Software Engineer, Trust & Safety - USDS

Responsibilities
Team Intro We are seeking a talented Software Engineer to join our embedded Trust and Safety team, focusing on proactive risk detection. You'll be a key contributor to our mission, developing impactful solutions that address high-harm, high-risk issues where traditional detection methods may fall short. As a Software Engineer on the Risk and Response Detection and Automation team, you will contribute to the full lifecycle of our tools, from early concepts to production deployment. You'll play a vital role in our Detection Engineering program, helping to build and scale systems that identify high-harm content and behavioral leakage on the platform. This involves collaborating closely with cross-functional Trust and Safety and Security teams on threat initiatives, refining tools to minimize false positives, and developing automation technologies to streamline critical processes. You'll have opportunities to build a range of solutions, from intuitive threat-intelligence platforms and workflow engines to knowledge discovery aids powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). The department is tasked with managing and executing highly sensitive and high-stakes workflows, often involving objectionable or disturbing content, including but not limited to bullying, hate speech, child abuse, sexual assault, and violent crimes. 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. This position will be full-time and will be based in Bellevue, WA; Los Angeles, CA; San Jose, CA; or New York, NY. Responsibilities: - Build and implement compelling and usable tools with technologies like React, Python, and Golang to improve consistency and efficiency across US Trust & Safety. - Collaborate directly with users to inform, refine, and validate concepts, translating user needs into robust and scalable features from MVP to production. - Develop and deploy lightweight models in Python and SQL for our Detection Engineering program, helping to catch high-harm content and behavioral leakage at scale. - Contribute to the exploration and application of AI/LLM technologies to enhance our proactive detection capabilities and reduce the technical lift of current bespoke systems. - Participate actively in team events, including hackathons, monthly product demos, and quarterly on-sites. - Analyze metrics and derive insights to continuously raise the effectiveness of our tooling and detection solutions.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications: - A preferred minimum 2 years of experience building and contributing to applications, with a solid understanding of the systems you've worked on. - Fluency in Python, and proficiency in other modern programming languages (e.g., Go, JavaScript) is a plus. Proficiency in relational database technologies (e.g., MySQL) and NoSQL database technologies (e.g., MongoDB). - Prior experience in Frontend development, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Data Engineering, or Machine Learning. - Strong foundational knowledge in software engineering principles, data structures, and algorithms. - Curiosity and eagerness to learn about Large Language Models (LLMs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how they can be applied to build more predictive and intelligent systems. - A proactive approach to problem-solving, with the ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment. - Working knowledge of cloud platforms (e.g., OCI, GCP, AWS) and associated technologies (e.g., Kubernetes, networking). Preferred Qualifications: - Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of working effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. - Ability to handle confidential information with discretion. - Experience working on Trust & Safety, detection, security, or integrity systems - Familiarity with emerging threat models, adversarial behaviors, or large-scale abuse mitigation - Exposure to ML or LLM-powered internal tools (e.g., RAG pipelines, Model Context Protocol (MCP) Servers) - Prior work in emotionally sensitive domains or content moderation support functions - 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.
Job Information
(For Pay Transparency)Compensation Description (Annually)
The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $ - $ 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.
About USDS
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.
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.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect - and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.
We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
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.
Trust & Safety
TikTok recognises that keeping our platform safe for the TikTok communities is no ordinary job which can be both rewarding and psychologically demanding and emotionally taxing for some. 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 joining.
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.
USDS Reasonable Accommodation
USDS 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