Large Recommendation Model Algorithm Engineer Graduate (Global E-Commerce) - 2027 Start (PhD)

About the Team

The E-commerce Recommendation Foundation team is focused on building advanced recommendation intelligence by developing a unified Foundation Model. This model supports multiple business and scenario-based recommendation systems, covering the entire pipeline from retrieval through ranking to re-ranking. Their goal is to significantly elevate intelligence and generative capabilities within recommendations.

They believe that the future of recommendation systems transcends simple click-through prediction and involves understanding interactions between users and content, as well as generating new connections. The team is pioneering an event-sequence-driven generative recommendation approach that deeply integrates large language models (LLMs), multimodal understanding, reinforcement learning, and system optimization to transform recommendation capabilities into general-purpose intelligent agents.

Original exploration is highly valued, fostering an environment that encourages research and engineering excellence. Team members are free to propose and test hypotheses openly, contributing code and publications to define the future paradigm of recommendation systems. The team seeks individuals with broad intelligence thinking to join in shaping the next generation of recommendation technology.

As graduates joining the team, candidates will have the opportunity to explore bold concepts, solve complex problems, and experience extensive growth. Applicants must be able to commit to an onboarding date by the end of the calendar year and explicitly mention availability and graduation dates in their resumes.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance shared Foundation Models that enable unified cross-scenario modeling and efficient inference for recommendation systems.
• Drive advancements in event-sequence-based generative recommendation, integrating multimodal data understanding and generative functionalities.
• Utilize large language model technologies across the retrieval, ranking, and re-ranking phases, supporting model training, inference optimization, and system-level design.
• Investigate ways to merge LLMs and visual language models (VLMs) with recommendation frameworks to create adaptive, evolving intelligent recommenders.
• Research and design end-to-end generative recommendation systems and optimization techniques that maintain a balance between computational efficiency and user experience quality.

Candidate Qualifications

• PhD degree holders or candidates completing a doctorate in Software Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Strong theoretical knowledge in machine learning, deep learning, or information retrieval disciplines.
• Proficient in Python programming and experienced with popular deep learning frameworks like PyTorch.
• High enthusiasm for intelligent recommendation systems coupled with an independent research-driven attitude.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Hands-on experience in building large-scale recommendation systems or large model training, supported by significant technical achievements.
• Research background or publications related to large language models, multimodal learning, reinforcement learning, or generative recommendation methodologies.
• Good understanding of pre-training and fine-tuning workflows for LLMs or Foundation Models.

About TikTok

TikTok is a globally leading platform for short-form mobile video, with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. Headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, TikTok operates offices worldwide including New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Why Join TikTok

TikTok believes in empowering people to authentically express themselves and connect with others, supported by diverse global teams. The culture encourages curiosity, humility, impact-driven work, resiliency, and a continuous learning mindset known as "Always Day 1." Join the team to engage with stimulating challenges, innovate collectively, and achieve exciting breakthroughs with limitless potential.

Diversity and Inclusion

TikTok commits to maintaining a welcoming workplace where all employees are valued regardless of their distinct skills and experiences. The company actively promotes inclusion and celebrates diverse perspectives, reflecting the multifaceted communities its platform serves.