Powering an engine for discovery

As the director of global product partnerships and platform strategy at TikTok, Ramirez works to enhance the user experience and unlock new functionality across the platform. His portfolio spans TikTok Music, Live, Search, Open Platform and User Growth, as well as AI-driven initiatives.

“There is the perception that people go to TikTok to consume, but that’s not the case,” he says. “They come to TikTok for entertainment, discovery, learning and decision-making, to see what’s happening in the world and to stay informed.”

One discovery Ramirez has made: new music. In 2021, Ramirez and his team began considering the question: What is TikTok’s true impact on the music industry beyond a quick snippet of sound?

“People were searching on other platforms on their own by typing in ‘what is this TikTok song’ or ‘Rihanna TikTok song,’” he says. “We built a solution that closes a clear user experience gap. As users save artists and music on TikTok and we see those trends propagate beyond our platform, it reinforces a compelling proof point around TikTok’s cultural and commercial impact.”

Ramirez has also played a significant role in the growth of TikTok Search, transforming it into a more authoritative, trusted source for users.

“At the very beginning, someone would search a celebrity, for example Taylor Swift, and there were only user-generated videos about Taylor Swift,” he says. “We created a strategy to connect users with sources that have the authority to give information and allow users to learn more. It’s exciting to see how much TikTok Search has grown and how user behavior evolves as a result.”

At TikTok, Ramirez has led similar partnerships across a range of sectors, including weather, live experiences, finance and more.

He credits his finance professor in the University at Buffalo School of Management, Derek Mohr, for helping him visualize a career in technology.

“I once expressed to Professor Mohr that I wanted to work for a tech company, on cutting-edge technology, surrounded by other young people who inspired me,” he says. “He told me to pick one of those companies and just go for it. His advice helped me envision my future — and he was right.”

Shortly after graduation, Ramirez began his career at Twitter, where he was an associate partner solutions manager in ad tech. He quickly advanced at Twitter until he was promoted to senior strategy partnership relationship manager in 2020. The following year, he accepted a new role as lead strategic partner manager at TikTok.

His current role at TikTok also helps their parent company, ByteDance, commercialize their AI offerings. And, he has increasingly incorporated AI into his own strategic process. Over the past three years, he has built an AI thought partner and encourages his team to do the same.

“For the past three years, I’ve treated AI as a thought partner, starting with my own ideas and strategy, then leveraging AI to stress-test the logic, uncover blind spots and improve decision quality.”

He encourages future UB School of Management graduates to stay curious even as the world becomes more digital and automated.

“It is especially important right now to exercise curiosity,” he says. “At the core of what we ask in the tech industry is how can we make people’s lives better through technology — and we have to be very thoughtful about how we do so. How can we improve health, what can we learn and how can we automate certain processes? That sense of possibility is what excites me about the tech industry.”

Written by Alexandra Richter