Backend Software Engineer
TikTok
Backend Software Engineer
TikTok
Short-form video platform with ads
With the enormous growth of live streaming, TikTok LIVE aims to inspire real-time interactions and help creators connect with audiences around the world. TikTok LIVE Data Platform builds the data and AI infrastructure that supports product experience, business operations, and internal decision making across LIVE. Our work covers the Index Platform, Label Platform, Portrait Platform, Diagnostic Platform, Data Asset Management Platform, Data Suite, Data Agent, and AI-native data solutions for internal and business users. The platform serves data applications across TikTok LIVE, including data processing, OLAP analytics, data visualization, intelligent diagnostics, and AI-powered analytics workflows. The backend systems involve large-scale streaming processing, offline pipelines, OLAP storage such as ClickHouse and Doris, KV storage, data APIs, and high-performance services that power user-facing products and internal platforms such as agency backstage systems. We are looking for passionate backend engineers to design and build reliable, scalable, and high-performance distributed systems. You will work closely with product managers, data engineers, AI engineers, and infrastructure teams to deliver data products that turn complex data into actionable insights and enable the next generation of AI-native data applications. Responsibilities: - Design, develop, and maintain backend services, data APIs, and distributed systems for TikTok LIVE Data Platform. - Build and optimize large-scale data products, including analytics platforms, diagnostic systems, BI tools, data asset management systems, and Data Agent capabilities. - Develop robust and efficient backend architecture for real-time and offline data processing, OLAP analytics, data services, and internal business applications. - Explore and apply AI-native engineering practices, including LLM-powered analytics, intelligent diagnostics, agent workflows, tool calling, and automation, to improve product capability and engineering productivity. - Plan and lead technical projects that support the iterative development and scaling of early-stage and high-impact products. - Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate product and business requirements into scalable technical solutions. - Contribute to engineering strategy, system reliability, developer tooling, testing, performance optimization, and team culture.
Minimum Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science or a related technical discipline. - Strong software engineering fundamentals, including solid understanding of computer architecture, data structures, algorithms, and system design. - Experience building scalable, highly available, distributed, and mission-critical backend systems. - Hands-on experience with at least one backend programming language such as Go, Java, Python, or C++. - Good understanding of databases, data modeling, storage systems, and service-oriented architecture. - Strong problem-solving ability, ownership, communication skills, and willingness to learn in a fast-paced environment. - Able to work closely with product, data, AI, infrastructure, and business stakeholders across regions. Preferred Qualification: - 3 years or more of relevant backend engineering experience in a large-scale internet business. - Experience building data platforms, data infrastructure, or data-intensive applications, with familiarity in systems such as Spark, Flink, Kafka, ClickHouse, Doris, Elasticsearch, or similar technologies. - Experience with real-time data processing, offline pipelines, OLAP analytics, high-concurrency services, or large-scale distributed storage systems. - Hands-on experience building AI-native applications or AI Agents, with practical knowledge of agent architecture, orchestration, tool calling, memory, planning, or evaluation methodologies.
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 is a short-form mobile video platform that lets people create, discover, and share quick videos. Users upload vertical clips, edit them with built-in tools, and browse a personalized feed powered by an algorithm that highlights relevant content. Advertisers can use in-feed ads, branded hashtags, and the Business Center to plan and measure campaigns, making it easy for brands to reach a global audience. Its goal is to inspire creativity and bring joy by helping people express themselves and by connecting brands with a wide audience.
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