Senior Applied Scientist, NLP

Responsibilities
This role requires an experienced well-rounded Data Scientist who is able and willing to deeply understand problem domains and iterate quickly in the search for models that both solve stakeholder needs and fulfill technological best practices. Among the responsibilities:
- Develop NLP models that accelerate the development of large foundational models and, with the help of a broader team, shepherd them into production;
- Mentoring researchers and business stakeholders on best practices for data collection and fine tuning processes for LLMs and other Large Foundational Models;
- Collaboratively build a well-considered experiment plan and document results carefully; patiently answer questions from technical and non-technical stakeholders;
- Proactive requirements gathering from international stakeholders with diverse professional specialization;
- Understand product requirements, drive clarity, and break down technical tasks into smaller units;
- To work in a collaborative team of interdependent colleagues; to share code liberally; to scope and accomplish work according to a sprint cycle;
- Support researchers and labeling staff to perform investigations when data-related problems arise;
- Perform basic project management when delivering an ML solution for large, complex product teams;

Qualifications

We seek candidates with most or all of the following:
- Rich, hands-on experience building ML solutions to solve real world business problems;
- Intermediate-to-advanced experience with one or more subdomains of NLP, such as natural language understanding (NLU), document processing, information extraction, information retrieval, and dependency parsing; experience with multilingual NLP is "a plus"; hands-on experience fine-tuning encoder-only (e.g., BERT) or decoder-only (e.g., LLaMA) LLM also "a plus";
- Knowledge of ML fundamentals, including common algorithms in major paradigms (i.e., supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement), evaluation strategies, optimization (e.g., gradient descent, parameter tuning), and sampling;
- Ability to research state-of-the-art algorithms and industry best practices, then apply them to problems at hand;
- Excellent written and spoken communication skills for the purpose of communicating with business stakeholders and international teams;
- Advanced skills in Python;
- Advanced skills in SQL, databases, and general data modeling;
- Experience deploying ML models "at scale" and ability to reason about trade-offs (hardware, volume, velocity, model size, etc.);
- Knowledge of and experience with "full stack" development, including writing backend API, modifying frontend clients, troubleshooting bottlenecks, and model hosting;
- Experience with active learning and human-in-the-loop ML "a plus";
- Experience with experiment design "a plus";
- Ability and willingness to partake in product design is "a plus";
- Project management experience is "a plus"

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at tac.accommodations@tiktok.com

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $144000 - $312000 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.

Our company benefits are designed to convey company culture and values, to create an efficient and inspiring work environment, and to support our employees to give their best in both work and life. We offer the following benefits to eligible employees:

We cover 100% premium coverage for employee medical insurance, approximately 75% premium coverage for dependents and offer a Health Savings Account(HSA) with a company match. As well as Dental, Vision, Short/Long term Disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life and AD&D insurance plans. In addition to Flexible Spending Account(FSA) Options like Health Care, Limited Purpose and Dependent Care.

Our time off and leave plans are: 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 as well as 12 weeks of paid Parental leave and 8 weeks of paid Supplemental Disability.

We also provide generous benefits like mental and emotional health benefits through our EAP and Lyra. A 401K company match, gym and cellphone service reimbursements. The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.