Many startup platforms and online services need an experienced Head of Trust & Safety (T&S) to help them navigate uncharted waters. However, most don't need a full-time person in the role or can't afford to hire someone with the necessary experience on a full-time basis.

This AI-generated article draws on guidance from First Round Capital's Fractional Executive Hiring Guide and is tailored for founders considering hiring a fractional Head of Trust & Safety (T&S). The article:

  • lists examples of the ideal scenarios for such a hire;
  • details where a fractional T&S head may not be suitable;
  • defines how to scope their work and set key performance indicators;
  • lists essential traits and skills to look for;
  • offers interviewing tips; and
  • provides advice on onboarding to maximize the fractional T&S leader's impact in protecting users and the platform.

Metadata

  • Type of Content: Tailored, AI-Generated Text
  • Acknowledgement: Adapted from First Round Capital's Fractional Executive Hiring Guide
  • AI Prompt Used to generate the content below: Using the linked Fractional Hiring Guide, please create role-specific advice for founders who are considering hiring Fractional Trust & Safety Heads.
  • Model used: Gemini 2.5 Flash in Google AI Studio

Hiring a Fractional Head of Trust & Safety

1. When a Fractional T&S Head is an Ideal Fit:

  • Building from Scratch: You're launching a new platform or feature and need to establish T&S policies, strategies, and initial operational frameworks without the immediate need for a full-time, large team.
  • Policy Development: You need to draft, refine, or overhaul your community guidelines, content policies, or terms of service to address specific abuse vectors (e.g., hate speech, misinformation, fraud).
  • Risk Assessment & Mitigation: You're facing new or escalating abuse challenges (e.g., specific scam trends, emerging threats) and need an expert to identify risks and recommend solutions.
  • Compliance Guidance: Navigating complex global regulations (e.g., GDPR, DSA, specific country-level content laws) and ensuring your platform is compliant.
  • Product Safety Feature Integration: Advising product and engineering teams on building safety by design, implementing new moderation tools, or improving existing ones.
  • Scaling Advisory: Your existing T&S operations are rudimentary, and you need a seasoned leader to advise on future team structure, tooling, vendor selection, and long-term scaling strategy.
  • Crisis Preparedness/Review: You've experienced a past T&S incident and need an expert to conduct a post-mortem, shore up weaknesses, and build proactive crisis response plans.
  • Gap Fill during Full-Time Search: Bridging the gap while you search for a permanent T&S leader.

2. When a Fractional T&S Head is NOT the Best Fit:

  • Daily Operational Management: If you need someone to directly manage a large team of content moderators or trust & safety agents on a day-to-day basis, oversee queues, and handle routine escalations continuously. (A fractional exec can advise on this, but not typically do it all day).
  • Constant, Immediate Crisis Response: While they can advise on crisis strategy, if your platform is experiencing daily, severe, high-volume T&S crises that require immediate, continuous hands-on leadership, a full-time, fully immersed leader is likely necessary.
  • Deep, Long-Term Cultural Integration: For highly mature companies where T&S is deeply interwoven into a large, established organizational culture, a fractional role might struggle to gain the necessary internal buy-in and influence compared to a full-time leader.

3. Defining the Scope and KPIs:

  • Be Specific about Outcomes: "Reduce harm" is too vague. Focus on: "Reduce financial fraud by X%", "Develop first-cut policy on AI-generated content for stakeholder review," "Improve response time to child safety reports by Y%."
  • Examples of Key Deliverables: Policy documents, risk matrices, vendor evaluations, product spec recommendations, hiring profiles for future T&S roles, operational playbooks.
  • Measurable Outcomes:
    • Reduction in specific abuse metrics (e.g., spam volume, reported harassment, policy violations).
    • Improved policy clarity or coverage gaps.
    • Successful implementation of new safety features.
    • Faster incident response times for critical issues.
    • Completion of a specific compliance audit or readiness plan.

4. What to Look For in a Fractional T&S Head (Beyond General Traits):

  • Deep Domain Expertise: Proven experience in T&S, content moderation, fraud prevention, or online safety within a relevant industry (social media, gaming, e-commerce, marketplaces). They understand the nuances of various abuse vectors.
  • Policy Acumen: Ability to translate complex ethical and legal considerations into clear, enforceable community guidelines and internal policies.
  • Product & Engineering Fluency: Can effectively communicate T&S needs to product and engineering teams and has experience shipping safety features.
  • Legal & Regulatory Awareness: Understands relevant data privacy laws, content regulations, and child safety laws across different jurisdictions.
  • Crisis Management Experience: Has been through high-stakes T&S incidents and can remain calm, analytical, and decisive under pressure.
  • Data-Driven Mindset: Uses data and analytics to identify trends, measure impact, and make informed decisions about T&S strategy.
  • Vendor Management Experience: If you anticipate using third-party moderation or tooling, experience with selecting and managing vendors is a plus.
  • Empathy and Ethical Grounding: T&S is inherently human. Look for someone who understands the impact of their work on users and operators, and who approaches challenges with an ethical framework.
  • Strong Cross-Functional Communicator: Must be able to explain complex T&S issues and trade-offs clearly to executive leadership, legal, product, and marketing teams.

5. Interviewing Tips for a Fractional T&S Head:

  • Scenario-Based Questions:
    • "Describe your process for developing a new content policy from scratch."
    • "How would you approach a sudden surge in [specific type of abuse, e.g., deepfakes, financial scams] on our platform?"
    • "How do you balance user freedom of expression with the need for safety and platform integrity?"
    • "Walk me through a time you had to deliver difficult news or enforce an unpopular policy decision."
    • "What's your experience working with legal and product teams to integrate safety into the product lifecycle?"
  • Ask about Scaling: "If our user base grew 10x in the next year, what would be your top T&S priorities and how would you advise us to scale our operations?"
  • Tools & Technologies: "What T&S tools or platforms have you worked with? What are their strengths/weaknesses?"
  • Prioritization: "Given limited time (fractional), how do you prioritize the most impactful T&S work?"

6. Onboarding & Maximizing Impact for a Fractional T&S Head:

  • Immediate Data Access: Provide immediate, secure access to relevant user data (anonymized where possible), abuse reports, incident logs, and existing policy documents.
  • Key Introductions: Facilitate early introductions to the CEO/Founder, Head of Product, General Counsel/Legal, and relevant engineering leads.
  • Deep Dive into Current State: Spend time explaining your platform's current T&S challenges, existing tech stack, and any historical incidents or pain points.
  • Clear Authority & Autonomy: Define their decision-making authority within their scope. In T&S, quick and confident decisions are often necessary.
  • Regular Syncs: Schedule dedicated, consistent syncs with the Founder/CEO and key cross-functional leads (Product, Legal) to ensure alignment and address critical issues.
  • Provide Context, Not Just Tasks: T&S often requires deep contextual understanding. Ensure they know the "why" behind your product and user behavior.

By following this advice, founders can effectively leverage the specialized, high-impact expertise of a fractional Trust & Safety Head to protect their platform and users, without necessarily incurring the cost or long-term commitment of a full-time executive from day one.