Software Development Engineer, Streaming Media
TikTok
San Jose, CA · Posted November 13, 2026
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TikTok has filed one layoff notice in the last twelve months, covering 250 workers, most recently August 2026. These are public filings with state labor departments, and an open role can sit alongside them. See the filings
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About the job
About the Team: The Media Network team is building an industry-leading real-time media distributed system that plays a critical role in TikTok’s live streaming and RTC scenarios. Serving billions of users worldwide, our network is among the largest real-time media networks globally. Join the Media Network team to work on large-scale distributed systems and help deliver an exceptional real-time media experience to TikTok users.
Responsibilities: - Design and implement high-performance, latency-sensitive media servers. - Optimize network efficiency for media delivery, balancing cost and quality. - Design, implement, and optimize media protocols, while staying current with industry trends. - Leverage AI technologies to enhance streaming media scenarios and improve the flexibility and performance of the Media Network. - Design and build resilient, decoupled systems to minimize single points of failure and improve overall reliability.
Minimum Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. - Hands-on experience with streaming transport protocols such as RTP/RTCP, RTMP, DASH, and CMAF. - Familiarity with audio and video codec standards, including OPUS, AAC, and H.264. - Solid understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, NAT, IPv4/IPv6, routing protocols, and packet processing (e.g., iptables, deep packet inspection). - Proficiency in at least one programming language: C, C++, Java, Python, Rust, or Go.
Preferred Qualifications - Experience with CDN, multimedia systems, live streaming, or WebRTC. - Experience building or operating large-scale distributed systems.