Search Model Data Team Lead - Search Operation - Japan

Responsibilities

At TikTok, Search plays a vital role in connecting people to the most relevant and inspiring content across our global community. Behind every powerful search experience lies high-quality data which is accurate, consistent, and contextually rich. The Data Delivery & Operation team is at the heart of this mission, ensuring that every labeled dataset fuels our algorithms to understand intent, improve relevance, and enhance user discovery.

As a Team Lead, you will guide a team that directly contributes to the evolution of TikTok's Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capabilities. This team transforms raw information into meaningful insights that help our search systems learn faster and respond smarter. You will lead with purpose, balancing operational excellence with people development, to ensure that our data foundations remain precise, scalable, and human-centered. This role calls for a leader who thrives at the intersection of data quality, operational rigor, and impact-driven teamwork, and who takes pride in advancing how billions of users find, learn, and create through TikTok Search.

- Lead and develop a team of 25 data operation QAs, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality annotations aligned with project goals.
- Set clear performance targets, monitor progress through data-driven metrics, and implement continuous improvement initiatives.
- Manage Project SLAs (accuracy, timeliness, productivity), identify bottlenecks, and take corrective actions to ensure delivery excellence.
- Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders (Product and Engineering) to define labeling requirements and maintain alignment on project priorities.
- Oversee workflow optimization and resource allocation to balance workloads across team members.
- Conduct regular performance reviews, provide coaching and feedback, and drive team engagement and professional growth.
- Implement and maintain effective quality assurance processes to ensure accuracy and consistency across all labeled data.
- Coordinate project planning, milestone tracking, and reporting to ensure visibility and transparency with key stakeholders.
- Identify operational risks and proactively implement mitigation plans to minimize project disruptions.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree
- 3+ years of leadership experience, managing large operational or data teams (8+ members).
- Demonstrated experience in performance management, SLA tracking, and stakeholder communication within large-scale projects.
- Strong project management skills - able to plan, execute, and monitor multiple workstreams simultaneously.