Policy & Escalations Specialist

Jobtailor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Substack seeks a Policy and Trust & Safety professional to write rules, investigate abuse patterns, and lead escalation workflows. You will analyze data, use AI tools to triage cases, and collaborate across Legal, Product, Engineering, Support, and Communications.

The role requires 2–4 years in content rules or related fields and strong policy-writing ability. The position is based in NYC with relocation flexibility, and a Sunday–Thursday shift schedule is expected.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years working on content rules, Trust & Safety, law, regulatory work, or investigative research.
• Experience writing policy is a plus
• Ability to write SQL
• Spreadsheet proficiency
• Ability to evaluate whether data supports claims
• Real experience using AI tools beyond drafting text
• Understanding of AI tool failure modes and ability to correct inaccurate outputs
• Strong, clear writing
• Good judgment in ambiguous situations
• Willingness to review upsetting content
• Availability for a Sunday to Thursday shift
• Familiarity with online safety regulation in the EU and UK is nice to have
• Experience translating regulatory requirements into operational guidelines is nice to have
• Project management experience is a plus
• Experience with illegal content escalation workflows, including NCMEC reporting, geoblocking decisions, and law-enforcement request handling, is nice to have
• Must answer whether immigration support or visa sponsorship is required to continue working in the United States
• Must be located in the NYC area or willing to relocate

Responsibilities

• Write and update platform rules and internal guidance for tools and reviewers
• Investigate emerging abuse patterns, including spam, scams, coordinated platform gaming, harassment, and sensitive content
• Recommend policy responses to new abuse patterns
• Analyze data to size problems and evaluate enforcement effectiveness, prevalence, action rates, and appeal outcomes
• Use AI tools to sort review queues, summarize cases, identify patterns across reports, and validate tool outputs
• Spend at least 50% of time reviewing content queues
• Develop the escalations management process
• Collaborate with Legal, Product, Engineering, Support, and Comms on cross-functional escalations
• Manage escalations involving illegal content with urgency, discretion, and reporting discipline
• Project-manage escalation action items
• Develop escalation-management materials such as intake criteria, SLAs, severity tiers, and handoff paths
• Handle precedent-setting cases and document defensible reasoning
• Support Substack’s mission to enable independent expression and build a better business model for creators

Skills

Content Rules Development

Trust & Safety Expertise

SQL Proficiency

AI Tool Utilization

Project Management Experience

Strong Writing

Good Judgment

Discretion

Policy Writing

Tools

AI Tools

Job description

• Write and update platform rules and internal guidance for tools and reviewers
• Investigate emerging abuse patterns, including spam, scams, coordinated platform gaming, harassment, and sensitive content
• Recommend policy responses to new abuse patterns
• Analyze data to size problems and evaluate enforcement effectiveness, prevalence, action rates, and appeal outcomes
• Use AI tools to sort review queues, summarize cases, identify patterns across reports, and validate tool outputs
• Spend at least 50% of time reviewing content queues
• Develop the escalations management process
• Collaborate with Legal, Product, Engineering, Support, and Comms on cross-functional escalations
• Manage escalations involving illegal content with urgency, discretion, and reporting discipline
• Project-manage escalation action items
• Develop escalation-management materials such as intake criteria, SLAs, severity tiers, and handoff paths
• Handle precedent-setting cases and document defensible reasoning
• Support Substack’s mission to enable independent expression and build a better business model for creators

Requirements

• 2–4 years working on content rules, Trust & Safety, law, regulatory work, or investigative research
• Experience writing policy is a plus
• Ability to write SQL
• Spreadsheet proficiency
• Ability to evaluate whether data supports claims
• Real experience using AI tools beyond drafting text
• Understanding of AI tool failure modes and ability to correct inaccurate outputs
• Strong, clear writing
• Good judgment in ambiguous situations
• Willingness to review upsetting content
• Availability for a Sunday to Thursday shift
• Familiarity with online safety regulation in the EU and UK is nice to have
• Experience translating regulatory requirements into operational guidelines is nice to have
• Project management experience is a plus
• Experience with illegal content escalation workflows, including NCMEC reporting, geoblocking decisions, and law-enforcement request handling, is nice to have
• Must answer whether immigration support or visa sponsorship is required to continue working in the United States
• Must be located in the NYC area or willing to relocate

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in content rules and Trust & Safety, with strong analytical skills to evaluate data and enforce policies effectively. Proficient in project management and collaboration across cross-functional teams to handle escalations and develop operational guidelines.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Content Rules Development
• Trust & Safety Expertise
• SQL Proficiency
• AI Tool Utilization
• Project Management Experience

Hard Skills

• SQL
• Data Analysis
• Policy Writing
• Escalation Management
• Spreadsheet Proficiency

Soft Skills

• Strong Writing
• Good Judgment
• Discretion

Industry Keywords

• Trust & Safety
• Online Safety Regulation
• Investigative ResearchContent Moderation
• NCMEC Reporting

Tools & Technologies

• AI Tools