Data Scientist, Investigations and Insights, Trust and Safety - USDS

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.

Investigations and Insights is a one-stop shop for US market investigations, from which we develop Global solutions. Our subject matter experts discover and investigate an issue and identify high confidence signals that our data analysts and scientists develop into complex queries, establishing the prevalence of a particular problem and enabling further investigation of the threat. We build detection pipelines in partnership with automation teams to surface harmful content. Finally, we identify clear, actionable recommendations for cross-functional partners to strengthen moderation, policy, and product strategies.
Investigations and Insights Data Scientists may be exposed to harmful content in this role as part of their core day-to-day functions, as well as in project work; in response to escalation requests; or by chance.
Some content viewed my violate our community guidelines which include but are not limited to bullying; hate speech; child abuse; sexual assault; torture; bestiality; self-harm; suicide; and murder.

Responsibilities

• Work with a team of experts that not only respond to known bad actors, but proactively search and identify potential threats in order to build scalable protections to keep them out.
• Identify deceptive behavior of threat actors, and collect and analyze signals through data analysis, and work with engineers to improve detection models and develop data driven mitigation strategies. Develop and test predictive models of feature abuse.
• Data mine threat actor behaviors and tactics.
• Actively strengthen intelligence gathering and investigation standard operating procedures.
• Work cross-functionally with product managers, program managers, operations, policy, and communications teams to find gaps in current threat response processes such as detection and mitigation.
• Help mentor a team of data scientists and data analysts to execute team roadmap.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, Business, other relevant fields, or equivalent experience.
• Familiarity with one of the following issue areas: integrity and authenticity, violent behaviors and dangerous actors
• 5+ years of experience in threat discovery and prevention or related fields, including 2+ years of experience in detecting and investigating multiple types of threats.
• Advanced understanding of statistical analysis.
• Advanced proficiency in SQL or other relational database languages.
• Advanced proficiency in a functional or object oriented programming language (e.g. Python, R).
• Advanced understanding of machine learning, including designing and testing models; working knowledge of deep learning, or recommendation systems is a plus.
• 2 years of experience leading projects, mentoring junior staff, and managing stakeholder relationships.
• Project management skills to ensure impactful output, achieve stakeholder alignment, and manage competing priorities.
• A proven record of identifying signals of nefarious behavior or feature abuse and using creativity with experience to mitigate complex threats.
• 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.

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.

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 [email protected]

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.

Job Information

[For Pay Transparency] Compensation Description (annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $167537 - $312866 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.