Policy Specialist, High Harm - USDS

Responsibilities
The USDS Policy Implementation team takes the established rules (Community Guidelines) and makes sure they are applied effectively and accurately in practice. In this role, you will need to cultivate a deep understanding of the platform and how it can be abused by actors to exploit vulnerable populations while championing freedom of expression for our users and ensuring policies protect users of all experiences and backgrounds. This will role will require a swift ability to make policy decisions in a fast-paced environment. You will work closely with a variety of internal partners including North America Regional Policy, Risk and Response, Product, and Legal Policy Operations to ensure that TikTok is able to detect, triage, and prevent safety incidents. This position will be full-time. It can be based in San Jose or Washington DC.

This role may be exposed to harmful content as part of their core day-to-day functions, as well as in project work; in response to escalation requests; or by chance.

Some content viewed my violate our community guidelines which include but are not limited to bullying; hate speech; child abuse; sexual assault; torture; bestiality; self-harm; suicide; and murder.

In order to enhance collaboration and cross-functional partnerships, among other things, at this time, our organization follows a hybrid work schedule that requires employees to work in the office 3 days a week, or as directed by their manager/department. We regularly review our hybrid work model, and the specific requirements may change at any time.

Responsibilities
- Provide coverage for the USDS Policy Implementation team to swiftly respond to and mitigate the proliferation of high harm escalations
- Interface with internal cross-functional teams including government relations and communications on time-sensitive topics and escalations
- Stay up to date with Integrity and Authenticity and Violent Extremism trends and new tactics, techniques, and patterns from abusive parties in the US
- Collaborate with our Youth Safety and Wellbeing team to ensure youth safety principles are considered in decision making
- Provide policy enforcement support for safety strategies including keywords, hashtags and search
- Conduct policy case review to inform our safety strategies around search and circumvention
- Proactively identify and evaluate emerging policy risks to our platform and drive solutions to help mitigate them
- Rely on data-driven assessments of high harm content to inform policy development
- Analyze existing policies and procedures to identify gaps, inconsistencies, or conflicts
- Work closely with cross-functional partners and external experts to stay up-to-date on emerging social media trends and slang in the US to predict and prevent violations of TikTok's community guidelines
- Assist team lead in providing comprehensive and ongoing training designed to inform the moderators about policy, procedures changes, recent trends, and updates

Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- 3+ years of work experience in Trust & Safety, content policy, or brand safety roles or another relevant field with a focus on high harm issues including Violent Extremism, Integrity and Authenticity or Youth Safety
- Experience with trust and safety models, scalable policy recall solutions, technical acumen, and actionable policies that reduce issues stemming from policy complexity
- Experience briefing executive leadership and demonstration of polished communication skills and an ability to work with multiple external partners to ensure our policy and procedure expectations are met
- Demonstrated systematic thought process regarding policy and thorough operational experience
- Background in operational excellence with a proven ability to structure policy and process-oriented milestones
- Ability to thrive in ambiguous environments, identify trade-offs, and make decisions in high-pressure situations
- Deep knowledge in how policy develops in new media, technology, entertainment, or related fields

Preferred Qualifications:
- Proven ability to develop sound research methodologies and collect, synthesize, analyze, and interpret data
- Experience managing complex research projects in a start-up, and forming new teams in established companies
- Advanced proficiency in Excel and understanding of data access tools, including but not limited to SQL
- Your ability to work in a high tempo environment, adapt, respond to day-to-day challenges of the role.
- Your resilience and commitment to self-care to manage the emotional demands of the role.

About USDS
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. U.S. Data Security (“USDS”) is a subsidiary of TikTok in the U.S. This new, security-first division was created to bring heightened focus and governance to our data protection policies and content assurance protocols to keep U.S. users safe. Our focus is on providing oversight and protection of the TikTok platform and U.S. user data, so millions of Americans can continue turning to TikTok to learn something new, earn a living, express themselves creatively, or be entertained. The teams within USDS that deliver on this commitment daily span across Trust & Safety, Security & Privacy, Engineering, User & Product Ops, Corporate Functions and more.


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
TikTok is 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.


Trust & Safety
TikTok recognises that keeping our platform safe for the TikTok communities is no ordinary job which can be both rewarding and psychologically demanding and emotionally taxing for some. This is why we are sharing the potential hazards, risks and implications in this unique line of work from the start, so our candidates are well informed before joining.
We are committed to the wellbeing of all our employees and promise to provide comprehensive and evidence-based programs, to promote and support physical and mental wellbeing throughout each employee's journey with us. We believe that wellbeing is a relationship and that everyone has a part to play, so we work in collaboration and consultation with our employees and across our functions in order to ensure a truly person-centred, innovative and integrated approach.


USDS 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


Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】 Compensation Description (Annually) - Washington, DC
The base salary range for this position in the selected city is 86400 - 195320 annually.
Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.