Applied Researcher, Vision Language Models/VLM - Tik Tok

2 months ago• San Jose, CA
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About Us

Tik Tok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video and our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.
Size: 5001-10000 employees

Industry: Entertainment & Gaming, Social Media, Technology

Responsibilities:

Our Foundations and Intelligence Service R&D team is fast growing and responsible for building state-of-the-art foundation models, such as LLM, VLM and Omni Models. Our mission is to build a bridge for collaboration between foundation models and downstream business scenarios, and use foundation model powered world knowledge to enhance better user experiences across Tik Tok, including content moderation, search and recommendations, client AI, etc.
We are looking for researchers in LLM, VLM and Omni Model domain who are experienced in single/multi-modality LLM/VLM pretraining and applications, including evaluations, data processing and recipes for pre-training and post-training, reinforcement learning based alignment, efficient training and inference. There are no doubt a lot of unsolved problems in the LLM domain which could have a huge impact on industry and academia. In Tik Tok, we have real applications, resources and patience for technology incubation.

• Your main responsibilities will be
• Lead, collaborate and execute on research that pushes forward state-of-the-art in multimodal reasoning and generation research
• Enhance VLM with specialized features like OCR and captioning to optimize performance for Tik Tok business applications
• Explore the model architecture and inference-efficient model design to enable scaled application in downstream Tik Tok business
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to plan and implement projects harnessing VLMs for diverse purposes and vertical domains
• Extend the insights and impact from industry to academia

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field

• Strong understanding of cutting-edge LLM research (e.g., long context, multi modality, alignment research, agent ecosystem, etc.) and possess practical expertise in effectively implementing these advanced systems as a plus

• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Rust, or C++ and a track record of working with deep learning frameworks (e.g., pytorch, deepspeed, megatron, vllm, etc.).

• Strong understanding of distributed computing framework & performance tuning and verification for training/finetuning/inference; Being familiar with PEFT, RL, MoE, CoT or Langchain is a plus.

• Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent problem-solving skills and a creative mindset to address complex AI challenges. Demonstrated ability to drive research projects from idea to implementation, producing tangible outcomes.

• Published research papers or contributions to the LLM community would be a significant plus.

• Experience with inference tuning and Inference acceleration. Have a deep understanding of GPU and/or other AI accelerators, experience with large scale AI networks, pytorch 2.0 and similar technologies.

• Experience with evaluation of AI systems, LLM application & agent development is desirable.

Job InformationFor Pay Transparency Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $208800 - $616000 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.

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Client-provided location(s): San Jose, CA

Job ID: Tik Tok-7574962733457443125

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-11-22T20:21:37
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Perks and Benefits

Health and Wellness

• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• HSA
• Life Insurance
• Fitness Subsidies
• Short-Term Disability
• Long-Term Disability
• On-Site Gym
• Mental Health Benefits
• Virtual Fitness Classes

Parental Benefits

• Fertility Benefits
• Adoption Assistance Program
• Family Support Resources

Work Flexibility

• Flexible Work Hours
• Hybrid Work Opportunities

Office Life and Perks

• Casual Dress
• Snacks
• Pet-friendly Office
• Happy Hours
• Some Meals Provided
• Company Outings
• On-Site Cafeteria
• Holiday Events

Vacation and Time Off

• Paid Vacation
• Paid Holidays
• Personal/Sick Days
• Leave of Absence

Financial and Retirement

• 401(K) With Company Matching
• Performance Bonus
• Company Equity

Professional Development

• Promote From Within
• Access to Online Courses
• Leadership Training Program
• Associate or Rotational Training Program
• Mentor Program

Diversity and Inclusion

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program
• Employee Resource Groups (ERG)

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