Senior Software Engineer - Applied Privacy
TikTok USDS Joint Venture
1 day ago
Full-time
On-site
San Jose, California, United States
$187,040 - $359,720 USD yearly
Engineer
Responsibilities
We are a core Governance Engineering team within the TikTok USDS Joint Venture, enabling data protection, software assurance, content assurance, and governance efficiency for hundreds of millions of U.S. users.
We build and operate scalable privacy and compliance platforms, governance workflows, systems of record, evidence management, code intelligence, and shared services. Through platform engineering, end-to-end development, Agentic automation, developer-first tooling, and applied research, we turn complex governance requirements into reliable, scalable, and auditable solutions.
We’re looking for a hands-on Senior Applied Privacy Engineer to lead applied research within our research-driven privacy and compliance innovation team.
You’ll identify promising technologies, shape research directions, and develop practical solutions to complex governance challenges. Working with Privacy, Security, and Platform Engineering teams, you’ll validate solutions through real-world use cases and transfer proven capabilities to engineering owners for productionization and long-term operation.
Responsibilities
- Lead applied privacy research. Identify high-impact privacy and compliance challenges, prioritize strategic research directions, and evaluate emerging technologies against measurable objectives.
- Design privacy-preserving solutions. Architect and prototype privacy-enhancing technologies, secure computation, intelligent analysis, and governance automation using AI/ML where appropriate.
- Drive rigorous experimentation. Establish research methodologies, evaluation datasets, benchmarks, and success criteria; systematically analyze performance, privacy risks, and technical trade-offs.
- Validate practical applications. Demonstrate technical feasibility and measurable value through working prototypes, controlled implementations, and real governance use cases.
- Drive technology transfer. Partner with engineering teams to transition validated research into reusable capabilities, reference implementations, and integration guidance for production adoption.
- Advance research and technical thought leadership. Develop differentiated technical contributions and share validated findings through publications, open-source work, or industry engagement, subject to appropriate approvals.
- Provide technical leadership. Mentor engineers, lead research and design reviews, collaborate across teams, and communicate technical findings, limitations, and recommendations.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong experience in applied research, experimental design, or engineering innovation involving privacy, security, AI/ML, or data technologies.
- Strong programming skills in Python, Go, Java, or comparable languages, with experience developing substantial software systems and research prototypes.
- Experience designing and evaluating complex technical solutions using measurable criteria, benchmarks, and systematic experimentation.
- Solid understanding of data protection, secure data processing, privacy engineering, or related technical principles.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives, make architectural trade-offs, and collaborate across engineering or research teams.
- Experience translating research findings into practical implementations, reusable software capabilities, or engineering solutions.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with privacy-enhancing technologies such as differential privacy, secure multiparty computation (MPC), private set intersection (PSI), or privacy-preserving computation.
- Experience researching or developing applied AI/ML solutions, including LLMs, intelligent analysis, or agentic automation.
- Experience with emerging privacy and compliance technologies, including privacy risk detection, automated control verification, or compliance automation.
- Experience with AI evaluation, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool integration, MCP-compatible interfaces, or agent orchestration frameworks.
- Experience with advanced data-processing technologies, cryptographic protocols, federated learning, or secure data collaboration.
- Experience transitioning research prototypes into production systems through reference implementations, technical documentation, and engineering collaboration.
- Contributions to technical publications, patents, open-source projects, or other research and engineering innovations.
About USDS
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.
On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.
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 https://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA
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.
We are a core Governance Engineering team within the TikTok USDS Joint Venture, enabling data protection, software assurance, content assurance, and governance efficiency for hundreds of millions of U.S. users.
We build and operate scalable privacy and compliance platforms, governance workflows, systems of record, evidence management, code intelligence, and shared services. Through platform engineering, end-to-end development, Agentic automation, developer-first tooling, and applied research, we turn complex governance requirements into reliable, scalable, and auditable solutions.
We’re looking for a hands-on Senior Applied Privacy Engineer to lead applied research within our research-driven privacy and compliance innovation team.
You’ll identify promising technologies, shape research directions, and develop practical solutions to complex governance challenges. Working with Privacy, Security, and Platform Engineering teams, you’ll validate solutions through real-world use cases and transfer proven capabilities to engineering owners for productionization and long-term operation.
Responsibilities
- Lead applied privacy research. Identify high-impact privacy and compliance challenges, prioritize strategic research directions, and evaluate emerging technologies against measurable objectives.
- Design privacy-preserving solutions. Architect and prototype privacy-enhancing technologies, secure computation, intelligent analysis, and governance automation using AI/ML where appropriate.
- Drive rigorous experimentation. Establish research methodologies, evaluation datasets, benchmarks, and success criteria; systematically analyze performance, privacy risks, and technical trade-offs.
- Validate practical applications. Demonstrate technical feasibility and measurable value through working prototypes, controlled implementations, and real governance use cases.
- Drive technology transfer. Partner with engineering teams to transition validated research into reusable capabilities, reference implementations, and integration guidance for production adoption.
- Advance research and technical thought leadership. Develop differentiated technical contributions and share validated findings through publications, open-source work, or industry engagement, subject to appropriate approvals.
- Provide technical leadership. Mentor engineers, lead research and design reviews, collaborate across teams, and communicate technical findings, limitations, and recommendations.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong experience in applied research, experimental design, or engineering innovation involving privacy, security, AI/ML, or data technologies.
- Strong programming skills in Python, Go, Java, or comparable languages, with experience developing substantial software systems and research prototypes.
- Experience designing and evaluating complex technical solutions using measurable criteria, benchmarks, and systematic experimentation.
- Solid understanding of data protection, secure data processing, privacy engineering, or related technical principles.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives, make architectural trade-offs, and collaborate across engineering or research teams.
- Experience translating research findings into practical implementations, reusable software capabilities, or engineering solutions.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with privacy-enhancing technologies such as differential privacy, secure multiparty computation (MPC), private set intersection (PSI), or privacy-preserving computation.
- Experience researching or developing applied AI/ML solutions, including LLMs, intelligent analysis, or agentic automation.
- Experience with emerging privacy and compliance technologies, including privacy risk detection, automated control verification, or compliance automation.
- Experience with AI evaluation, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool integration, MCP-compatible interfaces, or agent orchestration frameworks.
- Experience with advanced data-processing technologies, cryptographic protocols, federated learning, or secure data collaboration.
- Experience transitioning research prototypes into production systems through reference implementations, technical documentation, and engineering collaboration.
- Contributions to technical publications, patents, open-source projects, or other research and engineering innovations.
About USDS
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.
On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.
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 https://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA
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.