Senior Director Engineering, YouTube Trust and Safety

Google•San Bruno, CA

8d•$364,000 - $505,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This role focuses on Detection Engineering and consists of approximately 200 software engineers across Zurich, San Bruno, and Mountain View. The organization comprises two primary pillars: Video Content Abuse, which focuses on detecting violative video content on the platform using advanced ML architectures and agentic workflows; and Channel Abuse and GenAI Product Safety, which focuses on detecting violative channels, text abuse, and securing Generative AI features. As the Senior Director of Engineering for Trust and Safety, you will be responsible for end-to-end technical leadership and execution for the YouTube Trust & Safety’s Detection Engineering teams. You will ensure that Violative View Rate (VVR) and Adversarial View Rate (AVR) meet targets while staying within budget. At YouTube, we believe in empowering everyone to share their voice and build community. We work at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and creativity, moving at the speed of culture to show people the world. We explore new ideas, solve real problems, and have fun together.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
15 years of experience in software development.
10 years of experience in team management.
Experience with consumer-facing product engineering or ML/recommendations organizations.

Nice To Haves

20 years of experience in software development spanning a combination of infrastructure, mobile and web applications, and AI/ML.
Experience driving execution with urgency.
Experience in music, podcasts, or video streaming services.
Experience handling incidents and escalations, highly skilled in problem solving under pressure and executions against deadlines.
Ability to inspire and motivate the engineering team to work together as a cohesive and highly productive unit.

Responsibilities

Manage, grow, and inspire a global organization of around 200 software engineers across all aspects of the software stack. Develop leadership talent through effective mentoring, succession planning, and retention strategies.
Set and drive the "big picture" strategy while providing detailed technical guidance on AI/ML and infrastructure. Oversee complex technical projects including the integration of GenAI models, the evolution of multimodal classification models, and first-party GenAI feature safety.
Partner with internal stakeholders across YouTube, DeepMind, and Google Trust & Safety to design and deploy rigorous quantitative frameworks and scalable enforcement solutions.
Handle urgent escalations and high-priority incidents, demonstrating high EQ and the technical depth to uncover root causes and solve complex problems under pressure.