Sr. Research Engineer​/Scientist Efficient Models

Responsibilities

About the team:
The Vision‑Applied Research team focuses on applied research in Generative AI and CV/Multimodal Understanding, delivering intelligent solutions to Tik Tok products and enabling users to make and share creative content more easily.

The team has research groups dedicated to generative models for content creation, image generation, video synthesis, intelligent image/video editing, and virtual humans.

The Research Engineer / Scientist will take initiatives in designing and implementing efficient models for large‑scale generative AI, focusing on distillation and compression.

• Develop efficient algorithms and architectures for large‑scale generative and multimodal models using step distillation, cfg distillation, quantization and other techniques.
• Advance scalable generative modeling approaches, including diffusion and autoregressive models, with a focus on acceleration and efficiency.
• Build and maintain distillation frameworks, model acceleration pipelines, hardware‑efficient inference, and their applications.

• B.S. in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Expertise in efficient models with deep understanding of computational bottlenecks and acceleration methods.
• Proficiency in training generative AI or LLM models using PyTorch and JAX.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills in fast‑paced environments.

• Ph.D. in GenAI, MLSys or equivalent experience.
• Extensive research experience in GenAI, MLSys, or LLM areas.
• Proven experience in at least one of the following: image/video generation and editing; model compression (quantization, step/cfg distillation); efficient architectures (MoE, window attention); efficient model design; or reinforcement learning training methods (RLHF, DPO, GRPO).

Compensation: $232,560 - $427,500 annually (base salary range). Additional discretionary bonuses, restricted stock units may also be available.

Benefits:
Medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k) with company match, paid parental leave, short‑term and long‑term disability, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, 10 paid holidays, 10 paid sick days, and 17 days of paid personal time (pro‑rated). Additional benefits may vary by location.

EEO:
The company is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants with disabilities, pregnancy, religious beliefs or other protected reasons may request accommodations. The company reserves the right to change benefit programs at any time.