Senior Research Engineer, AI Agents for Creation Tools

Responsibilities

We are building the next generation of AI-native creation tools powered by intelligent AI agents. Our mission is to transform how people create by embedding agentic AI directly into creative workflows-from AI-powered camera effect generation to AI-driven video editing and storytelling. Our team operates at the intersection of AI research, systems engineering, and creative product development, translating advances in agentic AI into scalable, real-world creation tools used by millions of creators. We work closely with product and design partners to ensure that sophisticated AI systems result in simple, powerful, and intuitive creative experiences. Responsibilities - Research and develop agentic AI systems for creative tools - Design agent architectures for planning, reasoning, memory, and multimodal interaction - Build training, evaluation, benchmarking, and experimentation pipelines for agent systems - Integrate large language models and generative models into end-to-end agent workflows - Prototype new agent capabilities and validate them in real user scenarios - Collaborate with engineering teams to productionize research-driven systems

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field - 3+ years of related industry experience - Strong background in AI agents, LLM systems, or multimodal AI - Experience with model training, evaluation, and experimentation workflows - Strong programming skills in Python, C++, or similar languages - Ability to translate research ideas into practical systems Preferred Qualifications - Research or applied experience with tool-use agents, coding agents, or autonomous task-execution agents - Experience studying or improving agent behaviors such as tool selection, planning with tools, code-based execution, or error recovery - Experience applying AI to creative domains such as camera effects, content creation, or video - Publications or applied research contributions in agentic or generative systems

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency]Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $187040 - $359720 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 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 Accommodation

TikTok 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