TikTok

Research Scientist Graduate (TikTok Recommendation-Agentic AI) - 2026 Start (PhD)

TikTok$156K — $387K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Final-year Ph.D. candidate or recent Ph.D. graduate in Computer Science or related field.
  • Hands-on experience in reinforcement learning, agent development, or LLM post-training.
  • Strong ability to blend cutting-edge research with practical applications.
  • Publications in top-tier academic conferences such as NeurIPS or ICML are preferred.
  • Internship or project experience in relevant areas is a plus.

Responsibilities

  • Design and construct reinforcement learning datasets for recommendation systems.
  • Explore and optimize reinforcement learning algorithms for scalability.
  • Develop training and inference frameworks for advanced models.
  • Research agentic recommendation systems and generative models.
  • Stay updated on state-of-the-art advancements and apply findings to real-world scenarios.

Benefits

  • Day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance.
  • 401(k) savings plan with company match.
  • Paid parental leave and disability coverage.
  • 10 paid holidays and 10 paid sick days annually.
  • 17 days of Paid Personal Time with increasing accruals by tenure.
Full Job Description
Responsibilities

Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by end of year 2026 We will prioritize candidates who are able to commit to these start dates. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage you to apply early. Responsibilities: - Design and construct reinforcement learning datasets tailored for recommendation scenarios. - Explore and optimize reinforcement learning algorithms, and develop scalable training and inference frameworks. - Conduct research on agentic recommendation systems and generative recommendation models. - Stay up to date to the latest SoTA advancements in relevant areas, and translate research ideas into real-world applications.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications: - Final-year Ph.D. candidate or recent Ph.D. graduate in Computer Science or a related field. - Strong knowledge and hands-on experience in at least one of the following areas: reinforcement learning, agent development, or LLM post-training. - Passion for exploring cutting-edge research topics and bridging theory with practice. Preferred Qualifications: - Publications in accredited academia conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, IJCAI, RecSys, KDD, WWW, or WSDM. - Internship or project experience related to reinforcement learning, agent-based systems, or LLM alignment/post-training.

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency]Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $156000 - $387600 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 a social media app that allows users to create and share short videos. The app was launched in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance. TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with over 1 billion active users. The app has been downloaded over 2 billion times worldwide. TikTok has faced controversy over its data privacy practices and its potential ties to the Chinese government. In 2020, the app faced a potential ban in the United States, but a deal was reached with Oracle and Walmart to create a new company called TikTok Global.
Learn more about TikTok
Size
1,750 employees
Industry
Founded
2012

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