Escalation Team Lead, Customer Support

Team Overview

The USDS JV Trust & Safety Customer Support team is dedicated to providing best-in-class support, maintaining platform safety, and driving operational excellence across the TikTok US ecosystem.

Within our organization, the Escalation & Incident Management team functions as the specialized strike force and emergency response hub. We handle the highest-stakes, most ambiguous, and high-risk cases that bypass standard frontline SOPs—including high-value VIP/advertiser account takeovers (ATO), complex corporate ownership disputes, severe safety/security threats, and legal/regulatory escalations. Our mission is to protect our high-value ecosystem, mitigate platform risk, and turn complex crises into structured, scalable solutions.

Position Summary

We are seeking an investigative, highly resourceful, and strategic Escalation Team Lead to build, lead, and empower a high-caliber team of Escalation Specialists. Unlike traditional customer support leads, this role requires a candidate who thrives in ambiguity, possesses a strong security and investigative mindset, and can make critical judgment calls when available data signals do not tell the whole story.

In this role, you will lead high-severity incident responses, manage executive-visible escalations, and navigate complex organizational matrixes to connect with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Security teams in real time. You will not only drive complex investigations to resolution but also act as a process builder—ensuring every resolved crisis yields stronger SOPs, clearer escalation paths, and upstream product/security enhancements.

Key Responsibilities

Complex Investigations & High-Stakes Escalation Management

• Lead and coach the team through complex, ambiguous investigations involving Account Takeovers (ATO), identity/ownership disputes, fraud, abuse, and corporate business transfers.
• Balance white-glove support for high-value business clients/advertisers with rigorous security standards, exercising sound prioritization and risk judgment across varying levels of business impact.
• Serve as the primary operational lead during high-severity safety, legal, or security incidents; communicate clearly with executive leadership, Legal, and Risk teams regarding confirmed facts, risk impact, blockers, and resolution status.
• Maintain and oversee an effective around-the-clock on-call coverage model to ensure immediate escalation triage for critical off-hours business or security emergencies.

Cross-Functional Influence & Network Building

• Proactively build strong, trusted working relationships across a massive global enterprise—including Legal, Compliance, Product, Security Engineering, Fraud, and Executive Support—to rapidly mobilize the right owners during crises.
• Maintain high awareness of regulatory and reporting implications; ensure strict evidence preservation, factual reporting, and legal/litigation documentation standards when handling highly critical cases.

Systems Thinking & Process Architecture

• Transform unresolved, ambiguous incidents into scalable operational frameworks; drive the post-incident creation of new SOPs, escalation matrices, tooling requirements, and automation.
• Look beyond individual case closure to diagnose systemic vulnerabilities, identifying why an incident occurred and driving upstream changes with Product and Security teams to prevent recurrence.

Specialized Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and elevate a team of specialized investigators; mentor team members to independently own complex domains, toolings, and partner relationships rather than focusing solely on traditional CS metrics.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in Account Security/Integrity, Trust & Safety, Fraud/Abuse Investigations, Technical Incident Management, Risk Operations, or High-Value VIP/Business Support, with 2+ years of leadership or lead project/team management experience.
• Strong expertise in identity verification, account recovery, ATO investigation techniques, and analyzing business/legal ownership documentation (e.g., LOAs, corporate filings).
• Proven ability to remain analytical and solution-focused when handling high-severity, executive-visible incidents with major financial, legal, or reputational risks.
• Exceptional networking and stakeholder navigation skills; demonstrated ability to connect with Product, Engineering, Security, and Legal partners on day-one to drive urgent resolutions.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills; ability to distill complex, technical investigations into concise, factual, and audience-appropriate reports for leadership or legal teams.
• Willingness and capability to participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation for high-severity emergency escalations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Trust & Safety, Content Moderation, Cyber Security Incident Response, or Financial Fraud Operations within a tech/digital platform environment.
• Basic understanding of legal/regulatory compliance frameworks surrounding user data, corporate identity, and privacy.
• Background in building operational workflows, escalation paths, and tooling automation from the ground up.