Software Engineer, Data Development

Responsibilities
Team Intro

The Security team is missioned to run and operate security infrastructures, platforms and technologies, as well as to support cross-functional teams to protect our users, products and infrastructures. In this team you'll have a unique opportunity to have first-hand exposure to the strategy of the company in key security initiatives, especially in deploying and maintaining scalable and secure-by-design systems and solutions. Our challenges are not your regular day-to-day technical problems; you'll be part of a team that's developing new solutions to new challenges of a kind not previously addressed by big tech. It's working fast, at scale, and we're making a difference.

About the Role

We are seeking a versatile and results-driven Data Engineer to join the USDS Cyber Defense & Engineering team at TikTok. In this role, you'll collaborate with cross-functional teams across regions to develop innovative solutions that strengthen the security and privacy of our users, helping make TikTok the most trusted platform.

The ideal candidate is a strong problem solver with proven technical expertise, business acumen, and a passion for cybersecurity. You thrive in dynamic environments and have a track record of delivering impactful, cross-team projects.

In order to enhance collaboration and cross-functional partnerships, among other things, at this time, our organization follows a hybrid work schedule that requires employees to work in the office 3 days a week, or as directed by their manager/department. We regularly review our hybrid work model, and the specific requirements may change at any time.

Responsibilities

• Identify critical analytical problems and apply an engineering mindset to find innovative solutions with data.

• Develop expertise in the USDS data to build and own relevant pipelines/ETLs.

• Own data integrity, availability, transformation logic, and efficient data access to support the growing needs of the organization.

• Identify gaps in existing data, create data product specs, and implement data tracking.

• Incorporate automation wherever possible to improve data pipelines and analyses.

• Build and maintain documentation to ensure data accessibility

• Be our go-to data expert and have a deep understanding of our data warehouse and data processing layers.

• Be a primary point of contact for ad hoc data requests and reporting

Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Computer Science or another quantitative field

• 5+ years of experience working with data analytics and data engineering, including experience with data cleaning and preprocessing, data analysis and dashboard development.

• Proficiency in distributed data processing using Big Data technologies like Spark/Scala, Hadoop/HDFS/AWS/S3, Cassandra and Kafka.

• Proficiency in ETL , data warehousing, data modeling, data design, SQL, and NoSQL databases

• Proactive, self-driven and impact driven person

• Comfortable with ambiguity; able to thrive with minimal oversight and process

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in Python for Data Science: Strong command of Python libraries essential for data manipulation, analysis, and feature engineering, including Pandas and NumPy.

• Familiarity with Machine Learning Concepts & Libraries: Understanding of core machine learning concepts (e.g., supervised, unsupervised learning, model evaluation) and practical experience with libraries like Scikit-learn for building and integrating basic ML workflows into data pipelines.

• Exposure to Deep Learning Frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow): While not necessarily building models from scratch, an understanding of how these frameworks consume and process data is highly beneficial for designing data pipelines that feed into deep learning models (e.g., for anomaly detection, threat intelligence).

• Experience with MLOps Principles & Tools: Familiarity with concepts like feature stores, model versioning, and continuous integration/delivery for ML pipelines. Experience with tools like MLflow, Kubeflow, or similar platforms for managing the ML lifecycle is a strong plus.

• Data Preparation for AI/ML: Proven ability to prepare, clean, and transform large-scale datasets specifically for machine learning model training and inference, ensuring data quality and consistency.

About USDS
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. U.S. Data Security ("USDS") is a subsidiary of TikTok in the U.S. This new, security-first division was created to bring heightened focus and governance to our data protection policies and content assurance protocols to keep U.S. users safe. Our focus is on providing oversight and protection of the TikTok platform and U.S. user data, so millions of Americans can continue turning to TikTok to learn something new, earn a living, express themselves creatively, or be entertained. The teams within USDS that deliver on this commitment daily span across Trust & Safety, Security & Privacy, Engineering, User & Product Ops, Corporate Functions and more.​

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.​

USDS Reasonable Accommodation
USDS 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 ​

Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $ $259200 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.​