Senior Software Engineer, Ads - Core Infra - USDS

Responsibilities About the team

The ads system at Tik Tok operates on a massive scale and serves millions of advertisers, clients and influencers across the world. The quality of the ads system highly depends on the ability to handle massive data, and machine learning is widely used to improve the quality of our ads. The USDS Ads Infra team is responsible for building highly efficient, scalable and stable infrastructure to support Ads machine learning, ranking and big data systems.

We are seeking innovative Software Engineers to drive our technology forward. You will spearhead key projects and elevate the team through strong technical leadership.

• Lead projects committed to building, optimizing and operating automation procedures and efficiency toolings to empower large-scale Ads ranking, machine learning, data processing and storage systems.
• Develop backend services and platform capabilities that improve engineering efficiency, Dev Ops maturity, and the overall developer experience.
• Continuously optimize systems and infrastructure to improve availability, observability, maintainability, and performance.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to team members and project peers.
• Communicate cross-functionally across various teams, organizations and internal and external stakeholders to drive engineering efforts.
• Lead the innovation efforts, and bring in new ideas and technologies.

• Bachelor's degree or above, major in computer science or related technical disciplines.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or developing complex and scalable distributed systems.
• Experience in network architecture, database modeling, cloud systems and large-scale distributed systems.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and a strong ability to debug complex systems.
• Ability to think critically and to formulate solutions to problems in a clear and concise way;
• Effective communication skills and a sense of ownership and drive.
• Experience in managing projects.

• Experience in Ads domain.
• Experience with building large-scale ranking and machine learning infrastructure.
• Experience of Peta Byte level data processing.

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…