
Tech Lead Research Scientist/Software Engineer, TikTok-Neural Graphics and World Models
Job description
About the Team
Join the AI-3D engine team, where we push the boundaries of digital interaction by developing a proprietary next-generation neural engine for games and other interactive content experiences across TikTok and future creative platforms.
Our goal is to move beyond traditional graphics pipelines, where geometry, animation, physics, materials, lighting, and rendering are primarily driven by handcrafted systems. We are exploring an AI-native graphics engine in which learned systems can generate and represent scenes, animate characters, simulate behavior, synthesize visual output, and continuously update interactive worlds in response to user intent and changing context. This engine should enable digital worlds that are persistent, controllable, physically coherent, editable, and responsive.
We are looking for a Tech Lead Research Scientist / Engineer to develop AI models, neural representations, data strategies, and evaluation methods for our neural graphics system.
This is a hands-on research role for candidates who combine current ML expertise with depth in 3D or graphics domain. Depending on your primary focus track, you may define research directions and build AI models, data strategies, evaluation systems, or interactive prototypes across generative modeling, world models, 3D modeling and representations, animation, simulation, and rendering.
Strong candidates combine research judgment with hands-on engineering ability: they can identify an important modeling problem, translate it into concrete research and engineering milestones, run rigorous experiments, and work with engineering teams to turn successful results into interactive, reliable engine capabilities.
Job Responsibilities
- Lead research directions in one or more areas of neural graphics, world models, 3D modeling, animation, simulation, or rendering.
- Develop, train, adapt, and evaluate AI models and representations for interactive graphics and world-generation systems.