About the role:

We are looking for a Director of Trust & Safety Engineering to join our Security organization. You will lead a multidisciplinary group of software engineers and Trust & Safety professionals responsible for protecting Vercel’s platform, developers, and end users. Your teams will design and scale systems that prevent abuse, detect fraud, and uphold platform integrity. This role combines deep engineering leadership with strategic oversight of safety and fraud programs, ensuring our platform remains secure, compliant, and trusted by developers worldwide. You will report to the CTO, Security.

This role includes in-office anchor days on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, from our San Francisco HQ. For location-specific details, please connect with our recruiting team.

What you will do:

• Lead engineering teams that design, build, and operate systems to detect and prevent platform abuse, fraudulent usage, and malicious activity across the Vercel ecosystem.
• Develop and maintain detection pipelines that identify fraud and abuse, including AI-generated activity such as synthetic accounts, automated misuse, and malicious or spam content deployed via AI tools.
• Build systems that protect against billing and credit abuse, compromised accounts, and resource exploitation within Vercel’s platform and infrastructure.
• Partner with Product, Security, Legal, Finance and Infrastructure teams to embed Trust & Safety program and fraud prevention capabilities directly into developer workflows and core platform architecture.
• Create automated enforcement and remediation workflows that act on suspicious or confirmed fraudulent or abusive behavior in real time, maintaining a strong balance between platform protection and developer experience.
• Drive the architecture and data strategy for trust signals, anomaly detection, and AI-driven abuse scoring systems.
• Collaborate with Legal, Support, and Policy teams to ensure compliance with global regulations while maintaining transparency and fairness in enforcement actions.
• Oversee the Trust & Safety operations team responsible for policy enforcement, incident response, and user protection.
• Mentor and grow engineers and Trust & Safety specialists, fostering a culture of technical excellence, transparency, and accountability.

About you:

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering with a focus on security or trust & safety.
• 5+ years leading large, multi-disciplinary technical teams.
• Proven success building and scaling engineering organizations that deliver safety, security, or fraud prevention systems at global scale.
• Strong technical expertise in backend systems, distributed infrastructure, or data engineering, ideally within developer or platform ecosystems.
• Deep understanding of platform abuse, AI-generated fraud, automation-based misuse, and emerging risks in large-scale developer platforms.
• Experience designing or overseeing real-time detection and enforcement systems that use data analytics, automation, or machine learning.
• Skilled in building alignment between engineering, product, and policy stakeholders to operationalize Trust & Safety initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to hire, mentor, and grow high-performing engineering and Trust & Safety teams.
• Strong judgment balancing innovation, platform reliability, and user safety in a fast-moving environment.

Bonus if you:

• Have built or led combined Engineering and Trust & Safety organizations in developer, SaaS, or infrastructure environments.
• Have experience using automation, analytics, or ML to detect and prevent AI-generated or coordinated abuse.

 

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation package, including equity.
• Inclusive Healthcare Package.
• Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.
• Flexible Time Off.
• We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.

The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $200,000.00 - $300,000.00. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.

Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.