Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Recommendations - USDS

Responsibilities

We are a group of applied machine learning engineers and data scientists that focus on general feed recommendations and E-commerce recommendations. We are developing innovative algorithms and techniques to improve user engagement and satisfaction, converting creative ideas into business-impacting solutions. We are interested and excited in applying large scale machine learning to solve various real-world problems.

What you will do:

• Participate in building large-scale (10 million to 100 million) recommendation algorithms and systems, including commodity recommendations, live stream recommendations, short video recommendations etc in Tik Tok.
• Build long and short term user interest models, analyze and extract relevant information from large amounts of various data and design algorithms to explore users' latent interests efficiently.
• Design, develop, evaluate and iterate on predictive models for candidate generation and ranking (eg. Click Through Rate and Conversion Rate prediction) , including, but not limited to building real-time data pipelines, feature engineering, model optimization and innovation.
• Design and build supporting/debugging tools as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science or related fields.
• Strong programming and problem‑solving ability.
• Experience in applied machine learning, familiar with one or more of the algorithms such as Collaborative Filtering, Matrix Factorization, Factorization Machines, Word2vec, Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting Trees, Deep Neural Networks, Wide and Deep etc.
• Experience in Deep Learning Tools such as tensor flow/pytorch.
• Experience with at least one programming language like C++/Python or equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in recommendation system, online advertising, information retrieval, natural language processing, machine learning, large-scale data mining, or related fields.
• Publications at KDD, NeurlPS,(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). SIGIR, WSDM, ICML, IJCAI, AAAI, RECSYS and related conferences/journals, or experience in data mining/machine learning competitions such as Kaggle/KDD-cup etc.

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…