Policy Manager, Search - Trust and Safety

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 122,000 - 272,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Short-term and long-term disability

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

10 paid holidays per year

Paid sick days

Job summary

TikTok is seeking a Policy Manager, Search - Trust and Safety in San Jose to lead policy development and governance for search features and AI-related ranking. You will work with product, ML, and legal teams to translate concepts into actionable requirements and roadmaps, guiding risk-aware launches and ongoing policy refinement.

You will also design evaluation suites, address Generative AI risks, and act as the final policy authority during high-stakes search escalations, ensuring user safety

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in product policy, trust and safety, legal tech, regulatory compliance, or content moderation strategy within a technology company.
• Experience translating policy concepts into user-centric product requirements and roadmaps.
• Experience drafting or enforcing policies targeting Large Language Models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), or multimodal search systems.
• Proven track record of evaluating complex trade-offs between free expression, user safety, and product quality.
• Ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives without formal authority over team members.
• Exceptional communication skills, with extensive experience drafting formal policy documents and presenting to executives.
• Ability to independently analyze enforcement data and policy impact metrics.

Responsibilities

• Identify and anticipate product and content safety risks to support new launches of Search policies, products and features, leveraging solutions to effectively address the risks by optimizing policy iteration & implementation procedures to let our users engage with a safe content ecosystem.
• Support the safe and responsible development and go-to-market of Search features help with search and discovery on TikTok, by conducting pre-launch impact assessments to identify and mitigate potential real‑world product harms.
• Author and maintain policies governing search indexing, ranking, and AI features (e.g., AI Overviews, Snippets).
• Work closely with cross‑functional partners and internal experts to understand emerging trends or risks and partner with PMs and ML engineers to code policy rules directly into ranking algorithms and automated moderation models.
• Proactively address policy gaps driven by Generative AI, LLMs, and evolving user query behaviors.
• Design benchmarks and evaluation suites to measure policy enforcement accuracy, false positives, and algorithmic bias.
• Act as the final policy authority for high‑stakes, real‑time search escalations during breaking news and global crises.

Skills

Policy management

Trust and safety

Executive communication

Cross-functional leadership

Policy drafting for LLMs

Regulatory compliance

Job description

Discover a career that energizes and excites you every day.

@2026 TikTok

Global Operations

Policy Manager, Search - Trust and Safety

Location:

San Jose

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Code:

A43555

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Responsibilities

• Identify and anticipate product and content safety risks to support new launches of Search policies, products and features, leveraging solutions to effectively address the risks by optimizing policy iteration & implementation procedures to let our users engage with a safe content ecosystem.
• Support the safe and responsible development and go-to-market of Search features help with search and discovery on TikTok, by conducting pre-launch impact assessments to identify and mitigate potential real‑world product harms.
• Author and maintain policies governing search indexing, ranking, and AI features (e.g., AI Overviews, Snippets).
• Work closely with cross‑functional partners and internal experts to understand emerging trends or risks and partner with PMs and ML engineers to code policy rules directly into ranking algorithms and automated moderation models.
• Proactively address policy gaps driven by Generative AI, LLMs, and evolving user query behaviors.
• Design benchmarks and evaluation suites to measure policy enforcement accuracy, false positives, and algorithmic bias.
• Act as the final policy authority for high‑stakes, real‑time search escalations during breaking news and global crises.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification(s):

• 5+ years of experience in product policy, trust and safety, legal tech, regulatory compliance, or content moderation strategy within a technology company.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate the tech product development lifecycle, interpret Product Requirement Documents (PRDs), and translate complex policy concepts into user‑centric product requirements and roadmap deliverables.
• Experience drafting or enforcing policies specifically targeting Large Language Models (LLMs), retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), or multimodal search systems.
• Proven track record of evaluating complex, highly ambiguous trade‑offs between free expression, user safety, and product quality.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross‑functional technical initiatives without formal authority over team members.
• Exceptional communication skills, with extensive experience drafting formal policy documents and presenting to executives.
• Ability to independently analyze enforcement data and policy impact metrics.

Preferred Qualification(s):

• Deep understanding of search engine architecture, information retrieval systems, content ranking principles, or generative AI models.
• Familiarity with global internet governance frameworks, freedom of speech laws, and international human rights standards.

Job Information

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $121600 - $272000 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.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;

2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems;

3. Exercising sound judgment.

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.

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.

About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short‑form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

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.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok 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/RA-request