Tech Lead, Senior Machine Learning Engineer - TikTok Search Algorithms (NLP, Ranking, Relevance, Understanding, User Engagement)

On the TikTok Search Team, you will have the opportunity to develop and apply cutting edge machine learning technologies in real-time large-scale systems, which serve billions of search requests every day. Via advanced NLP and multi-modal models, our projects impact and improve the search experience for hundreds of millions of users globally. We embrace a culture of self-direction, intellectual curiosity, openness, and problem-solving.

We use cutting-edge machine learning techniques for end-to-end modeling and continuous innovation. The team focuses on building and optimizing distributed systems and machine learning systems, ranging from index compression, retrieving, and ranking algorithms. Our main areas of work include:
1. Exploring state-of-the-art NLP (Natural Language Processing) technologies: From basic tasks like tokenization and Named Entity Recognition (NER) to applications such as query understanding and core relevance, we apply deep learning models across the entire pipeline, each detail filled with challenges.
2. Cross-modal modeling technology: Applying computer vision (CV) and NLP deep learning techniques in search to enhance video retrieval and ranking capabilities.
3. Large-scale streaming machine learning technology: Applying large-scale machine learning to address recommendation issues in search, making search more personalized and understanding user preferences better.
4. Architecture at the scale of hundreds of billions of data: From large-scale offline computation, performance and scheduling optimization in distributed systems, to building highly available, high-throughput, and low-latency online services, we delve deep into research and innovation in all aspects.

We are looking for strong research scientists and engineers at all levels, who are excited about growing their business understanding, building highly scalable and reliable software, and partnering across disciplines with global teams, in pursuit of excellence.

What you'll do
• Optimize the search quality to provide TikTok's users with the best search experience
• Combine your understanding of product objectives and take full advantage of modern machine learning and information retrieval techniques to improve search quality and perception
• Build core systems and algorithms development including query understanding, result ranking, query recommendation, system reliability, etc.
• Provide technical leadership to drive search strategy iterations including query understanding, recall & ranking, query recommendation, reliability, etc.
• Provide guidance, regular feedback, and mentorship to team members.

Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor or advanced degree in computer science or a related technical discipline
• Proficient coding skills and strong algorithm & data structure basis
• Machine learning experience in one or more of the following areas: NLP, Ranking, Ads, search engine, recommender system, and machine learning
• Effective communication and teamwork skills.

Preferred Qualifications:
• 5+ years of solid related industry experience in Search, Recommendation, or Ads