Director, Development, Ads Safety, Content Safety

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience in software development.
• 10 years of management experience.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science or related technical fields.
• Cybersecurity or Ads Safety Domain experience.
• Passion for, and has provided thought leadership around, user privacy, security, and ethics.

About the job

Unsafe or policy-violating content poses significant risks to our users, ranging from deceptive financial schemes and misinformation to harmful products and deepfakes. This role is critical in maintaining user trust and upholding the integrity of our Ads platforms, especially in an environment characterized by sophisticated content manipulation, advanced evasion techniques, and constantly evolving adversarial tactics.You will be responsible for leading a team of exceptionally skilled developers focused on ensuring the safety and policy compliance of ad content and landing pages.

As Director, your leadership will be instrumental in developing and implementing machine learning, large language models (LLMs), and artificial intelligence to understand, detect, and mitigate policy violations within ad creatives and landing page experiences. By enhancing automated detection processes and integrating human review mechanisms with our partners, you will improve our multi-layered defense system capable of adapting to new and emerging content threats.

In this role, you will utilize a deep understanding of policy nuances, threat analysis, and adversarial behaviors related to content, enabling us to anticipate potential vulnerabilities and develop countermeasures. Collaborating with cross-functional teams across trust and safety, policy, legal, and compliance, you will ensure that our systems not only meet regulatory requirements but lead the industry for quality and excellence, particularly in sensitive areas (e.g., elections and harmful content).

Google Ads is helping power the open internet with the best technology that connects and creates value for people, publishers, advertisers, and Google. We’re made up of multiple teams, building Google’s Advertising products including search, display, shopping, travel and video advertising, as well as analytics. Our teams create trusted experiences between people and businesses with useful ads. We help grow businesses of all sizes from small businesses, to large brands, to YouTube creators, with effective advertiser tools that deliver measurable results. We also enable Google to engage with customers at scale.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $294,000-$414,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Develop and drive the overarching strategy and roadmap for content safety within Ads Safety. Align this outlook with Google's commitment to creating a secure and trustworthy online environment for users and advertisers alike, ensuring robust policy enforcement for ad content and landing pages.
• Lead efforts to identify, assess, and counteract emerging threats posed by unsafe or policy-violating content, including misinformation, deepfakes, and content related to sensitive topics like elections. Utilize comprehensive threat modeling to understand the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by adversaries aiming to exploit our systems through content.
• Oversee the development and deployment of machine learning models, large language models (LLMs), and AI technologies designed to detect and mitigate malicious activities, policy violations, and harmful content.