Director of Safety ML

Details

Reddit is seeking a Director of Machine Learning to lead efforts in building industry-leading ML systems that keep the platform safe and foster healthy online communities. This leader will drive strategy, development, and deployment of machine learning models that detect and prevent harmful content and behavior at scale. The role owns the roadmap for Safety and moderation ML, leads applied scientists and engineers, and partners cross-functionally across Product, Engineering, Safety operations, Trust & Community, and AI/ML Platform. The role leverages modern ML — including fine-tuned LLMs — to ensure Reddit remains a safe, welcoming, and positive environment for its global user base.

Responsibilities

• Set the vision and strategy for applying ML to Trust & Safety, ensuring scalable, proactive protection against evolving abuse patterns.
• Lead and grow a high-performing Safety ML organization, including applied research, model development, productionization, and continuous improvement.
• Develop and deploy cutting-edge Safety ML systems (including fine-tuned LLMs and transformer models) that outperform state-of-the-art solutions in quality, latency, and efficiency.
• Partner with Trust & Safety, Product, Moderation, and AI/ML Platform teams to identify safety risks, emerging harm vectors, and ML opportunities that improve detection, enforcement, and user experience.
• Drive successful experimentation, evaluation, and model lifecycle management, ensuring high precision, recall, explainability, and policy alignment.
• Champion ethical and responsible AI practices in all Safety ML solutions.
• Track performance through metrics, research-based iteration, and alignment with Reddit’s safety policies and regulatory standards.
• Represent Safety ML leadership internally and externally — including conferences, publications, industry groups, and cross-company collaboration initiatives.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in Machine Learning, AI, or applied research, with a strong background in Trust & Safety, abuse prevention, detection, or content integrity.
• 5+ years of experience leading multi-disciplinary ML teams of 25+ team members (applied science, engineering, analytics) in a high-growth or high-impact environment; must have experience managing people leaders (managers with direct reports).
• Proven track record of shipping ML systems at scale in production, ideally including transformer-based models and LLM fine-tuning.
• Depth in NLP, content understanding, and detection systems; experience with supervised and weak-supervision techniques.
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with ability to influence executives and foster alignment across Safety, Product, and Engineering.
• Thought leadership in responsible AI, safety ML research, or safety measurement frameworks.
• Entrepreneurial mindset — experience founding or scaling a product or ML org.

Nice to Have

• Experience building or operating real-time abuse detection and automated moderation systems in a complex user-generated content ecosystem.
• Prior work in consumer-facing tech, social platforms, or large-scale community-driven products.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits and Income Replacement Programs
• 401k with Employer Match
• Global benefit programs (workspace, professional development, caregiving support)
• Family Planning Support and Gender-Affirming Care
• Mental Health & Coaching Benefits
• Flexible Vacation & Paid Volunteer Time Off
• Generous Paid Parental Leave

Pay Transparency / Compensation

• Base salary range for U.S.-based candidates: $276,700 - $387,400 USD
• Eligible to receive equity in the form of restricted stock units; depending on position, may also be eligible to receive a commission.

Additional Notes

• Role is completely remote friendly within the United States. Physical office locations include San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago (optional in-office attendance). Interview recording/transcription by AI may occur in select roles with opt-out available.