---
title: 'Standards & Enforcement Specialist at Substack'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/standards-enforcement-specialist-substack-ghqd32c5jkkc'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Standards & Enforcement Specialist at Substack

- **Company:** Substack
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack/f670964d-0f50-425f-a498-737a2b036bd8

## Job description

Substack’s mission is to build a new economic engine for culture. From the beginning, we have been clear in our belief in the free press and free speech—values we consider inseparable and fundamental to a trustworthy media system. To achieve our mission, Substack must uphold free expression while maintaining a vibrant platform with clear rules that allow for the open exchange of ideas.

Our Standards & Enforcement team handles the requests that reach the platform through user reports, account deletion requests, spam and abuse reports, and the legal-adjacent tickets that arrive alongside them. The work is deadline-bound, precedent-setting, and unforgiving of guesswork. The person on the other end of every ticket is a real user, and often a frustrated one.

We are looking for a specialist who can own this queue end to end, and who wants to make it smaller. You will resolve tickets accurately and on time, then use data and AI tooling to classify, draft, and triage so the team spends its judgment where judgment is actually required.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Work the S&E queues day to day: spam and abuse reports, suspension appeals, publication appeals, account deletion requests, and user-reported policy violations, applying macros and SOPs where they fit and judgment where they don't.
- Handle appeals with care: check the original enforcement decision, weigh new context, and write a clear outcome the user can understand, whether it's an overturn or a hold.
- Handle legal-adjacent tickets from SOPs; DMCA, trademark, NCII, data-subject requests, LE requests, knowing when to resolve and when to escalate to Legal fast.
- Maintain the Zendesk setup the team runs on: views, macros, triggers, automations, SLAs.
- Use AI tools to make ticket review more efficient; classification, drafting, triage, and challenge them when they get it wrong.
- Continuously improve the SOPs and decision trees the rest of the team follows.
- Report on volume, SLAs, and backlog. Pull your own data and analyze as needed.
- Work with Legal, Policy, and Product teams as necessary before trends become a problem.

## WHAT YOU NEED

- 2–4 years in Trust & Safety, support operations, content moderation, or compliance at a tech platform.
- Hands-on experience working a high-volume ticket queue where accuracy and deadlines both matter.
- A working grasp of platform enforcement concepts: Appeals, escalation paths, NCII, DMCA basics, and how legal process touches a platform. You do need to know when to resolve and when to escalate.
- Comfortable working with data: querying it yourself (SQL a plus), spotting when numbers look wrong, and building simple reports on volume, SLAs, and backlog.
- Zendesk knowledge and using AI tools to do investigations and data analysis.
- Clear writing. You'll write to frustrated users, cross-functional partners, and occasionally lawyers and regulators in the same week.
- Good judgment under deadline pressure.
- This will be a Tuesday to Saturday shift role.

## PREFERRED

- Deeper experience with any of: privacy requests (GDPR/CCPA), DMCA/IP complaints, law enforcement requests, or regulatory correspondence.
- Familiarity with DSA/OSA transparency reporting obligations and experience turning regulatory requirements into operational or system requirements.
- Experience working with engineers to ship internal tooling or reports.

## ONE THING TO KNOW

You'll review content that can be disturbing, including harassment, self-harm, violence, and child safety material. We'd rather say that upfront. We provide wellness support and manage workload accordingly.

Substack's compensation package includes a market competitive salary, equity for all full time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $75,000 - $85,000. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Substack is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status), age, national origin, veteran or disability status. We’re seeking people passionate about enabling independent expression and building a better business model for creators. If you want to see what media, communities, and content can become when unmoored from advertising models, and you have the skills and experience to contribute, we’d love to meet you.

Please see our Privacy Notice for details regarding Substack's collection and use of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UjmY1acxnd27iIde83PxR7XdecR29aIyfkkmEOwAMGY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.a0wuzmt3mjmm.

## About Substack

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Substack provides a platform for independent writers, podcasters, and creators to publish, build audiences, and earn revenue directly through paid subscriptions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (with a new office in New York City)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Chris Best (CEO), Jairaj Sethi (CTO), Hamish McKenzie (CWO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Media, Publishing, Creator Economy, SaaS
- Target customers: Individual writers, podcasters, video creators, independent publishers, media companies, experts, and educators (B2C and B2B)
- Mission or purpose statement: "To build a new economic engine for culture — empowering writers, creators, and publishers to own their work, own their audience, and earn directly from their ideas."

## Products & Services
- **Publishing Platform**: A full-featured CMS and writing tool designed for longform content, with support for posts, newsletters, scheduling, and media embedding.
- **Substack App**: A mobile and web app that connects readers with creators, featuring discovery tools like recommendations, Notes, trending topics, and leaderboards.
- **Native Podcasting**: Built-in recording studio and live video capabilities, with automatic distribution to Substack, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, including premium episode options.
- **Payments & Subscription Management**: Handles all billing, subscriber management, and revenue tools (welcome sequences, win-back campaigns, analytics). Creators keep 90% of revenue minus credit card fees.
- **Community Tools**: Subscriber chats, comment threads, and moderation features to turn publications into communities.
- **Substack Defender**: Legal support program providing publishers access to legal fees, advice, and pre-publication review for defamation, trademark, and copyright issues.
- **Network Discovery**: Built-in growth engine where more than half of new subscribers come from within Substack’s network, including recommendations and collaborations.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (last raised $100M in Series C in July 2025)
- **Key Metric**: Over 5 million paid subscriptions across the network; more than 30% of paid subscriptions come from within Substack’s network; tens of millions of posts discovered daily in the app.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, The Chernin Group (TCG); part of Y Combinator’s winter 2018 batch.
- **Growth Signals**: Raised $100M Series C in July 2025; team has grown to over 100 people across the US, Canada, and UK; opened a new New York City office; top writers earn millions annually.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Creator-first economic model**: Writers keep 90% of revenue, own their audience and content, and can leave anytime with no platform fees or contracts.
- **Built-in network effects**: More than half of new subscribers come from within the platform’s discovery tools, reducing the need for creators to build audiences from scratch.
- **All-in-one platform**: Combines publishing, payments, growth tools, analytics, podcasting, video, and community management — no technical expertise required.
- **Legal support**: Substack Defender provides unique legal protection that reduces risk for independent publishers.
- **Brand trust and ecosystem**: A recognized leader in the creator economy with a strong network of high-profile writers and millions of paying subscribers.

## Strategic Focus
- Expanding the platform beyond newsletters into a full "media app" for all creator formats (writing, podcasting, video, live content).
- Growing the network effect through recommendations, Notes, and app-driven discovery to reduce customer acquisition costs for creators.
- Scaling the enterprise offering for media companies and full newsrooms.
- Deepening community features to increase subscriber engagement and retention.
- Building out the New York City office to expand talent and presence on the East Coast.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Small but growing team (100+ people) with a strong mission-driven focus on empowering creators and independent culture. Every employee participates in customer support to build empathy with users.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Hybrid model; employees can work from San Francisco HQ, the new New York office, or remotely across the US, Canada, and UK.
- **Benefits**: 100% premium coverage for employees and dependents (health care), fully funded HRA plans, generous parental leave, monthly internet/phone stipend, flexible vacation, 12 paid holidays, and a winter office shutdown between Christmas Eve and New Year’s.
- **Engineering Culture**: Pragmatic approach to problem-solving, shipping high-quality products; team works on a platform that directly impacts millions of creators and subscribers.
- **Perks**: Home office customization allowance, internet stipends, and a strong emphasis on work-life balance with flexible time off.

## Sources
1. [substack.com/about](https://substack.com/about)
2. [substack.com/jobs](https://substack.com/jobs)
3. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack)
4. [builtin.com/company/substack](https://builtin.com/company/substack)
5. [linkedin.com/company/substack](https://www.linkedin.com/company/substack)

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