Backend Engineer Graduate (Social Foundation) - 2027 Start

About the Team

The Social Foundation team is the technical bedrock of TikTok’s global ecosystem, dedicated to building a world-class social data platform and industry-leading graph engine. We operate at the forefront of large-scale graph computing, designing the core infrastructure that processes trillions of edges to deliver real-time relationship insights to billions of users. By providing "Graph Data as a Service"—encompassing user connections, interactions, and high-performance counters—we empower TikTok’s diverse business scenarios with millisecond-level multi-hop queries and real-time graph mining. Our mission is to build a robust, overseas graph infrastructure that fuels global connectivity, powering mission-critical features like friend recommendations, live streaming, and risk control to redefine the social experience worldwide.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team. As a graduate, you will get opportunities to pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth. Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by the end of the year. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume. Candidates can apply to a maximum of two positions and will be considered for jobs in the order you apply. The application limit is applicable to our Company and its affiliates' jobs globally. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis - we encourage you to apply early.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-performance data storage and management systems for trillion-scale social graph data, ensuring seamless integration and rapid iteration for mission-critical applications.
• Develop distributed graph database engines capable of handling billions of vertices and trillions of edges, enabling millisecond-level multi-hop queries and real-time graph reasoning.
• Build a real-time graph mining platform to extract social relationships, patterns, clusters, and communities, fueling product strategies and personalized recommendations.
• Lead the integration of the Social Graph with core systems (e.g., recommendation, search, risk control) to support social interactions, live-streaming, and various TikTok business use cases.

Minimum Qualification(s)

• Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related discipline.
• Experienced in building backend services for large-scale consumer-facing applications
• Proficient in at least one of the following languages: Go, Java, C++, Python
• Deep understanding of computer architectures, data structures, and algorithms
• Strong communication and teamwork skills

Preferred Qualification(s)

• Demonstrated software engineering experience from previous internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications
• Curiosity towards new technologies and entrepreneurship
• High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities