Head of Standards & Enforcement (formerly Trust & Safety)

Substack’s mission is to build a new economic engine for culture. From the beginning, we have been clear in our belief in the free press and free speech—values we consider inseparable and fundamental to a trustworthy media system.

To achieve our mission, Substack must uphold free expression while maintaining a vibrant platform with clear rules that allow for the open exchange of ideas. Our Standards & Enforcement team ensures this balance by prioritizing free expression, enforcing standards, addressing violations, and protecting the platform’s integrity. We are seeking a Head of Standards & Enforcement to lead this team and work closely with leadership to further our vision for community moderation.

This is not a traditional Trust & Safety role. We are looking for someone eager to rethink how platforms handle policies and enforcement—eschewing centralized censorship in favor of empowering creators to set the tone for their communities. You will lead a team, oversee enforcement, develop policies, and partner with Product to guide the platform’s evolution.

This role is about protecting Substack’s viability by addressing extreme behaviors while respecting the fundamental freedom of users to express their perspectives.

This position reports to the VP of Operations. Ideal candidates are based in the San Francisco Bay Area and can work from our SF HQ three days or more per week. We are also open to exceptional candidates located elsewhere in the US and Canada who can travel on a regular cadence to SF.

Responsibilities

• Enforce Substack’s content guidelines. Address issues like spam, content violations, appeals, account recovery, copyright disputes, and other rule violations. Proactively identify and respond to emerging threats that could affect the platform.
• Lead the team. Manage a group of specialists, hire, develop leadership, and build a cohesive, high-performing function.
• Drive forward Automation and AI. Get your team partnering with engineers and vendors. Leverage emerging tech to gain superpowers that enhance detection, automation, and decision-making to make rule enforcement faster and more effective.
• Develop practical policies. Work closely with leadership and Legal to refine Substack’s policies, ensuring they are actionable and aligned with our values.
• Use data to inform decisions. Monitor and analyze metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of enforcement efforts.
• Collaborate with product teams. Advise on new features and ensure enforcement systems are integrated across Substack’s surfaces (e.g., posts, comments, Notes). Shape Substack’s approach to decentralized moderation, empowering creators to manage their communities.

Qualifications

• Problem-solver with a startup mindset. Hands-on and proactive, you excel at navigating complex challenges in a fast-paced environment.
• 5+ years experience in Trust & Safety, content moderation, risk, threat disruption, or a related field, ideally in a lead role. Candidates with a product background who have worked on Trust & Safety features are also encouraged to apply. Seeking candidates with experience working on social media, social networks, and other content-focused platforms.
• Aligned with Substack’s principles.  Strong commitment to free speech and alignment with Substack’s moderation philosophy. (We highly recommend reading this post and this post by our founders and our content guidelines).
• Team builder. Skilled at recruiting, managing, and coaching a high-performing team. Fluency with enforcement metrics, tools, and operating procedures.
• Understanding of policy development. Experience in developing and applying platform policies. You can track nuances and facilitate decision-making.
• Good product-sense. Able to partner with engineers and discuss high-level technical requirements.
• Legal familiarity. Ideally familiar with data privacy, GDPR, copyright, subpoenas and law enforcement requests.
• Strong communicator. Able to explain complex issues clearly and concisely in both written and verbal formats. Can influence stakeholders and forge clarity.

Compensation

Substack’s compensation package includes a market competitive salary, equity for all full time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $145,000 - $195,000. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.