Director, Legal, Trust & Safety

About Ancestry:
When you join Ancestry, you join a human-centered company where every person’s story is important. Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of more than 40 billion records, over 3 million subscribers and over 23 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Over the past 40 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.

We are committed to our location flexible work approach, allowing you to choose to work in the nearest office, from your home, or a hybrid of both (subject to location restrictions and roles that are required to be in the office- see the full list of eligible US locations HERE). We will continue to hire and promote beyond the boundaries of our office locations, to enable broadened possibilities for employee diversity.

Together, we work every day to foster a work environment that's inclusive as well as diverse, and where our people can be themselves. Every idea and perspective is valued so that our products and services reflect the global and diverse clients we serve. 

Ancestry encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, protected veterans and all other qualified applicants. Passionate about dedicating your work to enriching people’s lives? Join the curious.

We seek an experienced Trust and Safety legal professional to join our dynamic global legal team as a thought leader for content moderation, user safety, and responsible AI. In this role, you will develop a deep understanding of Ancestry’s strategic objectives, collaborating with key stakeholders to provide strategic and timely legal advice to the organization. Your expertise will be pivotal in shaping our Trust and Safety strategy, crafting policies and enforcement playbooks, and offering subject matter expertise to help guide product development. You will be responsible for legal analysis, interpretation, and compliance strategy concerning content and responsible AI regulations on a global scale. Your ability to navigate ambiguous spaces, work collaboratively within Legal and cross-functionally with the business, and adapt to shifting priorities will be key to your success. Reporting to the Chief Privacy Officer, VP of Legal, you will play a critical role for the legal team and for the company.

What You Will Do:

• Spearhead and drive Ancestry’s initiatives in establishing global policies concerning content moderation and responsible AI.

• Provide legal guidance on law enforcement requests.

• Develop decision pathways and interdisciplinary playbooks for content moderation, empowering leaders across the company to make consistent decisions.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional partners to evaluate and provide legal counsel on content removal requests from governmental entities.

• Provide subject matter expertise to teams overseeing the assessment of new products or product features to ensure adherence to content moderation and responsible AI standards.

• Collaborate with technical teams to devise platform tools for content moderation (e.g., reporting, detection, and enforcement mechanisms).

• Coordinate global assessments of responsible AI and content regulations and laws, formulating and executing compliance strategies.

• Create metrics and corresponding dashboards for continuous monitoring of platform abuse.

Who You Are:

• Substantial experience advising business teams on content-related regulations and policies.

• Previous involvement in an in-house legal department working on content moderation, content regulation, and online safety.

• Familiarity with advising on social media or other online community products.

• Experience in managing and responding to law enforcement requests.

• Proficiency in evaluating the product implications of regulations such as DSA, DMA, and AI frameworks.

• Expertise in platform liability, content moderation/regulation, privacy and security, consumer protection, copyright, law enforcement, and competition law.

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills. Ability to engage thoughtfully with technical experts and explain complex matters in plain English, free of legal jargon, to business leaders.

• Demonstrated capability to strategically collaborate with business leaders at all levels to meet regulatory and legal requirements while balancing user trust, customer experience, and business objectives.

• Possession of sound judgment, critical thinking abilities, and confidence in navigating unfamiliar and ambiguous situations.

• A dedicated team player with a thirst for learning. You proactively step up to assist with new projects, readily engage in question and answer sessions, and provide support to colleagues.

As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, Ancestry values pay transparency and pay equity.  We are pleased to share the base salary range for this position: $180,000 - $250,000 with eligibility for bonus, equity and comprehensive benefits including health, dental and vision. The actual salary will vary by geographic region and job experience.  We will share detailed compensation data for a specific location during the recruiting process.  Read more about our benefits HERE.

*Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) and sb1162(1-1-23)

Additional Information:

Ancestry is an Equal Opportunity Employer that makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizenship, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition, Ancestry will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

All job offers are contingent on a background check screen that complies with applicable law.  For San Francisco office candidates, pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ancestry will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.  

Ancestry is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ancestry via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ancestry. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ancestry as a result of the referral or through other means.