Safety Policy Lead, Youth Safety

Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games.

We are seeking an experienced Safety Policy Lead to own Discord's youth safety policy portfolio. As a member of the Safety Policy team within Product Policy, you will drive policy development and lifecycle management across the full spectrum of youth safety harms: child sexual abuse material, grooming, and child exploitation. This role requires deep domain expertise, strong regulatory literacy, and the ability to translate complex child safety requirements into enforceable policy and durable implementation.

This is a lifecycle ownership role, not a drafting role. You will be accountable for policy quality from problem identification through enforcement quality, with visibility into implementation, QA, and the feedback loops that determine whether policy intent survives contact with enforcement.

Please note: This role involves regular exposure to potentially disturbing content, including child sexual abuse material, exploitation imagery, and grooming-related content. Wellness support is provided.

What you'll be doing

• Research and develop safety policies governing youth safety harms on Discord, including CSAM, grooming and solicitation, child exploitation, and age assurance, covering both reactive harm response and proactive age-appropriate design.
• Own the full policy lifecycle for your domain: problem scoping, data justification, structured XFN consultation, testing against enforcement criteria, and post-launch feedback loop management.
• Partner with Legal early in the development process. Embed compliance requirements for KOSA, COPPA, DSA Article 28, and the Online Safety Act into policy design before drafting begins.
• Co-develop enforcement infrastructure with Trust and Safety, Engineering, and ML teams, including golden datasets, classification hierarchies, ML signal specifications, and IKB anchor criteria.
• Own the feedback loop from implementation and QA back to your policy work. When QA findings or overturn data indicate a policy gap, you drive the revision.
• Collaborate with civil society, NCMEC, ICAC, and other external child safety organizations. Represent Discord externally in this domain with credibility and consistency.
• Deliver rapid policy responses to emerging child safety threats, including cross-functional coordination during incidents and regulatory notifications where applicable.
• Own at least one functional domain area for the Safety Policy team beyond your harm portfolio. Current team needs include policy implementation systems, AI/LLM governance, or safety-by-design frameworks.
• Expected travel: 15%

What you should have

• 5+ years of experience developing policy (not solely enforcing or operationalizing it) in trust and safety, child safety, or a related domain at a technology platform or civil society organization focused on child protection.
• Deep expertise in youth safety: CSAM, NCMEC/ICAC frameworks, CSAM hash-matching systems, grooming and solicitation patterns, age assurance methodologies, and the regulatory landscape governing minors online.
• Direct experience with KOSA, COPPA, DSA child safety provisions, and/or the Online Safety Act. Regulatory literacy is required, not a bonus.
• Proven ability to write policy that survives implementation: clear enforcement criteria, defined classification hierarchies, and usable edge case guidance.
• Experience working with ML and automation teams to translate policy criteria into detection signals. You do not need to write the model, but you need to know what the model needs from you.
• Comfort making decisions under ambiguity and pressure.
• Strong written and verbal communication for audiences ranging from frontline moderators to regulators to executive leadership.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Bonus points

• Advanced degree in law, public policy, child development, psychology, or a related field.
• Experience with Discord's platform or gaming and creator communities.
• Multilingual capabilities, particularly in languages relevant to Discord's global user base

Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to Los Angeles.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $192,000 to $216,000 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits.

Why Discord? 

Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests, and helps developers build and grow their businesses. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank. Join us in our mission! Your future is just a click away!

Discord is committed to inclusion and providing reasonable accommodations during the interview process. We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know.

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