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Global Head of Policy Development

AT TikTok
TikTok

Global Head of Policy Development

San Jose, CA

Responsibilities

Team Overview

The Trust & Safety (T&S) Policy team is dedicated to fostering a safe, inclusive, and positive environment across our platforms. We develop, refine, and enforce community policies that guide user behavior and content creation, ensuring our global community can express themselves freely while being protected from harm. Our work is critical in maintaining user trust and platform integrity.

We are seeking an experienced and strategic leader to serve as the Head of Global Policy Development within our Trust & Safety organization. In this critical role, you will lead a global team of policy experts responsible for creating the principles, policies, guidelines, and educational materials that govern content and conduct across TikTok. Your team's mission is to develop nuanced, principled, and operationally viable policies addressing a wide spectrum of complex issue areas, from user safety to content integrity and platform abuse.

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As the Head of Global Policy Development, you will be a key organizer, influencer, and subject matter expert, guiding your team to strike the right balance between mitigating harm and enabling expression. You will provide strategic leadership across the company, championing user safety and well-being, particularly for vulnerable groups, and ensuring our policies are globally consistent yet locally relevant.

Responsibilities:
- Policy Development: Lead the global team through the entire policy lifecycle, defining overarching principles, frameworks, and taxonomies for core T&S issues (e.g., Child Safety, Hate Speech, Misinformation), and overseeing the creation of clear, actionable policies, guidelines, and educational materials.
- Stakeholder Management: Build strong partnerships and act as the central policy contact, collaborating closely with internal teams (Product, Engineering, Operations, Legal, Comms, etc.) to ensure policies are effective, feasible, and aligned with objectives, while effectively communicating rationale to all stakeholders, including leadership.
- Crisis Management: Serve as the global escalation point for complex, high-profile, or emergency content safety issues, providing expert guidance and facilitating rapid, principled decision-making under pressure, balancing safety, expression, legal risk, and public perception.
- Proactive Adaptation: Support transparency initiatives, engage with external experts and organizations, and stay abreast of global trends, emerging harms, platform risks, and relevant regulatory landscapes to proactively adapt policies.
- Team Leadership: Foster a high-performing, collaborative, and inclusive team culture, manage cross-team relations effectively, and continuously seek opportunities to optimize policy development, iteration, and implementation processes for greater efficiency and quality.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:
- 5+ years leading high-performing, global teams and a proven track record developing/implementing global policy frameworks at scale.
- Deep understanding of the Trust & Safety ecosystem, major policy challenges (e.g., child safety, misinformation, hate speech), and experience navigating complex global legal, regulatory, and cultural nuances.
- Demonstrated ability to build consensus and collaborate effectively with diverse cross-functional partners (ie: Legal, Product, Engineering, Operations, Communications); experience working directly with product and engineering teams to translate policy requirements into technical solutions.
- Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills (written/verbal), with the ability to articulate complex policy concepts persuasively to diverse audiences and leverage data for decision-making.
- Proven ability to manage high-stakes escalations, make sound, principled judgments under pressure, and balance competing priorities (ie: safety, expression, risk).

Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated ability to influence executive leadership and shape global strategy through compelling policy recommendations.
- Ability to thrive in a highly complex and matrixed global organization.

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $220000 - $420000 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;

2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and

3. Exercising sound judgment.

Client-provided location(s): San Jose, CA, USA
Job ID: TikTok-7499180419838200072
Employment Type: Other

Perks and Benefits

  • Health and Wellness

    • Health Insurance
    • Dental Insurance
    • Vision Insurance
    • HSA
    • Life Insurance
    • Fitness Subsidies
    • Short-Term Disability
    • Long-Term Disability
    • On-Site Gym
    • Mental Health Benefits
    • Virtual Fitness Classes
  • Parental Benefits

    • Fertility Benefits
    • Adoption Assistance Program
    • Family Support Resources
  • Work Flexibility

    • Flexible Work Hours
    • Hybrid Work Opportunities
  • Office Life and Perks

    • Casual Dress
    • Snacks
    • Pet-friendly Office
    • Happy Hours
    • Some Meals Provided
    • Company Outings
    • On-Site Cafeteria
    • Holiday Events
  • Vacation and Time Off

    • Paid Vacation
    • Paid Holidays
    • Personal/Sick Days
    • Leave of Absence
  • Financial and Retirement

    • 401(K) With Company Matching
    • Performance Bonus
    • Company Equity
  • Professional Development

    • Promote From Within
    • Access to Online Courses
    • Leadership Training Program
    • Associate or Rotational Training Program
    • Mentor Program
  • Diversity and Inclusion

    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program
    • Employee Resource Groups (ERG)

Company Videos

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