Intellectual Property Operations Senior Specialist (Functional Lead)

As a member of the Safety Regulatory Compliance Operations (SRCO) team, you will play a key role in keeping TikTok safe and trustworthy for our community. SRCO balances corporate compliance with practical operational safeguards to protect our users. Across our verticals, we work together to build efficient workflows that manage legal risk, covering regulatory compliance, law enforcement requests, and emergency response.

We are looking for a senior Intellectual Property (IP) Functional Lead to serve as an operational anchor and peer mentor for our team in Sydney. Operating as an advanced individual contributor (IC), you will bridge the gap when U.S. teams are offline, serving as the primary operational authority, mentor, and escalation lead during the APAC shift. You will work directly in active queues while guiding local team members, managing time-sensitive cross-functional requests, and ensuring seamless continuity for the USDS JV division. You are a systems thinker and rapid learner, that synthesizes product logic with legal requirements, leverage technical credibility and influence without authority to resolve "unsolvable" challenges and lead vital cross-functional partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Act as the senior operational reference point and peer mentor for Sydney team members navigating complex, ambiguous, or edge-case IP and legal moderation cases.
• Work directly within core operational queues and intake channels (including copyright, trademark, and counterfeit goods) under U.S. legal frameworks, ensuring high quality and strict SLA adherence.
• Serve as the immediate regional lead for high-stakes, time-sensitive escalations, high-profile requests, and emergency incidents during APAC business hours.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Account Management, Legal, Policy, and Product) to address regional needs, resolve operational roadblocks, and communicate status updates effectively.
• Proactively audit workflows to identify operational gaps, tool inefficiencies, and policy friction points, presenting actionable solutions and process improvements to team leadership.
• Drive operational and project work during stable volume periods to improve documentation, edge-case guidance, and shift-handover protocols between Sydney and U.S. counterparts.
• Maintain strong self-direction, prioritization, and executive decision-making capabilities while working independently in a fast-paced environment.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of experience in Trust & Safety, Legal Operations, Content Moderation, Risk Management, or a related high-velocity operational domain or compliance landscape.
• Proven ability to act as a senior subject matter expert or functional lead, with experience mentoring peers and guiding team members through ambiguous cases.
• Demonstrated track record of making high-judgment operational decisions independently in isolation or under tight time constraints.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the diplomatic finesse required to manage relationships with cross-functional partners, senior leadership, and Account Managers.
• Comfortable reviewing and handling sensitive, high-profile, or challenging content.
• Ability to work in differing work rotations/shifts (including nights, public holidays, and weekends) to ensure time-zone alignment with global and U.S. operations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong foundational knowledge of Intellectual Property (IP) law, including practical application of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Lanham Act.
• Direct experience handling high-risk escalations.
• Proven resilience, adaptability, and emotional intelligence when managing operational stress and navigating organizational change.