Trust and Safety Team Lead - USDS

About the role

As a Trust and Safety Team Lead, you are responsible for leading content safety agents who will be reviewing content to ensure it adheres to established community guidelines. You will also review TikTok content, often graphic, controversial, and sometimes offensive in nature, and enforce policy decisions related to content in line with TikTok’s Community Guidelines.

You will be on the front lines, handling sensitive, complex user-facing issues to protect the platform and keep users safe. This role requires an effective communicator who can work with employees and leadership at all levels of the organization to assist in meeting business unit goals and objectives.

Leadership

• Ability to adjust leadership style according to the situation, meeting the needs of the team
• Ability to lead with empathy, promote team members feeling valued and promote wellbeing practices
• Address performance issues with your team members in real time
• Have difficult conversations
• Leading Change Management with your team

Expertise in TikTok Policy

• Interpret and enforce TikTok's Community Guidelines, which help maintain a positive and safe environment for our user community
• Stay current on key workflow changes and policy updates
• Leverage unique vantage point to help bridge gaps between Policy, Moderation, and Trust & Safety teams in order to improve policy and process

Escalation Management

• Review, investigate, and process reported escalations and respond to sensitive partner inquiries with high quality, accuracy, and speed across multiple channels for TikTok (e.g., escalated user issues, business and partner inquiries, regulatory requests, etc.)
• Provide real-time summaries for cross-functional partners related to ongoing and resolved emergency escalations
• Must be able to deal with high pressure escalations, ambiguity and grey areas, and collaborating with subject matter experts to quickly resolve issues
• Must be able to work with sensitive issues and content that includes but is not limited to child exploitation, graphic violence, self-injury, suicide - all of which would be considered offensive or disturbing

Data-driven decision making

• Utilize data plus internal tools and systems to help Trust & Safety teams analyze trends, identify patterns, and share insights that support process improvements
• Share data and insights that illuminate policy gaps and grey areas, all with the intention of improving policy to enable clear, scalable enforcement
• Test new tools and analysts' hypotheses and provide precise feedback and recommendations based on data

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree or a combination of 3 years of experience in one or more of the following: Trust & Safety, Operations, Content Moderation, or prior experience in leadership
• Strategic thinker with analytical and creative problem-solving skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience leading high performing teams and ensuring continued team growth and development

• Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience in operations leadership, content policy, project management, or equivalent relevant fields, such as content policy, project management, or equivalent relevant fields, such as content moderation or model labeling
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, prioritize work, and make grounded decisions in high-pressure situations

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to perform Content Moderation tasks and duties, including viewing harmful or disturbing content on the platform
• Conducting weekly meetings focused on performance management and behavioral performance
• Leading Change Management with your team
• Performing other related duties and assignments as required and as assigned by supervisor

On-site Presence

This position will be full-time and based in Scottsdale, AZ.

Benefits

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale. On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day. We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

Reasonable Accommodation

USDS is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA.