Head of Legal Response Operations & Strategy

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 132,000 - 317,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture seeks a bold operational leader to head Legal Response Operations, guiding Law Enforcement and Civil Response. This is a hands-on, strategic role at the intersection of legal compliance, product architecture, and leadership excellence.

The ideal candidate will translate PRDs into operational plans, drive risk assessments for executives, and continuously modernize workflows to scale with regulatory demand.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of complex operations leadership in legal response, trust & safety, or regulated operations.
• Bachelor’s degree required; JD/advanced degree or paralegal certification is a plus.
• Proven track record of scale, process re-engineering, and modernization.
• Legal & technical fluency with ability to read specs and architectural diagrams.
• Strong problem solving, curiosity, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Empathetic leadership with ability to maintain morale under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Bridge product, engineering, and legal teams to ensure operational readiness before code ships.
• Identify and remediate technical debt and tooling gaps; automate workflows.
• Manage high-stakes escalations and provide risk assessments to leadership.
• Maintain high-SLA performance across law enforcement and civil response queues.
• Refine SOPs and workflows to align with evolving regulations and product features.
• Coordinate with outreach to align external strategy with operations.
• Lead and scale multi-pillar teams with direct leadership and hands-on involvement.
• Promote a culture of speed, precision, and sustainable pacing.

Skills

Complex operations leadership

Legal & technical fluency

Self-directed curiosity

Product & engineering literacy

Empathetic leadership

Operational risk assessment

Education

Bachelor’s degree / JD or advanced degree

Job description

TikTok USDS Joint Venture seeks a bold operational leader to head Legal Response Operations, guiding Law Enforcement and Civil Response. This is a hands-on, strategic role at the intersection of legal compliance, product architecture, and leadership excellence.

The ideal candidate will translate PRDs into operational plans, drive risk assessments for executives, and continuously modernize workflows to scale with regulatory demand.