Head of Risk Detection, Trust & Safety
Apply NowCompany: TikTok
Location: San Jose, CA 95123
Description:
Responsibilities
The Head of Risk Detection for Trust & Safety will have a focus on Investigation with a mandate to identify enforcement, compliance and user experience gaps/improvement areas by testing systems, processes, ways of operating and testing user experience based (e.g., acting as below 18 users or logged-out users). This team will help drive T&S to a higher standards of safety, both in design and execution by building recommendations based on these independent diagnostics.
- Through centralized intelligence gathering, enhanced signal monitoring, and Red Team operations, you will be responsible for leading our Risk Detection team to detect, analyze, and address emerging threats, compliance gaps, and user experience vulnerabilities, ensuring a resilient and adaptive platform that keeps pace with evolving risks, particularly those driven by AI.
- You are accountable for identifying and mitigating, through a systematic approach, potential hazards before they escalate into tangible threats, preemptively safeguarding individuals, organizations, or systems against harm during the detection and validation stages of the Risk Intelligence Lifecycle.
- You are expected to provide inputs for trend detection workflows and support investigation/IM for critical issue areas, ensuring both short-term and long-term risk management.
- You will lead our Risk Intelligence team, under Risk Detection, to test the quality and relevance of the 1st party and 3rd party signals to ensure their accuracy and effectiveness to inform decisions
- You will lead our Red team, under Risk Detection, to define risk detection priorities in terms of teams, processes, type of users, systems based on aligned criteria (e.g., safety risk, regulatory requirements (in place or to come), previous incidents, observed behaviours e.g., in partnership with Ethics and Compliance), with actionable recommendation plans based on identified gaps
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
- Extensive leadership experience in risk detection, intelligence, or red teaming, with management experience for a "red team" or trust & safety adversarial testing
- Knowledge of the broad Trust & Safety industry, within and outside the company. Strong understanding of T&S ecosystem, with subject matter expertise in select extreme risk domains (Hate, VBDA, Mental Health, Human Exploitation).
- Risk & Intelligence Analysis Skills: Expertise on strong methodology, knowing how to draw out insights from complex risk analysis, systematically identify and mitigate potential hazards, and guide others on deep-dive investigations of leads. Ability to set direction for the team on framework and analysis methodologies as well as auditing business processes.
- Skilled in business writing and presentations, ability to distill complex information
- Ability to establish relationships with cross-functional stakeholders to solve problems, resolve escalations, influence strategy, and drive synergies across teams. Always making thoughtful, strategic decisions in the long-term interest of T&S.
- Ability to support teams with coaching, development, and talent planning. Ability to build up Red Team and define specific roles & responsibilities, workflows, and capabilities needed.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Significant leadership experience managing senior contributors and managers in a top technology firm, intelligence agency, or equivalent.
- Knowledge of risks that are specific to social media platforms across multiple markets/regions, industry, and understanding of potential threat trajectories and cross product threat picture.
- Ability to maintain an inquisitive mindset, looking to find risks and building processes to test solutions. Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment, adapt to challenges, and deliver deep-focused work.
The Head of Risk Detection for Trust & Safety will have a focus on Investigation with a mandate to identify enforcement, compliance and user experience gaps/improvement areas by testing systems, processes, ways of operating and testing user experience based (e.g., acting as below 18 users or logged-out users). This team will help drive T&S to a higher standards of safety, both in design and execution by building recommendations based on these independent diagnostics.
- Through centralized intelligence gathering, enhanced signal monitoring, and Red Team operations, you will be responsible for leading our Risk Detection team to detect, analyze, and address emerging threats, compliance gaps, and user experience vulnerabilities, ensuring a resilient and adaptive platform that keeps pace with evolving risks, particularly those driven by AI.
- You are accountable for identifying and mitigating, through a systematic approach, potential hazards before they escalate into tangible threats, preemptively safeguarding individuals, organizations, or systems against harm during the detection and validation stages of the Risk Intelligence Lifecycle.
- You are expected to provide inputs for trend detection workflows and support investigation/IM for critical issue areas, ensuring both short-term and long-term risk management.
- You will lead our Risk Intelligence team, under Risk Detection, to test the quality and relevance of the 1st party and 3rd party signals to ensure their accuracy and effectiveness to inform decisions
- You will lead our Red team, under Risk Detection, to define risk detection priorities in terms of teams, processes, type of users, systems based on aligned criteria (e.g., safety risk, regulatory requirements (in place or to come), previous incidents, observed behaviours e.g., in partnership with Ethics and Compliance), with actionable recommendation plans based on identified gaps
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
- Extensive leadership experience in risk detection, intelligence, or red teaming, with management experience for a "red team" or trust & safety adversarial testing
- Knowledge of the broad Trust & Safety industry, within and outside the company. Strong understanding of T&S ecosystem, with subject matter expertise in select extreme risk domains (Hate, VBDA, Mental Health, Human Exploitation).
- Risk & Intelligence Analysis Skills: Expertise on strong methodology, knowing how to draw out insights from complex risk analysis, systematically identify and mitigate potential hazards, and guide others on deep-dive investigations of leads. Ability to set direction for the team on framework and analysis methodologies as well as auditing business processes.
- Skilled in business writing and presentations, ability to distill complex information
- Ability to establish relationships with cross-functional stakeholders to solve problems, resolve escalations, influence strategy, and drive synergies across teams. Always making thoughtful, strategic decisions in the long-term interest of T&S.
- Ability to support teams with coaching, development, and talent planning. Ability to build up Red Team and define specific roles & responsibilities, workflows, and capabilities needed.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Significant leadership experience managing senior contributors and managers in a top technology firm, intelligence agency, or equivalent.
- Knowledge of risks that are specific to social media platforms across multiple markets/regions, industry, and understanding of potential threat trajectories and cross product threat picture.
- Ability to maintain an inquisitive mindset, looking to find risks and building processes to test solutions. Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment, adapt to challenges, and deliver deep-focused work.