Job Description

Overview

Foundation Model, Research Engineer Graduate (Monetization Technology - Ads Integrity) - 2026 Start (PhD) at TikTok. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis; candidates may apply to more than one position but will be considered in the order of application.

Responsibilities

• Lead research and development of advanced generative AI technologies, including LLMs, multimodal models (text/image/video), and deepfake detection/synthesis, focusing on optimizing performance across pre-training, SFT, RLHF, and AI safety.
• Design and deploy cutting-edge AIGC solutions for content understanding and monetization in diverse applications such as ads, e-commerce, short video, and live streaming, contributing to the creation of next-generation AI-driven ecosystems.
• Drive advancements in LLM-based agents using reinforcement learning to enable autonomous reasoning, planning, and interactive capabilities, addressing real-world challenges in dynamic environments.
• Innovate techniques to improve the efficiency of large-scale model training and inference, including distillation, quantization, and speculative decoding, for scalable and practical deployment in production.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to transition research breakthroughs into production-grade AI services, ensuring robust, low-latency, and cost-effective solutions.
• Stay at the forefront of generative AI research by contributing to patents, publications, and open-source projects, while actively monitoring and contributing to the latest industry trends and innovations.

Qualifications

• Final year Ph.D or recent Ph.D graduates in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or related fields by 2026 (or equivalent industry experience).
• Strong foundational experience in deep learning, NLP, and generative models (LLMs, diffusion models, etc.).
• Hands-on experience with large-scale model training, RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback), and multimodal learning (text, image, video).
• Proficiency in one or more deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow, with familiarity in distributed training frameworks.

• A track record of publications or active research/paper review at top-tier conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, CVPR, etc.) or equivalent.
• Knowledge of AI safety, alignment, and adversarial robustness, with an interest in responsible AI development.
• Experience in developing agentic systems utilizing reinforcement learning.
• Strong engineering skills with the ability to deploy models at scale and optimize for performance.

Additional information

By submitting an application for this role, you accept and agree to our global applicant privacy policy. Job information includes compensation transparency; base salary range is $115,200 - $231,000 annually, with variation by location and qualifications. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company match, parental leave, disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, paid holidays, sick days, and paid personal time. The company reserves the right to modify benefits programs at any time.

For Los Angeles County candidates: Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and California Fair Chance Act. We assess criminal history only where relevant to job duties such as handling confidential information and access to information technology systems.

About TikTok: TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. Our teams are global and diverse, located in multiple offices worldwide.

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