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Senior Backend Engineer, Core Data Service

3 days ago San Jose, CA

Responsibilities

The TikTok Datastore Service team designs, builds, and governs the core online storage infrastructure that powers our global products. Our mission is to provide data services with ultimate performance, reliability, and intelligence for hundreds of millions of users and countless business scenarios worldwide. Here, you will tackle world-class challenges in globalization, multi-region active-active architecture, compliance, and cost efficiency, while leveraging AI to drive the evolution of next-generation storage architecture.

Responsibilities
- Lead the architectural design and evolution of the core data service in a global context. Drive the design and implementation of complex solutions for active-active architecture, cross-region data consistency, and high availability, ensuring world-class stability and scalability.
- Engage deeply in the development of core metadata management, storage, and distribution systems. Continuously optimize for performance to guarantee extreme efficiency under trillion-level data scales and tens of millions of QPS.
- Explore and drive the deep integration of AI technologies with core data services. Apply an AI-Native mindset to design and implement innovative solutions such as intelligent data insights, AI-assisted architecture governance, and anomalous pattern detection to enhance system intelligence and automation.
- As a domain expert, analyze business needs and technology trends to define the medium-to-long-term technical roadmap for data services, and lead the team to overcome key technical challenges.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science or a related field, with 5+ years of experience in developing large-scale backend distributed systems.
- Extensive hands-on experience in designing and implementing globalized, active-active architectures, with a deep understanding of the associated challenges and proven solutions.
- Proficiency in at least one mainstream backend language (e.g., Go, C++, Java) with strong coding skills, a commitment to clean code, and an AI-Native coding mindset.
- Proven ability to lead the design and successful delivery of complex distributed systems projects with demonstrable results.

Preferred Qualifications
- Practical experience with AI-Native systems or AIOps; a proven track record of applying AI/ML technologies to the infrastructure domain is a strong plus.

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- In-depth understanding of the principles of, or source-level contributions to, at least one distributed storage system (e.g., Redis, RocksDB, Spanner).
- A strong passion for technology, with excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $156000 - $387600 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-7631862250727213365
Employment Type: OTHER
Posted: 2026-04-27T20:46:45

Perks and Benefits

  • Health and Wellness

    • Health Insurance
    • Dental Insurance
    • Vision Insurance
    • HSA
    • Life Insurance
    • Fitness Subsidies
    • Short-Term Disability
    • Long-Term Disability
    • On-Site Gym
    • Mental Health Benefits
    • Virtual Fitness Classes
  • Parental Benefits

    • Fertility Benefits
    • Adoption Assistance Program
    • Family Support Resources
  • Work Flexibility

    • Flexible Work Hours
    • Hybrid Work Opportunities
  • Office Life and Perks

    • Casual Dress
    • Snacks
    • Pet-friendly Office
    • Happy Hours
    • Some Meals Provided
    • Company Outings
    • On-Site Cafeteria
    • Holiday Events
  • Vacation and Time Off

    • Paid Vacation
    • Paid Holidays
    • Personal/Sick Days
    • Leave of Absence
  • Financial and Retirement

    • 401(K) With Company Matching
    • Performance Bonus
    • Company Equity
  • Professional Development

    • Promote From Within
    • Access to Online Courses
    • Leadership Training Program
    • Associate or Rotational Training Program
    • Mentor Program
  • Diversity and Inclusion

    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program
    • Employee Resource Groups (ERG)

Company Videos

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