Child Safety Team Lead - Trust and Safety

About Us

Our Trust & Safety Safety Regulatory Compliance Operations team's commitment is to keep our online community safe. We have invested heavily in human and machine-based moderation to remove harmful content quickly and often before it reaches our general community.

The Child Safety Team is responsible for reporting incidents of online sexual abuse of minors including child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), sexually predatory behavior including grooming, and other sexual exploitation involving minors to appropriate authorities, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The team is seeking an experienced people leader with excellent judgment, exceptional partnering skills and a passion for protecting children.

Role Description

As the Child Safety Team (CST) Lead, you’ll be guiding Child Safety Specialists to ensure the timely reporting of content across the broad spectrum of online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Through close partnerships with Legal, Policy, and Product, you will manage child sexual exploitation and abuse incidents to protect our online community. This role requires someone who will rapidly master internal workflows to anticipate systemic risks, ensuring the operation scales without compromising integrity.

You will also work closely with internal teams to create and streamline cross-functional processes, and increase our overall efficiency to ensure our products are free of any violative content.

This role will be regularly exposed to harmful child safety content as part of the core role. Additional harmful content you may be exposed to includes but is not limited to bullying; hate speech; sexual assault; torture; bestiality; self-harm; suicide; murder.

This role will be based in San Jose, CA. This role may include on call and holiday support.

What Will I Be Doing?

• You will lead a team of Child Safety Specialists under the Head of CST Operations, to ensure daily operational effectiveness, set goals for the team, and be responsible for their wellness.
• You'll lead and manage escalations of Child Safety requests, including those from Law Enforcement, liaising with Legal, Policy, Product, and other colleagues whenever necessary. You'll also work closely with our Global Child Safety team to partner on effective strategy to safeguard the platform.
• You'll identify risks to operational efficiencies and escalate them efficiently while also seeking out solutions.
• You'll work directly with the Head of CST Operations to provide regular reporting to keep stakeholders up to date on progress, findings and recommendations.
• You'll manage team schedules and rosters to ensure daily operational coverage, identifying and flagging bandwidth gaps before they impact compliance with legal deadlines.
• You'll manage multiple projects of moderate-to-high complexity and scope and work cross-functionally to ensure coordination and alignment on objectives and key results.
• You'll enhance our operational workflows via process improvements and identification of automation opportunities. You'll drive innovation regarding processes and best practices for implementing policies.
• You'll help coach/mentor team members and devise development plans for their professional development.
• You'll attend regular Child Safety meetings and work closely with key partners.
• You'll keep abreast and evaluate the impact of legislative, regulatory and legal developments related to the handling and reporting of Child Safety material.
• You'll play a role in defining and implementing a long-term strategy to deal with hiring and volume growth to continue to meet goals in this area for TikTok.
• You'll work directly with the team and adjacent teams to ensure long-term SLA adherence.
• You'll address sensitive content issues, including but not limited to graphic images, videos and writings, offensive or derogatory language, and other objectionable material.
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 years in Online Child Safety and familiarity with NCMEC's CyberTipline
• Proven experience in managing and leading operational teams, with several years in a management or people-leader role.
• A successful track record leading cross-regional teams, fostering alignment, and driving results across diverse geographies.
• Extensive experience handling sensitive content within removal processes, calibrations, and escalation management.
• Strong track record of managing multiple complex projects and developing effective team strategies.
• Excellent decision-making skills under pressure, with the ability to prioritize and act swiftly.
• Adept at engaging with senior stakeholders and executives to achieve organizational goals.
• Comprehensive knowledge of child safety investigations and related law enforcement processes.
• Demonstrated expertise in engaging and collaborating with law enforcement agencies.
• Exceptional and professional verbal, written, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels.
• Resilience and commitment to self-care to manage the emotional demands of the role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working for an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC)
• Familiarity with US laws and regulations impacting Trust and Safety operations (2258A, the Report Act, etc.)
• Demonstrated success in managing global operational teams, including experience with scheduling, time zone management, and handling stress in high-stakes environments.
• Track record of challenging the status quo and driving forward-thinking changes that enhance team and company performance.
• Experience using data analytics to drive decision-making and process improvements.