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

Responsibilities

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. We innovate where extreme performance, massive global scale, and uncompromising consistency meet. Responsibilities: You will design, build, and optimize the 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 and fault-tolerant data 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 Qualifications: - 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 is 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 Qualifications: - Search Internals: Direct experience with search engine internals (e.g., Lucene, Elasticsearch, Solr, Vespa) or building custom inverted index/retrieval systems. - Vector Search: Experience with vector database technologies or libraries (FAISS, HNSW, ScaNN). - Storage Engines: Deep understanding of NoSQL and KV stores (Redis, RocksDB, HBase) or columnar storage systems. - Performance Optimization: Proven track record of reducing p99 latency, optimizing memory usage in C++, or driving measurable efficiency gains in high-traffic systems. - Domain Knowledge: Experience working in E-commerce, AdTech, or large-scale consumer platforms.

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency]Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $148200 - $368220 annually.


Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.


Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 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.


For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:


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 for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that 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:


1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;


2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and


3. Exercising sound judgment.


About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.


Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect - and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.


We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.


Diversity & Inclusion


TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.


TikTok Accommodation

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at