Standards & Enforcement Specialist

Substack; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 75,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Exceptional benefits

Wellness support

Job summary

Substack is seeking a Trust & Safety specialist to own the queue end to end, resolving tickets accurately and on time while using data and AI tools to classify and triage. You will work with Legal, Policy, and Product teams, handling DMCA, NCII, and data-subject requests, and maintaining Zendesk configurations.

You'll review content marked as harassment, self-harm, or safety risk, and communicate clear outcomes to users. The role runs Tue–Sat and offers equity and strong benefits.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years in Trust & Safety, support operations, content moderation, or compliance at a tech platform.
• Experience handling high‑volume ticket queues with strict deadlines and accuracy.
• Working grasp of enforcement concepts: Appeals, escalation paths, NCII, DMCA basics.
• Comfort with data: query SQL, spot anomalies, and build basic reports.
• Zendesk knowledge and using AI tools for investigations and data analysis.
• Excellent writing for frustrated users, partners, and sometimes lawyers.
• Ability to work under deadline pressure; strong judgment.
• This role runs Tue–Sat shifts.

Responsibilities

• Manage S&E queues day to day: spam/abuse reports, suspension appeals, publication appeals, deletion requests, and policy violations.
• Apply macros and SOPs where appropriate; use judgment where not.
• Review appeals: check original decision, weigh context, and write clear outcomes.
• Handle legal-adjacent tickets (DMCA, NCII, data-subject requests) and know when to elevate.
• Maintain Zendesk: views, macros, triggers, automations, SLAs.
• Leverage AI tools to classify, draft, triage, and challenge results when needed.
• Improve SOPs and decision trees; train teammates.
• Report on volume, SLAs, backlog; pull and analyze data as needed.
• Collaborate with Legal, Policy, and Product to anticipate trends.

Skills

Trust & Safety

Support operations

Content moderation

SQL

Data analysis

Clear writing

Decision making under deadline

Good judgment

Zendesk

Tools

Zendesk

Job description

Substack's mission is to build a new economic engine for culture. From the beginning, we have been clear in our belief in the free press and free speech-values we consider inseparable and fundamental to a trustworthy media system. To achieve our mission, Substack must uphold free expression while maintaining a vibrant platform with clear rules that allow for the open exchange of ideas.

Our Standards & Enforcement team handles the requests that reach the platform through user reports, account deletion requests, spam and abuse reports, and the legal-adjacent tickets that arrive alongside them. The work is deadline-bound, precedent-setting, and unforgiving of guesswork. The person on the other end of every ticket is a real user, and often a frustrated one.

We are looking for a specialist who can own this queue end to end, and who wants to make it smaller. You will resolve tickets accurately and on time, then use data and AI tooling to classify, draft, and triage so the team spends its judgment where judgment is actually required.

What you’ll do

• Work the S&E queues day to day: spam and abuse reports, suspension appeals, publication appeals, account deletion requests, and user-reported policy violations, applying macros and SOPs where they fit and judgment where they don’t.
• Handle appeals with care: check the original enforcement decision, weigh new context, and write a clear outcome the user can understand, whether its an overturn or a hold.
• Handle legal-adjacent tickets from SOPs; DMCA, trademark, NCII, data-subject requests, LE requests, knowing when to resolve and when to elevate to Legal fast.
• Maintain the Zendesk setup the team runs on: views, macros, triggers, automations, SLAs.
• Use AI tools to make ticket review more efficient; classification, drafting, triage, and challenge them when they get it wrong.
• Continuously improve the SOPs and decision trees the rest of the team follows.
• Report on volume, SLAs, and backlog. Pull your own data and analyze as needed.
• Work with Legal, Policy, and Product teams as necessary before trends become a problem.

What you need

• 2-4 years in Trust & Safety, support operations, content moderation, or compliance at a tech platform.
• Hands-on experience working a high-volume ticket queue where accuracy and deadlines both matter.
• A working grasp of platform enforcement concepts: Appeals, escalation paths, NCII, DMCA basics, and how legal process touches a platform. You do need to know when to resolve and when to accelerate.
• Comfortable working with data: querying it yourself (SQL a plus), spotting when numbers look wrong, and building simple reports on volume, SLAs, and backlog.
• Zendesk knowledge and using AI tools to do investigations and data analysis.
• Clear writing. You'll write to frustrated users, cross-functional partners, and occasionally lawyers and regulators in the same week.
• Good judgment under deadline pressure.
• This will be a Tuesday to Saturday shift role.

Preferred

• Deeper experience with any of: privacy requests (GDPR/CCPA), DMCA/IP complaints, law enforcement requests, or regulatory correspondence.
• Familiarity with DSA/OSA transparency reporting obligations and experience turning regulatory requirements into operational or system requirements.
• Experience working with engineers to ship internal tooling or reports.

One thing to know

You’ll review content that can be disturbing, including harassment, self-harm, violence, and child safety material. We'd rather say that upfront. We provide wellness support and manage workload accordingly.

Substack's compensation package includes a market competitive salary, equity for all full time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $75,000 - $85,000. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Substack is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status), age, national origin, veteran or disability status. We're seeking people passionate about enabling independent expression and building a better business model for creators. If you want to see what media, communities, and content can become when unmoored from advertising models, and you have the skills and experience to contribute, we'd love to meet you.