 - $450000 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-7628321017978767621

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2026-04-17T20:43:46