Compliance & Safety Specialist

Who We Are

Hi, we're DuckDuckGo, the online protection company and remote-first team of 300+ on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, annual revenue now exceeds $100m USD and millions use our browser on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, our search engine, and the latest — Privacy Pro. Our culture of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management underpins everything we do, where each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem. If you're seeking end-to-end ownership of your work — you've come to the right place!

Your Team and Role

Working on the Law & Policy Functional Team, you'll support DuckDuckGo's global compliance and safety obligations by translating legal and regulatory requirements into repeatable and scalable, day-to-day operational practices. As a Compliance & Safety Specialist, you’ll work closely with engineering, product and legal to build, operate and continuously improve workflows for content, online safety and privacy compliance. Potential projects include:

1. Building cross-functional AI safety support processes, including contributing to AI governance and to the data labeling and metrics used to evaluate our products.
2. Managing and improving the CSAM moderation workflow for AI image uploads.
3. Enhancing our privacy compliance program.

In this role, you’ll take ownership of solving complex and ambiguous operational problems, such as translating evolving frameworks for online safety, AI, and privacy into practical processes and metrics, including in situations where requirements change quickly or lack clear precedent. You’ll also proactively identify risks, dependencies, and blockers to keep compliance capabilities aligned with rapid product development, while reducing reactive legal work through clear documentation, tooling, and automation.

About You

• 4+ years of experience in risk management, compliance, audit, content moderation, trust & safety, or a similar role.
• 2+ years working in a role that involved exposure to sensitive issues and offensive/disturbing content.
• Tech experience and/or experience of Digital Regulation, with the ability to convert regulatory and policy requirements into pragmatic operational practices.
• Strong judgment in handling sensitive or ambiguous situations.
• Ability to manage multiple compliance or safety tasks concurrently while maintaining quality, accountability, and momentum.

• Comfortable working autonomously and in collaboration with team members cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment, taking guidance as needed from other members of the legal team.

Please note this role will involve some exposure to sensitive content, including material that is sexual, violent, or otherwise disturbing.

Compensation

$145,500 USD annually and stock options. Compensation is identical within professional levels, regardless of geographic location or team. Compensation for each professional level is transparent across the organization.

Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.

Our Team Member Support Guide explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

Hiring Process

Hiring works best when it's a two-way street. Learn how we help you get to know DuckDuckGo, envision your future role here, and find out more about how we hire.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

DuckDuckGo provides equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants, and it prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by our policies or federal, state, or local laws.

We want to ensure that our hiring process is accessible. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an email to careers@duckduckgo.com to let us know the nature of your request.

Please note that:

1. You’ll be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing
2. Expect to travel at least two times a year: once for our all-hands meetup and again for a team retreat (each around 4-5 days). While extenuating circumstances may impact attendance, everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.
3. While we offer a flexible work arrangement with no core hours, expect an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.
4. A successful candidate must pass a background check as a condition of joining the team.
5. By applying for this role, you confirm that all information submitted is accurate and complete. You further acknowledge that providing false or fraudulent information during the application process is cause for denial of an offer, revocation of any existing offer, or other adverse action, up to and including termination after the start of your commencement of work.

Disclosure Statement: Use of AI in Hiring Process

As part of our commitment to enhancing our recruitment process, we utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to assist in reviewing and summarizing job applications and test projects, including those tools integrated into our recruitment vendor platforms. We use AI to flag potentially fraudulent applications, analyze and summarize applicants’ experience, interviews, and project performance, and help streamline our selection process.

Key Principles

1. Data Privacy: All information provided in your application will be handled in accordance with our Recruiting Privacy Policy. We ensure that your personal information is protected and used solely for recruitment purposes.
2. Human Oversight and Accountability: The AI technology is designed to support our hiring team by providing insights and summaries of applications and evaluations of test projects against scoring rubrics. All final evaluations and hiring decisions, however, will be made by our hiring team, who will consider the AI's input alongside other factors.
3. Transparency: We believe in transparency regarding our hiring practices. If you have any questions about how AI is used in our recruitment process, please feel free to reach out to us.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge and consent to the use of AI technology in our review process. If you would like to request an alternative selection process, please contact us as at careers@duckduckgo.com. Thank you for your interest in joining DuckDuckGo!