Priority Safety Pod Lead - AI Conversations

Talkpush; Texas; Hybrid; USD 51,000 - 73,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Paid time off

Life and Disability Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Much More

World Class Sites

About TaskUs

Job summary

TaskUs is seeking a Priority Safety Pod Lead to guide frontline Content Safety Specialists through crisis escalations and edge cases, aligning teams with policy and training programs. This is a 24/7 operation with shifts and remote work options near New Braunfels, TX.

You will mentor staff, audit decisions, and drive program development while maintaining strict privacy and compliance standards in real time. Strong clinical leadership is essential.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a social science field (Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, etc.).
• 3+ years of crisis intervention, risk screening, or hotline/chat-based de-escalation.
• 2+ years in a clinical lead, supervisory, or management role.

Responsibilities

• Act as the shift-dedicated authority for frontline Content Safety Specialists.
• Rapidly evaluate, decide, and resolve complex crisis escalations and high-risk signals.
• Oversee escalation workflows and ensure alignment with policy and safety standards.

Skills

Crisis Intervention

Clinical Leadership

Coaching & Training

Policy Oversight

English Proficiency

Education

Master’s Degree in Social Science

Tools

Google Workspace

Job description

Pioneer a safer digital environment for young people turning to AI for guidance and connection. As a Priority Safety Pod Lead, you step into a high-impact leadership role that steers our frontline response. You will guide and empower frontline specialists through crisis escalations and nuanced edge cases, translating ambiguous user interactions into clear, actionable direction. As a Pod Leader, you actively shape team growth, co-authoring training programs, auditing decision accuracy, and driving continuous policy refinement. Working alongside the Shift Team Lead (who manages operational logistics), you’ll inspire, mentor, and elevate your shift to operate with unmatched precision, empathy, and resilience that protects vulnerable youth in real time.

Work Schedule: This is a 24/7/365 operation. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts available with shift differential for overnight, weekend, and holidays. Details provided during the interview phase.

Compensation: $45.00/hour

Remote Work Model: Ability to work remotely with occasional on-site days. You’ll need to live within 120 miles of New Braunfels, TX TaskUs so you can come in when needed, such as for training or tech support.

About You: Holding a Master’s degree in a social science field (Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, etc.), you are a seasoned crisis practitioner who thrives at the intersection of human behavior and digital technology in fast-paced work environments. You possess a sharp clinical lens and deep comfort with ambiguity - you are as adept at guiding imminent-threat escalations as you are at decoding complex, grey-area conversations. You don't just know how to manage acute crisis scenarios; you excel at coaching and mentoring others to do the same. Driven by a passion for pioneering youth safety in frontier AI, you take pride in being a supportive clinical leader who understands what it takes to build, scale, and stand up a brand-new program from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities: Act as the shift-dedicated authority for frontline Content Safety Specialists. Rapidly evaluate, decide, and resolve complex crisis escalations and acute suicide or self-harm distress signals that exceed frontline specialist decision thresholds with the potential to engage with local law enforcement and child protective services.

Escalation & Critical Decision Making: Act as the shift-dedicated authority for frontline Content Safety Specialists. Rapidly evaluate, decide, and resolve complex crisis escalations and acute suicide or self-harm distress signals that exceed frontline specialist decision thresholds with the potential to engage with local law enforcement and child protective services.

Grey-Area Edge Case & Intent Decoding: Apply advanced intuition and human behavior dynamics to resolve ambiguous, non-standard conversational logs where youth slang, dark humor, creative writing, and veiled distress overlap - establishing clear guidance when frontline specialists need consultation and direction.

Decision Velocity & Performance Under Pressure: Balance rapid decision-making with uncompromised clinical accuracy during high-stress operational spikes, ensuring the shift meets strict queue turnaround times, low escalation latency, and performance KPIs.

High-Acuity Escalation Oversight: Provide direction for crisis workflows, directly matching the scope and immediacy of the escalation to the youth's risk severity.

Quality Oversight, Calibration & Inter-Rater Reliability: Perform systematic quality reviews and case audits. Facilitate regular shift calibration workshops and audit sessions to minimize decision variance and maintain protocol fidelity across shifts.

Training Development, Coaching & Policy Oversight: Design, update, and deliver onboarding modules and continuous training. Provide structured 1:1 coaching based on audits, policy changes, and translate recurring edge-case trends into actionable recommendations.

Data Privacy & Compliance Oversight: Ensure shift-wide adherence to the highest standards of discretion regarding youth conversational logs, user personally identifiable information (PII), and proprietary safety protocols, enforcing strict compliance with privacy regulations and corporate non-disclosure guidelines.

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Alignment: Professionally represent the Content Safety team when interacting with high-stakes external stakeholders while building and maintaining collaborative, trust-based relationships across internal operational and policy teams.

Shift Resilience & Operational Wellness Leadership: Foster a trauma-informed shift culture by modeling proactive self-care, monitoring team fatigue, enforcing shift guardrails, and guiding clinical debriefs to manage secondary traumatic stress across the frontline team.

Core Competencies:

Advanced Clinical Acuity & Edge-Case Synthesis: The ability to evaluate complex, ambiguous text logs, synthesize subtle context, and apply safety frameworks decisively when navigating novel or non-standard user interactions.

Trauma-Informed Leadership & Emotional Resilience: Deep personal resilience combined with the capacity to model emotional regulation, guide incident and shift debriefs, and foster psychological safety for frontline specialists exposed to distressing crisis content.

Elevated Crisis Authority & Decisiveness: The capability to make swift, defensible, high-stakes determinations during rapid-onset emergency escalations, balancing ethics, legal obligations, and emergency response workflows.

Contextual & Cultural Intelligence: Intuitive grasp of evolving youth internet subcultures, digital communication styles, and online vernacular, allowing for accurate interpretation of tone and intent in text with the skill to teach Content Safety Specialists how to accurately decode.

Instructional Excellence & Clinical Coaching: The talent for translating complex human behavior and psychology concepts and edge-case learnings into digestible training modules, delivering constructive 1:1 coaching, and driving shift-wide protocol calibration.

Policy Stewardship & Regulatory Governance: Uncompromising commitment to data privacy standards and platform protocols, paired with the ability to audit compliance and translate recurring edge cases into actionable policy recommendations.

Programmatic Ownership: Self-directed drive, personal accountability, and operational grit needed to stand up new workflows, manage shift escalation queues, and maintain high team standards in a remote environment.

Cross-Functional Diplomacy & Stakeholder Engagement: Skill in building collaborative, trust-based relationships across internal teams (Shift Team Leads, Policy SMEs, QA) and professionally representing the safety framework to high-stakes external partners and emergency services.

Required Education & Experience

Master’s Degree in a Social Science field (psychology, counseling, social work, or similar tracks)

3+ years of experience in crisis intervention, risk screening, or hotline/chat-based de-escalation (or a commensurate combination of education and experience)

2+ years of experience in a clinical lead, supervisory, or management role, including direct oversight of staff and clinical workflows.

Experience with the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS), Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), or other commensurate risk rating tools

High level of discretion and confidentiality

Above-Average fluency in written and spoken English

Preferred Education & Experience

Experience working in call center environment

Experience with remote work

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Demonstrated capacity to foster positive, productive working relationships across all organizational tiers, serving as a trusted clinical bridge between shift peers, operational leads, and platform leadership.

High proficiency in Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive) and comfort with navigating web-based dashboards and digital communication tools.

Deep expertise in 24/7 operational shift dynamics, with a commitment to modeling strict shift discipline, driving seamless shift handovers, and ensuring uninterrupted shift readiness across fast-paced rotations.

Disclaimer

Our system requires candidates to apply only within their current state or country of residence. If you don't see the perfect fit in your area just yet, we kindly ask that you explore our other openings to find an offer that aligns specifically with your region. Thank you for helping us keep our process organized and accurate!
While we welcome applications across the United States, please note that we are not hiring in the state of Illinois at this time. If you are located in Illinois, we encourage you to check back in the future or explore our openings tailored to other regions. Thank you for your understanding!

Health insurance

Comprehensive Plans: robust medical, dental, and vision plans, preventive care, and employer HSA contributions to help keep your healthcare costs low.

Paid time off

20 days + national holidays.

Life and Disability Insurance

Company-paid life and disability insurance to protect you and your loved ones

Employee Assistance Program

We offer free confidential counseling, legal support, premium wellness apps, and flexible spending accounts to simplify your day-to-day life.

Much More

offering extras like pet insurance discounts, free medical second-opinion services, and tailored voluntary coverage options.

World Class Sites

Facilities is built for you to thrive, not just work. We have gaming consoles and recreational hubs to help you unwind and connect with teammates, quiet rooms and nap zones if you need to recharge, and fully stocked pantries with free snacks to fuel your day. These aren't just office perks; they are part of our people-first culture

About TaskUs

Greatness starts hereWith state-of-the-art workspaces, outstanding benefits and some of the best teammates in the world — we put our frontline first, period. No matter where you are in the world, we’re committed to investing in your career and future.