Ok boomer. That’s what people seem to say these days when you tell them you don’t own a TikTok account.
TikTok might just be the buzzword for 2021 in Singapore. Many influencers have started sharing their TikTok handles, and for our national day song, there was also a TikTok dance movement that went viral.
This year’s Olympic Games, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, who is also the Singapore National Olympic Council president, posted videos of himself on TikTok, as well as interviews with Singapore’s darling swimmers Joseph Schooling and Quah Zheng Wen.
Not only has this new social media platform crept into Singaporeans’ daily lives, this Chinese-owned company is also expanding into Singapore and currently hiring hundreds of jobs for its local office.
On TikTok’s careers site, it states that there are over 500 jobs available in Singapore. Job roles range from engineers, AI specialists, to e-commerce, product managers, and marketers.
The social media business also lists 546 new job opportunities in Singapore on its LinkedIn page.
The tech giant has clearly stated its intentions to grow the Singapore office into its Asia hub.
Singapore is one of the global offices of TikTok, among other Asian cities including Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo. It also has global offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London.
Building Asia operations in Singapore
Last year, ByteDance, the Chinese owner of video app TikTok moved to a bigger office in Singapore’s financial district. It signed an agreement to lease three floors measuring over 60,000 square feet at One Raffles Quay.
The move was supposed to support Bytedance’s hiring spree and its plans to add hundreds of jobs from 2020 to 2024 in the country.
Based on government data checker OpenGovSg, TikTok lists its Singapore office at 1 Raffles Quay, on the 26th floor. The business activity that it is registered under in Singapore states: For the development of software for interactive digital media (except games).
Last year, TikTok was reported to be looking to spend several billion dollars in the city-state, after the tech firm was forced to sell its US TikTok operations due to increased hostility to Chinese firms there.
The new job openings in Singapore range from frontend to backend. Some of the positions are based in the city but will deal with issues in other Southeast Asian countries, according to its career site.
Engineering roles
TikTok said it is building up an engineering team for core TikTok products in Singapore, to ensure the company continues healthy growth and to deliver the best product experience to all users.
The company is hiring test engineers to design, develop, and implement functionality testing for iOS and Android, and the service of mobile applications. Engineers must have two years of testing experience and excellent problem-solving skills, among other things.
There are also software engineer and backend engineer roles, and requirements include a deep understanding of computer architectures and algorithms.
E-commerce, product managers
As it builds its TikTok shop, the firm is ramping up hiring individuals who are experts in e-commerce.
TikTok aims to grow its livestream e-commerce ecosystem and is looking for e-commerce business product managers who can identify business opportunities and solutions for its product.
It is also hiring e-commerce operations managers to gather and interpret data, as well as to help optimise overall business processes. The role also involves conducting market research. Seller operation experience is preferred.
Client-facing, marketing positions
The social media giant is looking for brand strategists to beef up its marketing department. The individual will be required to design and execute sales enablement materials. It is also hiring marketing managers to serve clients of TikTok and develop advertising campaigns on the platform.
It is hiring product managers to work on building the TikTok product to deliver the best experience for live streamers and audiences.
Compliance and analysts
The company is looking for compliance advisors to ensure compliance consistency with country regulations across the Asia Pacific. The advisors are required to liaise with local governments and institutions to clarify compliance requirements.
Data scientists are also in demand, and the hired professionals will help to design analysis frameworks according to TikTok’s business objectives and produce executable data insights.
TikTok is also hiring risk analysts, to perform investigations and analyse disputed transactions to support the global payments team. The individuals will have to discover potential risk trends by analysing cases and fraud alerts.
Interns
The media giant is also hiring interns, from software engineering and backend engineering, to organisational culture and employer branding roles.
There are also business roles like monetisation strategy internships up for grabs. The talents will be required to support the business team’s monetization strategy development and conduct market research.
There are two rounds of internship cycles open and candidates must be able to commit to one of the two. The off-cycle internship is 20 weeks long and starts from January next year till May, while the summer internship will last for 12 weeks, from May till July next year.
A great place to work in, according to employees
There’s no official site to show how many employees TikTok has, but a report last year noted that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has about 60,000 employees worldwide, with most of them based in China.
Last year, Bytedance reported a revenue of US$37 billion, boosted by ad revenues from its products like China’s version of TikTok, Douyin, and TikTok, supported by more streaming online and the stay-at-home economy.
The only site that indicates how many people TikTok employs is its LinkedIn, which shows that it has more than 10,000 workers.
Working for a multinational corporation would have its perks, like a well-structured welfare and benefits package, as well as leave and medical claims systems in place. It also means having opportunities to travel for work to other offices across the globe for team meetings, when Covid-19 eases.
On employee rating site Glassdoor, TikTok is rated almost four out of five stars. 79 per cent of employees at TikTok say it has a great workplace culture.
On employee experience advisory greatplacetowork.com, it notes that the company makes employees feel welcome, and gives them a strong sense of responsibility. Almost nine out of 10 employees are proud to tell others he or she works there.
New business risks
As per all new technology, it will face regulatory hurdles and scrutiny as it navigates uncharted territory.
The company has been banned or blocked in some countries like Pakistan and was banned for a short time in Bangladesh due to “immoral/indecent” content.
Some countries have also placed restrictions on the company for public safety. For example, in February, TikTok agreed with Italian authorities to block all users under 13, among other measures, after a 10-year-old girl died from a breath-holding social media challenge.
TikTok has been stepping up its checks and balances on content and security screening. On its website, TikTok states that it is actively working to ensure that it does not enable activities that violate laws or regulations.
“We prohibit the trade, sale, promotion, and use of certain regulated goods, as well as the depiction, promotion, or facilitation of criminal activities, including human exploitation.”
Featured Image Credit: BestinSingapore