Trust and Safety Team Lead - USDS

Responsibilities
About the team
Trust and Safety Operations a pivotal team within U.S. Data Security. We strive to enable TikTok to become the most trusted and secure platform in the US through operational excellence in content moderation via innovations in technology, optimization in processes and investment in people. We ensure that we enforce our policies based on our community guidelines and we take appropriate actions in a timely manner to minimize risks on our platform to our users and advertisers. This advanced position involves assessing the quality of performance by moderation sites, reviewing sensitive and graphic content, and ensuring compliance with policies and processes to protect users and the platform.

About the role
As a Trust and Safety Team Lead, you are responsible for leading content safety agents whom 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. You will ensure all assigned tasks are executed and deliverable. You will conduct weekly reviews for management on key deliverables and audit agents work for efficiency and accuracy. You will also be required to perform other related duties and assignments as required and as assigned by the Operations Manager. This position will be full-time and based in Scottsdale, AZ.

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
- 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
- Performs other related duties and assignments as required and as assigned by supervisor
- Oversee and approve hourly employee timecards and leave requests, ensuring accuracy, compliance with company policies, and adherence to labor regulations.

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 crossfunctional 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.
- Strong reporting skills; accuracy and acute attention to detail

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

Additional Requirements may include but are not limited to:
- 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
- Performs other related duties and assignments as required and as assigned by supervisor

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

Trust & Safety
Content that this role interacts with includes images, video, and text related to every-day life, but it can also include (but is not limited to) bullying; hate speech; child safety; depictions of harm to self and others, and harm to animals. Hence, it is possible that this role will be exposed to harmful content on a daily basis. ​
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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. ​
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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.​


About USDS
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.​
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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. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.​


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.​
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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.​


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​