Assistant Manager - Trust & Safety

About Apna

Since 2019, Apna has connected over 60 million jobseekers with more than 250,000 enterprises and small businesses across India. Founded by Nirmit Parikh, a Stanford graduate and serial entrepreneur who recognizes the challenges in early-level hiring, Apna has rapidly grown to become India’s fastest unicorn in 2021 – achieving this milestone in just 21 months.Backed by marque global investors – Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital, and GSV, we’re revolutionising livelihood creation across India.

Job Title: Assistant Manager - Trust & safety
Location: Bangalore (Work from Office - Domlur)
Company: Apna

Position Summary:

We are looking for an analytical and proactive Trust & Safety Manager to lead our Trust & Safety Operations team on-site in Bangalore. In this pivotal role, you will spearhead fraud prevention efforts, maintain platform integrity, and drive operational excellence to ensure Apna remains a safe and trusted platform for all users. You will manage a team of 10–15 Trust & Safety Associates, setting the vision and strategy for the team, while collaborating cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Data, and Operations teams. This is a unique opportunity for a first-time or early-career manager with a strong engineering and data background to step up as a leader, solve complex problems, and make a significant impact on millions of users.

• Lead and Mentor the Team: Manage a high-performing team of 10–15 Trust & Safety Operations Associates. Provide mentorship, set clear goals, and foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Drive Operational Excellence: Oversee day-to-day Trust & Safety workflows (e.g. content review, fraud detection, compliance checks) with a focus on efficiency and quality. Streamline processes, implement best practices, and use automation or tools to improve the team’s productivity and accuracy.
• Fraud Prevention & Investigations: Develop and enforce policies to prevent fraud, scams, and abuse on the platform. Proactively monitor for suspicious behavior and lead thorough investigations into incidents or escalations, taking swift action to mitigate risks and protect our community.
• Own Metrics & Performance: Define and own key Trust & Safety metrics (such as fraud incident rate, response/resolution times, and accuracy rates). Continuously analyze data and trends to ensure targets are met or exceeded, and report on performance insights and improvements to leadership.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Product, Engineering, Data Analytics, and Operations teams to enhance platform safety. Provide input on product features or changes (with strong product intuition) that could reduce fraud and improve trust, and partner with engineers to develop internal tools or algorithms for detecting and preventing abuse.
• Policy & Process Improvement: Regularly evaluate and refine Trust & Safety policies, SOPs, and escalation paths. Stay updated on emerging fraud tactics and industry best practices, and adapt our strategies accordingly. Lead initiatives to continuously improve how we handle trust & safety issues, ensuring we scale effectively as the platform grows.
• Stakeholder Communication: Act as a point of contact for Trust & Safety matters. Collaborate with Customer Support on user issues related to trust/security, and occasionally communicate with affected users or external stakeholders to resolve safety concerns. Provide training and updates to internal teams so everyone understands and supports Apna’s trust & safety standards.

What We're Looking For

• Experience & Leadership: 3–4 years of overall professional experience, with some exposure to leading or managing teams. (We welcome first-time managers who demonstrate strong leadership potential and the ability to inspire and manage a team.)
• Analytical Problem-Solver: Exceptional problem-solving skills and analytical thinking. You approach challenges in a structured way, use data to inform decisions, and can navigate complex issues to find root causes and solutions.
• Engineering Background: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience. You have a solid technical foundation, enabling you to understand product and system intricacies and work effectively with engineering teams.
• Data-Driven Mindset: Comfort working with data and analytics is a must. You can interpret dashboards and reports, collaborate with data analysts, and derive actionable insights from data trends. Proficiency with Excel/Sheets and maybe SQL or BI tools is a plus.
• Product Intuition: A strong sense of how products work and how users might interact with or misuse them. You can think like a product manager when devising safety features or process changes, and you’re able to suggest improvements that enhance user trust and platform integrity.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work cross-functionally and build relationships with diverse teams (Product, Engineering, Operations, Data, Customer Support). You communicate clearly, listen well, and can align stakeholders around common goals in trust & safety.
• Integrity & Ownership: High ethical standards with a genuine passion for maintaining user trust. You take ownership of problems end-to-end, thrive in a fast-paced startup environment, and aren’t afraid to roll up your sleeves to get the job done.
• Adaptability: Ability to adapt to new fraud trends and rapidly changing scenarios. Experience in Trust & Safety, risk management, or operations in a tech company is a bonus (but not mandatory) — however, a proactive and learning mindset is essential.

Why Join Us

• High-Impact Role: Your work will directly protect and empower millions of users on India’s largest jobs platform. You will play a key role in keeping our community safe, which means every improvement you drive can have a meaningful impact on people’s livelihoods.
• Leadership & Growth: This is a chance to step into a leadership position at a fast-growing startup. You’ll have significant ownership and autonomy to shape the Trust & Safety function, with opportunities to grow your team and advance your career as the company scales.
• Innovative Environment: Work on challenging, real-world problems at the intersection of technology and operations. You’ll collaborate with a talented, multi-disciplinary team to develop creative solutions (from machine learning fraud detection to streamlined ops processes) in a company that values innovation.
• Fast-Paced Startup Culture: Join a young, energetic team that moves fast and encourages new ideas. We value initiative, hustle, and the drive to make things better. You’ll have the freedom to experiment, iterate, and make an outsized contribution, rather than being a small cog in a big corporate machine.
• Mission-Driven Work: Be part of a mission to empower a billion lives. At Apna, your efforts in Trust & Safety help build a more trustworthy platform for job seekers and employers, ultimately contributing to our vision of improving livelihoods and careers across India.
• Comprehensive Benefits: We offer a competitive salary, health benefits, and all the tools you need to do your best work. Beyond that, we provide a supportive work environment that prioritizes learning, well-being, and team collaboration.

If you’re a high-caliber problem solver with a passion for user safety and a drive to lead, we’d love to hear from you. Come join us at Apna and help shape the future of work by ensuring our platform remains safe, trusted, and exceptional for all users!