Tech Lead, AI Infra Site Reliability Engineer - USDS

Responsibilities

About the team

The USDS JV AI Infra SRE team works with engineering and product teams to build and run large-scale, globally distributed, observable, fault-tolerant systems for Tik Tok state-of-the-Art Recommendation and Search engines. SREs on this team will deliver on production ownership and be responsible for observability and automation across complex, large-scale service mesh architectures.

• Engage in and improve the whole lifecycle of Recommendation and Search systems — from system design consulting through to launch reviews, deployment, operation and refinement
• Deliver tools/software to improve the reliability and scalability of services, automate operations and improve R&D efficiency
• Build availability of large-scale services deployed across global data centers
• Plan, manage and optimize cloud resources utilization, ensuring SLA of large-scale clusters
• Measure and monitor availability, latency and overall service health
• Practice sustainable incident response and postmortems.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or above majoring in Computer Science or related fields, with 5+ years of related work experience
• Experience in SRE of large-scale systems deployment with high reliability and scalability
• Familiar with system operation skills in Linux and network
• Experience programming in at least one of the following languages:
  Python, Perl, Go, or C/C++
• Experience in designing, analyzing and troubleshooting large-scale distributed systems
• Familiar with popular CI/CD procedures and environments
• Effective communication skills and a sense of ownership and drive

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience in SRE for Recommendation Systems, Search, or Advertising platforms.
• Familiarity with the ML lifecycle and inference engines

Tik Tok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm.

We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.

On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.

Inspiring creativity is at the core of Tik Tok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.

We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an  Always Day 1  mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users.

When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Tik Tok 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 Tik Tok, 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…