Escalation & Validation Analyst - USDS

Responsibilities

About TikTok U.S. Data Security
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. U.S. Data Security ("USDS") is a subsidiary of TikTok in the U.S. This new, security-first division was created to bring heightened focus and governance to our data protection policies and content assurance protocols to keep U.S. users safe. Our focus is on providing oversight and protection of the TikTok platform and U.S. user data, so millions of Americans can continue turning to TikTok to learn something new, earn a living, express themselves creatively, or be entertained. The teams within USDS that deliver on this commitment daily span across Trust & Safety, Security & Privacy, Engineering, User & Product Ops, Corporate Functions and more.

Why Join Us
Creation is the core of TikTok's purpose. Our platform is built to help imaginations thrive. This is doubly true of the teams that make TikTok possible.
Together, we inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we all believe in and aim towards achieving every day.
To us, every challenge, no matter how difficult, is an opportunity; to learn, to innovate, and to grow as one team. Status quo? Never. Courage? Always.
At TikTok, we create together and grow together. That's how we drive impact - for ourselves, our company, and the communities we serve.
Join us.

Team Intro
The USDS Escalations & Validation (EV) Team leverages subject matter and policy expertise to triage and investigate incidents and mitigate harms on platform in order to keep our users safe. At a high level, EV's core responsibilities include escalations support and content review/enforcement. EV analysts are trained on all TikTok policies and tooling required for enforcement and investigations, such as LightHouse and Arena. EV has unique access to protected/private data, critical for account investigations.

Our Escalation & Validation Team performs a critical function that supports our efforts to address objectionable or disturbing content. Content that the EV Analyst 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 abuse; sexual assault; torture; bestiality; self-harm; suicide; and murder.

It is possible that this role will be exposed to harmful content on a daily basis.

In order to enhance collaboration and cross-functional partnerships, among other things, at this time, our organization follows a hybrid work schedule that requires employees to work in the office 3 days a week, or as directed by their manager/department. We regularly review our hybrid work model, and the specific requirements may change at any time.

Responsibilities
- Investigate and assist with USDS escalations; support Risk & Response teams with content review and enforcement.
- Interpret TikTok's Community Guidelines and make enforcement decisions accordingly.
- Stay updated on workflow changes and policy updates.
- Bridge gaps between Policy, Moderation, and Trust & Safety teams to improve policies and processes.
- Triage, review, investigate, and process reported escalations; respond to sensitive inquiries across multiple channels with accuracy and speed.
- Conduct deep-dive investigations to assess platform threats using policy, tools, and data.
- Use internal tools to identify and remove violative content at scale.
- Provide real-time summaries and brief senior leadership on emergency escalations, drafting reports to assess issues and identify action items.
- Collaborate with Legal, PR, and Comms on external communications, ensuring compliance with U.S. user privacy regulations and USDS protocols.
- Review large volumes of potentially harmful content, making enforcement decisions based on guidelines.
- Identify new intel signals from large-scale reviews to improve detection capabilities and share insights with leadership and cross-functional teams.
- Develop methodologies for large-scale content review with subject matter experts; take action based on high-confidence reviews.
- Support research content analysis by labeling and annotating various types of content to improve model precision and recall.
- Utilize data and tools to analyze trends, identify patterns, and share insights for process improvements.
- Share data to illuminate policy gaps and improve scalable enforcement.
- Test new tools and hypotheses, providing feedback and recommendations.
- Partner with analysts to improve threat detection models and validate detections.
- Support requests related to critical escalations or new process/workflow development.
- Escalate action items from root cause analyses to appropriate partners.
- Troubleshoot and support internal tooling; assist with new tool launches.
- Manage requests from cross-functional partners and support Quality Assurance initiatives to assess enforcement decisions.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or at least 1 year of experience in Trust & Safety, Operations, Content Moderation, or as a research assistant
- Strategic critical thinker with analytical and creative problem-solving skills
- Demonstrated experience as a collaborative team player; you understand the importance of proactive problem identification and covering for your colleagues when they need you most
- Strong communication and writing skills
- Open minded thinking about people, cultures, backgrounds, and threats

Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in online investigations, analysis, escalations, or operations, content policy, project management, or equivalent relevant fields, such as content moderation or model labeling
- Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, prioritize work, and make grounded decisions in high-pressure situations
- Technical aptitude for learning complex tools or systems required for daily operations
- Experience dealing with complex, no-right-answer problems; demonstrated critical thinking skills and interest in ethics and/or policy
- Highly organized with experience prioritizing multiple functions and tasks while managing their work time efficiently without compromising quality
- Your ability to work in a high tempo environment, adapt, respond to day-to-day challenges of the role.
- Your resilience and commitment to self-care to manage the emotional demands of the role.

Wellbeing Statement
Trust & Safety recognizes that keeping our platform safe for TikTok communities is no ordinary job. It can be rewarding, psychologically demanding, and emotionally taxing. 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 proceeding.

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.

D&I Statement
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.

Accommodation Statement
TikTok 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://shorturl.at/ktJP6

Data Security Statement
This role requires the ability to work with and support systems designed to protect sensitive data and information. As such, this role will be subject to strict national security-related screening.