Machine Learning Engineer (Data-Search-TikTok Recommendation - Seattle) - 2026 Start (PhD)

The Search Growth E-commerce team is at the forefront of developing the search recommendation algorithm for TikTok's rapidly expanding global e-commerce enterprise. Utilizing cutting-edge machine learning technology, advanced NLP, CV, recommendation, and multi-modal technology, we're shaping a pioneering engine within the industry. Our objective is to deliver the ultimate e-commerce search experience to over 1 billion active TikTok users worldwide. Our mission: to create a world where "there are no hard-to-sell, overpriced products."

Responsibilities:
Participate in the improvement of the search core algorithm, possible directions include:
• Content understanding/matching: Applying the industry's cutting-edge NLP and CV technology to match the most relevant videos for each search query, and continuously improve the relevance of TikTok search.
• User Behavior Modeling: solving the recommendation problem in search, let TikTok search increase the ability of personalization on the basis of "relevant", and understand users better.
• Video understanding: comprehensive use of NLP, CV, and other technologies for better video understanding from the perspective of the video itself and social network, improve the authority, credibility, and usefulness of search results.