Software Engineer - Global E-Commerce Search Infrastructure (TikTok Shop)

Software Engineer – Global E-Commerce Search Infrastructure (TikTok Shop) Location: Seattle Employment Type: Regular Job Code: A08571 About the Team Search is no longer just a feature—it is the defining battleground that will determine whether TikTok Shop becomes the first truly global e‑commerce super‑app. Our Search platform is the core engine behind the "shelf‑field" (product card) strategy, and the key to competing head‑to‑head with Amazon, Taobao, and Pinduoduo in a global market worth over $10 trillion. Search will propel TikTok Shop from tens of billions to hundreds of billions in annual GMV by activating real shopping intent, unlocking zero‑sales products, and ensuring every item becomes instantly discoverable the moment a user types or taps. Responsibilities Design, build, and optimize core infrastructure that supports TikTok Shop’s recall, ranking, and re‑ranking pipelines globally. Core Search Engine Development: design and implement high‑performance online retrieval systems; optimize core components including the inverted index, vector retrieval (ANN/HNSW), query understanding, and merger logic. Real‑Time Data Pipelines: build highly scalable, fault‑tolerant pipelines using Flink, Kafka, and Spark to ensure product changes (price, stock, and new listings) are reflected in search results in near real‑time. System Stability & Performance: drive latency, throughput, and cost optimizations for services handling hundreds of thousands of QPS; troubleshoot complex distributed system issues, manage cross‑region failover, and design high‑availability disaster recovery solutions. Large‑Scale Storage & Retrieval: design and optimize distributed storage libraries (based on RocksDB/Redis) and columnar databases tailored for high‑speed e‑commerce feature retrieval. ML Infrastructure Collaboration: work closely with Algorithm/ML Engineers to productionize state‑of‑the‑art Large Language Models (LLMs), AI Search, and multi‑modal search models, ensuring the infrastructure supports massive model serving and real‑time feature engineering. Qualifications Minimum: Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field. At least 3 years of hands‑on experience building large‑scale distributed systems, search engines, or low‑latency online services. Strong coding proficiency in C++, Go, or Java (C++/Go heavily preferred for core infra roles). Deep understanding of computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, operating systems, network programming, and multi‑threading. Experience with distributed system technologies, such as RPC frameworks (gRPC/Thrift), message queues (Kafka), and stream processing (Flink/Spark). Preferred: Search internals experience (e.g., Lucene, Elasticsearch, Solr, Vespa) or building custom inverted index/retrieval systems. Preferred: Vector search experience with FAISS, HNSW, ScaNN. Preferred: Storage engines knowledge (Redis, RocksDB, HBase) or columnar storage systems. Preferred: Proven track record of reducing p99 latency, optimizing memory usage in C++, or driving measurable efficiency gains in high‑traffic systems. Preferred: Domain knowledge in e‑commerce, AdTech, or large‑scale consumer platforms. Job Information The base salary range for this position in Seattle is $148,200 - $368,220 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package and may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives and restricted stock units. Benefits: day‑one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) savings plan with company match; paid parental leave; short‑term and long‑term disability coverage; life insurance; wellbeing benefits; 10 paid holidays per year; 10 paid sick days per year; 17 days of paid personal time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure). The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice. Equal Opportunity & Background Check Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment: Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information, including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems. Exercising sound judgment. #J-18808-Ljbffr TikTok