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TikTok · 6 hours ago

Senior Full Stack Engineer - USDS

San Jose, CA

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level

$187K/yr - $360K/yr

5+ years exp

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video, and they are seeking a Senior Full Stack Engineer to join their Cyber Defense & Engineering team. This role focuses on building robust, scalable, and secure distributed systems that support autonomous AI agents, while also contributing to the company's security initiatives.

Content CreatorsContent DiscoveryMedia and EntertainmentSocial MediaVideo

H1B Sponsor Likely

Responsibilities

To succeed in this role, you are expected demonstrate mastery of the following engineering fundamentals:

Backend Engineering & System Architecture

Language Proficiency: Expert-level fluency in Python (FastAPI, Django, or Flask) is mandatory for AI orchestration

API Design: Extensive experience designing RESTful APIs and GraphQL schemas. You understand idempotency, rate limiting, authentication (OAuth2/JWT), and API versioning strategies

Distributed Systems: Deep understanding of microservices architecture, message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or SQS), and asynchronous task processing (Celery, Temporal). You know how to handle race conditions and ensure data consistency across services

Database Design:

Relational: Expert SQL skills (PostgreSQL/MySQL). You can design normalized schemas, optimize complex queries, and understand indexing strategies for performance

NoSQL: Familiarity with key-value stores (Redis for caching/session management) and document stores (MongoDB/DynamoDB) for flexible agent memory

Frontend Engineering

Modern Frameworks: Deep expertise in React (TypeScript) ecosystems. You are comfortable using Next.js for server-side rendering and static site generation

State Management: Proficiency with complex state management libraries (Redux Toolkit, Zustand, or React Query) to handle real-time agent status updates without UI lag

UI/UX Implementation: Ability to implement responsive, accessible designs using modern styling systems (Tailwind CSS, Styled Components, or Material UI). You aren't just "patching" UIs; you build intuitive dashboards for non-technical operators

Infrastructure & DevOps

Containerization: You live in the terminal. Experience writing multi-stage Dockerfiles and managing container orchestration with Kubernetes (Helm charts, kubectl)

CI/CD Pipelines: Experience setting up comprehensive CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) that include automated linting (flake8/black/ESLint), unit testing (PyTest/Jest), and integration testing before deployment

Observability: You build systems that are easy to debug. Experience integrating observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Sentry) to trace requests and monitor system health

The "AI-Native" Layer

While the skills above are the foundation, the following are the "force multipliers" required for this specific team:

Vector Infrastructure: Experience running vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Milvus) in production, including hybrid search (keyword + semantic) strategies

Agent Orchestration: Practical experience with LangChain or LangGraph to manage agent state, memory, and tool execution loops

LLM Integration: Deep familiarity with OpenAI/Anthropic APIs, specifically Function Calling (structured output) and context window management

Qualification

PythonReactKubernetesAPI DesignGoMicroservicesCI/CD PipelinesObservabilityUser ExperienceTeam CollaborationProblem Solving

Required

5+ years of experience in software development with a strong focus on backend systems

Proven proficiency in full stack web development using languages like Python and JavaScript for building robust, scalable applications

Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and drive technical initiatives independently in a dynamic, fast-paced environment

Expert-level fluency in Python (FastAPI, Django, or Flask) is mandatory for AI orchestration

Extensive experience designing RESTful APIs and GraphQL schemas

Deep understanding of microservices architecture, message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or SQS), and asynchronous task processing (Celery, Temporal)

Expert SQL skills (PostgreSQL/MySQL)

Familiarity with key-value stores (Redis for caching/session management) and document stores (MongoDB/DynamoDB)

Deep expertise in React (TypeScript) ecosystems

Proficiency with complex state management libraries (Redux Toolkit, Zustand, or React Query)

Ability to implement responsive, accessible designs using modern styling systems (Tailwind CSS, Styled Components, or Material UI)

Experience writing multi-stage Dockerfiles and managing container orchestration with Kubernetes (Helm charts, kubectl)

Experience setting up comprehensive CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)

Experience integrating observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Sentry)

Experience running vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Milvus) in production

Practical experience with LangChain or LangGraph to manage agent state, memory, and tool execution loops

Deep familiarity with OpenAI/Anthropic APIs, specifically Function Calling (structured output) and context window management

Preferred

Proficiency in Go (Golang) for high-concurrency microservices

Experience in designing or developing automation agents or similar intelligent systems

Demonstrated ability to contribute to architectural design, translate business goals into a technical vision, and make sound, data-driven decisions

Experience with user interface designing keeping user experience at the forefront

Benefits

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

10 paid holidays per year

10 paid sick days per year

17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure)

Company

TikTok

Glassdoor3.4

TikTok is a short-form video entertainment app and social network platform. It is a sub-organization of ByteDance.

Founded in 2003

Los Angeles, California, USA

10001+ employees

https://www.tiktok.com

H1B Sponsorship

TikTok has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)

Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship

Represents job field similar to this job

Trends of Total Sponsorships

2025 (979)

2024 (601)

2023 (387)

2022 (322)

2021 (133)

2020 (72)