Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Trust Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

A Trust Analyst serves as a guardian of our digital ecosystem's integrity and user safety. This role is on the front line of identifying and mitigating risks, from fraud and abuse to harmful content and inauthentic behavior. You are a detective, a policy expert, and a data-savvy problem-solver, all in one. Your work involves investigating complex cases, analyzing patterns to uncover emerging threats, and making critical decisions that directly impact the safety and trustworthiness of our platform. This position requires a unique blend of analytical rigor, sound judgment, and deep empathy, as you navigate sensitive situations and uphold our commitment to a secure and positive user experience.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Customer Support Specialist or Escalations Agent
Content Moderator or Quality Assurance Specialist
Recent Graduate (Criminology, Data Science, International Relations)

Advancement To:

Senior Trust Analyst or Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Trust & Safety Team Lead or Manager
Trust & Safety Policy Specialist or Program Manager

Lateral Moves:

Fraud Analyst or AML Investigator
Risk Analyst (Operational or Financial)
Data Analyst (with a focus on user behavior or safety)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Conduct in-depth, nuanced investigations into escalated or complex cases of potential policy violations, including fraud, scams, harassment, hate speech, and misinformation.
Proactively and reactively review user-generated content, profiles, and account activities against established community guidelines and terms of service to identify and action violations.
Analyze patterns and trends in abusive behavior and malicious activity, using data to surface new threats, vulnerabilities, and enforcement gaps.
Make consistent, high-judgment enforcement decisions based on policy, operational procedures, and contextual understanding of user intent and impact.
Clearly and concisely document investigation findings, evidence, and rationale for all actions taken within our case management systems.
Handle sensitive and often graphic content with professionalism and emotional resilience, adhering to strict wellness protocols and support systems.
Manage and resolve user appeals regarding enforcement decisions, providing clear communication and re-evaluating cases with fresh, impartial perspective.
Identify and escalate emerging threats, high-profile incidents, or systemic issues to senior leadership, policy teams, and engineering partners for rapid response.
Collaborate with cross-functional partners, including Legal, Policy, Communications, and Product teams, to provide insights that inform policy development and product changes.
Develop and maintain subject matter expertise in a specific risk area, such as child safety, financial fraud, election integrity, or counter-terrorism.
Author detailed post-mortem reports on significant incidents, outlining the root cause, impact, and recommendations for preventative measures.
Utilize SQL, data dashboards, and other analytical tools to query datasets, monitor key risk metrics, and measure the effectiveness of enforcement strategies.
Contribute to the creation and refinement of operational workflows and enforcement policies to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and scalability of our trust and safety efforts.
Participate in an on-call rotation to respond to time-sensitive, high-severity incidents that may occur outside of standard business hours.
Perform quality assurance audits on peer decisions to ensure adherence to policy, identify training needs, and maintain a high standard of consistency.
Test and provide feedback on new tools, features, and detection models designed to improve the team's ability to combat abuse.
Develop and deliver training materials for new analysts or on updated policies and procedures to ensure the entire team is aligned.
Analyze user reports and feedback channels to understand community concerns and identify areas where policy or enforcement can be clarified or improved.
Investigate sophisticated, adversarial networks of bad actors attempting to manipulate the platform or evade detection systems.
Prepare and present regular reports on key performance indicators, risk trends, and investigation outcomes to stakeholders and leadership.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis from cross-functional partners.
Contribute to the organization's long-term data and platform integrity strategy.
Collaborate with business units to translate their safety and integrity needs into engineering and data science requirements.
Participate actively in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies within the broader trust and safety organization.
Mentor junior analysts, providing guidance on complex cases and professional development.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Data Analysis & SQL: Proficiency in writing SQL queries to extract and manipulate data for investigative and analytical purposes.
Investigation Tooling: Experience using internal or third-party case management systems, content review platforms, and investigative tools.
Data Visualization: Ability to interpret and build dashboards using tools like Tableau, Looker, or Power BI to track metrics and communicate trends.
Advanced Spreadsheet Skills: Mastery of Excel or Google Sheets for data manipulation, pivot tables, and ad-hoc analysis.
Risk Detection Logic: Understanding of how rule-based systems and machine learning models are used to detect fraud, abuse, and spam.
Scripting (Bonus): Basic knowledge of a scripting language like Python or R for automating tasks and performing more complex data analysis is a strong plus.

Soft Skills

Analytical & Critical Thinking: The ability to dissect complex problems, identify key variables, and connect disparate pieces of information to reach a logical conclusion.
Impeccable Judgment: A strong moral compass and the ability to make difficult, nuanced decisions under pressure with incomplete information.
Resilience & Emotional Intelligence: The capacity to handle exposure to sensitive, disturbing, or offensive content while maintaining professional focus and personal well-being.
Exceptional Communication: The ability to articulate complex findings and enforcement rationale clearly and concisely, both in writing (for case notes) and verbally (for stakeholder updates).
Meticulous Attention to Detail: A commitment to accuracy and thoroughness in investigations, documentation, and data handling.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: A natural ability to build relationships and work effectively with teams from different disciplines, such as engineering, legal, and policy.
Curiosity & Problem-Solving: A proactive and inquisitive mindset, always asking "why" and seeking to understand the root causes of problems rather than just treating symptoms.
Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment where policies and threat landscapes are constantly evolving.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent practical experience in an analytical or investigative role.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field that emphasizes research, analysis, and critical thinking.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Criminology / Criminal Justice
Data Science / Analytics
Political Science / International Relations
Sociology or Psychology
Law or Pre-Law Studies
Journalism

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2-5 years of professional experience in a related field such as trust & safety, risk management, fraud investigation, content moderation (at an escalation level), legal operations, or intelligence analysis.

Preferred:

Direct experience making policy-based enforcement decisions in a tech or financial services environment.
Proven track record of conducting complex investigations and summarizing findings for a diverse audience.
Familiarity with the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding online content, privacy, and user safety.