Software Engineer - Infrastructure, TikTok Search Engine

San Jose, California, US Until 8/21/2026 2+ years exp H-1B sponsor history First posted March 29, 2026 Last posted March 29, 2026
Job description

Description

About the Team
Our Search Team is responsible for building and owning TikTok's search engine, which provides our users the best search experience.

On the TikTok Search Team, you’ll have the opportunity to build a full-stack search engine system and combine information retrieval technology with modern machine learning methods from related fields such as NLP, CV, and recommender system. We embrace a culture of self-direction, intellectual curiosity, openness, and problem-solving.

Responsibilities
• Optimize the searching quality to provide TikTok's users 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 the core systems and algorithms development including query understanding, result ranking, query recommendation, system reliability, and etc.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications
• BS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other relevant majors
• At least 2+ years of experience in developing and implementing large-scale consumer-facing services/products and/or building backend services for large-scale consumer-facing applications
• Proficiency in the following languages but not limited to: C/C++, Python, Java or Golang
• Effective team communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications
• Working knowledge in one of the following or similar domains: search, recommendation, ranking, ads, etc.
• Working knowledge in one of the following areas: machine learning, deep learning, backend, large-scale systems, data science, full-stack
• Experience with Big Data Frameworks, such as hadoop, spark, flink, etc.

About this role

Summary

Develop and optimize TikTok's search engine using ML, info retrieval, and backend systems.

Job title

Software Engineer - Infrastructure, TikTok Search Engine

Experience level

2+ years

Minimum experience

2+ years exp

Industry

software

Location requirements

Remote work allowed, based in San Jose, California, USA

Salary

Not specified

Visa sponsorship

H-1B sponsor history

Management role

No

Skills & keywords

Required skills

C/C++PythonJavaGolangcommunication

Preferred skills

searchrecommendationrankingmachine learningbig data frameworks

Specializations

searchinformation retrievalmachine learningNLPrecommender system
Locations

Structured locations inferred from the posting.

California, USA

Remote State

San Jose, CA, USA

On-site City