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About This Role
Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Mountain View, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA.### Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
- 13 years of experience in data analytics, trust and safety, policy, cybersecurity, business strategy, or related fields.
### Preferred qualifications:
- Master's degree or PhD in a relevant field.
- Experience in SQL, building dashboards, data collection/transformation, visualization/dashboards, or a scripting/programming language (e.g. Python).
- Experience working with engineering and product teams to create tools, solutions, or automation to improve user safety.
- Experience working closely with policy teams.
- Education in, or experience with, machine learning.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills (written and verbal) and the ability to influence cross\-functionally at various levels.
About the job
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Trust \& Safety team members are tasked with identifying and taking on the biggest problems that challenge the safety and integrity of our products. They use technical know\-how, excellent problem\-solving skills, user insights, and proactive communication to protect users and our partners from abuse across Google products like Search, Maps, Gmail, and Google Ads. On this team, you're a big\-picture thinker and strategic team\-player with a passion for doing what’s right. You work globally and cross\-functionally with Google engineers and product managers to identify and fight abuse and fraud cases at Google speed \- with urgency. And you take pride in knowing that every day you are working hard to promote trust in Google and ensuring the highest levels of user safety.
The Responsible AI (RAI) pillar within Google Trust and Safety focuses on driving One Google solutions for industry\-leading responsible AI applications. It is a global team with Responsible AI domain expertise and different backgrounds in operations, strategy, ethics, risk management, product management, and program management.
Within RAI, the Responsible AI Strategy function fosters coherent strategies and approaches on a range of priority AI issues. We partner with teams across Alphabet and with others across industry to address key AI challenges; we develop and deliver evaluation frameworks; and we help partner teams navigate risks and opportunities related to AI\-generated content.
At Google we work hard to earn our users’ trust every day. Trust \& Safety is Google’s team of abuse fighting and user trust experts working daily to make the internet a safer place. We partner with teams across Google to deliver bold solutions in abuse areas such as malware, spam and account hijacking. A team of Analysts, Policy Specialists, Engineers, and Program Managers, we work to reduce risk and fight abuse across all of Google’s products, protecting our users, advertisers, and publishers across the globe in over 40 languages.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job\-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
US: $219000 \- $306000 (USD) \+ 25% bonus target \+ equity \+ benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.Responsibilities
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- Be accountable for cross\-cutting clarity, foresight, and strategic alignment for trust and safety issues pertaining to agentic AI products and models.
- Drive projects to address priority agentic AI risks and opportunities, in partnership with a range of functional and product partners.
- Participate in response to escalations and incidents alongside partners across Google and DeepMind.
Engage as needed with product and modeling teams to support the above.
- Ensure clear and consistent communications to senior leadership across trust and safety and beyond on key plans and projects.
- Provide partnership and support to other cross\-cutting issue areas as needed. This role will work with sensitive content or situations and may be exposed to graphic, controversial, or upsetting topics or content.
Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form.
Salary Context
This $219K-$306K range is above the 75th percentile for AI Safety roles in our dataset (median: $243K across 6 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
This role sits at the intersection of AI and engineering, building systems that bring machine learning capabilities into production environments. The scope varies by company, but the common thread is applying AI technology to solve real business problems at scale. Most AI roles today require a combination of software engineering fundamentals and domain-specific ML knowledge, with the exact mix depending on the team's maturity and the product they're building.
The AI job market is evolving fast. New role categories emerge as companies figure out what they need to ship AI-powered products. What matters most is the ability to learn quickly, build working systems, and iterate based on real-world performance data. The specific title matters less than the skills you bring and the problems you can solve. Companies are past the experimentation phase and want engineers who can deliver production-quality systems that work reliably at scale.
Across the 3,708 AI roles we're tracking, AI Safety positions make up 0% of the market. At Google, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
AI hiring keeps growing across industries. Companies in tech, finance, healthcare, and retail are all building AI teams. The strongest demand is for people who can bridge the gap between AI research and production engineering. The shift toward generative AI has created new role types (LLM Engineer, Prompt Engineer, AI Agent Developer) that didn't exist three years ago, while traditional roles (Data Scientist, ML Engineer) have evolved to incorporate LLM capabilities.
What the Work Looks Like
Day-to-day work involves a mix of building, debugging, and collaborating. You'll write code, review pull requests, participate in design discussions, and work with cross-functional teams (product, design, data) to define what AI features should do and how they should behave. Expect to spend time on both technical implementation and communication. Most AI teams operate in two-week sprint cycles, with regular demos and retrospectives. The ratio of heads-down coding to meetings and reviews varies by seniority, with senior roles spending more time on architecture decisions and mentorship.
AI hiring keeps growing across industries. Companies in tech, finance, healthcare, and retail are all building AI teams. The strongest demand is for people who can bridge the gap between AI research and production engineering. The shift toward generative AI has created new role types (LLM Engineer, Prompt Engineer, AI Agent Developer) that didn't exist three years ago, while traditional roles (Data Scientist, ML Engineer) have evolved to incorporate LLM capabilities.
Skills Required
Python and cloud platform experience are common requirements. Specific skill needs vary by company and focus area, but familiarity with ML frameworks, data pipelines, and API design covers the basics for most roles. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), vector databases, and LLM API integration are increasingly standard requirements across role types.
Beyond the core stack, communication skills matter more than many technical candidates realize. The ability to explain AI capabilities and limitations to non-technical stakeholders is a differentiator at every level. Technical writing, documentation, and clear thinking about tradeoffs are underrated skills in AI roles. Experience with evaluation methodology (how to measure whether an AI system is working well) is becoming a core requirement, especially for roles that involve LLM integration.
Look for job postings that specify the problems you'll work on, the tech stack, and the team structure. Vague postings that list every AI buzzword are often a sign the company hasn't figured out what they need. Strong postings describe the product context, the team you'd join, and the specific challenges you'd tackle.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI Safety roles pay a median of $300,000 based on 21 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $230,000. This role's midpoint ($262K) sits 12% below the category median. Disclosed range: $219K to $306K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $217,500. Top-quartile compensation starts at $272,100. The 90th percentile reaches $325,000. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include Research Engineer ($280,000) and AI Architect ($254,798). By seniority level: Entry: $120,000; Mid: $200,000; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,150; VP: $250,000.
Google AI Hiring
Google has 126 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across Data Scientist, AI/ML Engineer, AI Product Manager, AI Software Engineer. Positions span Mountain View, CA, US, New York, NY, US, Boulder, CO, US. Compensation range: $151K - $428K.
Location Context
AI roles in New York pay a median of $220,000 across 1,045 tracked positions.
Career Path
Common paths into AI Safety roles include Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Senior Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager, Principal Engineer.
Focus on building things that work. A deployed project that solves a real problem is worth more than any certification. Contribute to open-source, build portfolio projects, and invest in fundamentals (software engineering, statistics, systems design) rather than chasing the latest framework. The AI field moves fast, but the engineers who succeed long-term are the ones with strong fundamentals who can adapt to new tools and paradigms as they emerge.
What to Expect in Interviews
AI interviews typically combine coding challenges (Python-focused), system design questions tailored to the role, and discussions about your experience with relevant tools and frameworks. Strong candidates demonstrate both technical depth and the ability to make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs. Prepare portfolio projects that demonstrate end-to-end capability rather than isolated skills.
When evaluating opportunities: Look for job postings that specify the problems you'll work on, the tech stack, and the team structure. Vague postings that list every AI buzzword are often a sign the company hasn't figured out what they need. Strong postings describe the product context, the team you'd join, and the specific challenges you'd tackle.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 3,708 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 102 entry-level, 1,705 mid-level, 1,469 senior, and 432 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 14% of the market (508 positions). The remaining 3,180 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $217,500. Top-quartile compensation starts at $272,100. The 90th percentile reaches $325,000. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($300,000 median, 21 roles); Research Engineer ($280,000 median, 147 roles); AI Architect ($254,798 median, 67 roles).
AI hiring keeps growing across industries. Companies in tech, finance, healthcare, and retail are all building AI teams. The strongest demand is for people who can bridge the gap between AI research and production engineering. The shift toward generative AI has created new role types (LLM Engineer, Prompt Engineer, AI Agent Developer) that didn't exist three years ago, while traditional roles (Data Scientist, ML Engineer) have evolved to incorporate LLM capabilities.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 3,708 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,605), Data Scientist (310), AI Software Engineer (259). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (102) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,705) and senior (1,469) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 432 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 14% of all AI roles (508 positions), with 3,180 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $217,500. Top-quartile roles start at $272,100, and the 90th percentile reaches $325,000. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $300,000 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,890 postings), Aws (1,103 postings), Azure (877 postings), Rag (855 postings), Gcp (631 postings), Prompt Engineering (560 postings), Pytorch (545 postings), Claude (498 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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