Trust and Safety Rapid Response Lead - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 117,000 - 217,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is seeking a Rapid Response Lead to manage high-priority escalations and emerging risks across the US. The role requires strategic leadership, cross-functional collaboration with Legal, Public Policy, Child Safety, and Engineering, and the ability to direct resources during viral crises.

You will design and scale formal response programs, conduct root-cause analyses, and present findings to executives to prevent recurrence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 5 years of professional experience in Incident Management, Trust & Safety, Investigations, or Crisis Management, with at least 1 year in leadership.
• Proven track record of managing high‑priority escalations in a fast-paced environment.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex technical risks into concise briefings for executive leadership.
• Experience dealing with sensitive/graphic content and managing team burnout or vicarious trauma.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Rapid Response specialists, setting KPIs and conducting regular performance reviews.
• Oversee the establishment and scaling of the USDS Rapid Response Program, including training curricula and escalation workflows.
• Serve as Incident Commander during high-stakes events and lead root-cause analyses for executive leadership.
• Ensure accuracy of content decisions and advocate for tooling enhancements with Product and Engineering.

Skills

Leadership

Incident Management

Crisis Management

Executive Briefings

Cross-functional Collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Responsibilities

About the team The USDS Risk Containment Team for TikTok USDS is a multi-disciplinary team that handles risk detection, prevention and escalation handling in the United States. The team is dedicated to maintaining a safe and secure online environment for users by actively monitoring and responding to emergent threats, ensuring compliance with legal regulations, and addressing real-life implications of online content. As a USDS Trust & Safety Rapid Response Lead, you will play a critical role in safeguarding the integrity of our platform by effectively managing high-priority escalations and emerging risks. This lead role requires strong leadership skills, strategic thinking, and the ability to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders across multiple regions.

You will be instrumental in designing and operationalizing our response to community guideline escalations, promptly detecting and removing content related to various online risks and harms. Your role involves collaborating with internal and external partners, to ensure user safety in critical situations. You'll also contribute to post-mortem and root cause analyses, enhancing our strategies to mitigate the recurrence of similar incidents.

This position entails a Monday through Friday work week. This position is part of a team that provides 24/7 support and requires working scheduled shifts, which may include holidays.

Team Leadership & People Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Rapid Response specialists, fostering a culture of resilience, high performance, and continuous learning.
• Set clear KPIs and objectives; conduct regular 1:1s and performance reviews to ensure the team meets operational benchmarks.
• Actively manage the psychological safety and resilience of the team, given their frequent exposure to sensitive and graphic content.

Program Strategy & Execution

• Drive the formal establishment and scaling of the USDS Rapid Response Program, overseeing the creation of training curricula, SOPs, and escalation workflows.
• Act as the primary point of escalation for cross-functional leaders (Legal, Public Policy, Child Safety, and Engineering) to ensure seamless risk containment.
• Serve as the "Incident Commander" during high-stakes viral crises or breaking‑news events, directing team resources and making final enforcement decisions.
• Lead comprehensive root‑cause analyses following major incidents, presenting findings to executive leadership to prevent recurrence.

Operational Excellence & Tooling

• Oversee the accuracy of content/account enforcement decisions made by the team, ensuring strict adherence to USDS data‑sharing and privacy protocols.
• Partner with Product and Engineering teams to advocate for tooling enhancements that reduce response latency and improve detection capabilities.
• Review team‑generated analytics to identify macro‑trends in platform abuse, using these insights to influence global policy shifts and proactive safety sweeps.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 5 years of professional experience in Incident Management, Trust & Safety, Investigations, or Crisis Management, with at least 1 year in a leadership or people management role.
• Proven track record of managing high-priority escalations in a fast‑paced environment (e.g., social media, government, or tech).
• Exceptional ability to translate complex technical risks into concise briefings for executive leadership.
• Strong experience dealing with sensitive/graphic content and a proven toolkit for managing team burnout and vicarious trauma.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of Child Safety, Violent Extremism, or Human Exploitation policy frameworks.
• Ability to navigate complex data environments and internal proprietary tools to audit team performance and platform health.
• Experience managing distributed teams
• Familiarity with US user privacy regulations and the specific data‑handling requirements inherent to USDS operations.

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 USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision‑making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.

On‑site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real‑time decision‑making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in‑person schedule up to 5 days a week.

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.

USDS Reasonable Accommodation

USDS 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/USDS-RA

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $117334 - $217023 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:

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; and
3. Exercising sound judgment.