Tiktok is hiring thousands of engineers amid big tech layoffs

Short-form video platform TikTok has said that it would add hundreds more new employees in locations across the world, including the US.

In the wake of a global economic slowdown that has seen several Big Tech companies lay off a portion of their workforce, the video platform plans to increase the size of its biggest American engineering hub, which already has more than 1,000 engineers, per a report by CNN citing a source familiar with the matter.

"We have always been more cautious in terms of recruitment. We're still hiring, although at the pace that we think has to correspond with the global challenges that we're facing," TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew was quoted as saying.

The short-form video app has committed to a hiring target of nearly 1,000 more engineers at its Mountain View office. This is related to the company’s goal of ensuring its US user data is overseen by a team based in the United States, and cementing its position in the country, amid scrutiny in Washington due to its parent company ByteDance’s ties to China.

The report also included that TikTok recruiters have approached people recently laid off from rival companies including Meta, which recently announced the layoff of over 11,000 employees or 13% of its workforce, Amazon, with plans to cut overheads accounting for about 10,000 employees and Twitter's 3500 layoffs and many voluntary resignations.

Currently, TikTok has 20,000 people working for it across the globe and has about 4,370 jobs currently listed on its career portal. The list included numerous positions in Mountain View as well as in Seattle, Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. However, it’s uncertain how often the site is updated.