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Senior Investigations Manager

San Francisco, California, United States

Instawork’s vision is to create economic opportunities for local businesses and skilled hourly workers in communities around the world. With an AI-first approach, we’re supercharging the leading online labor marketplace and looking for exceptional talent to help us build the future of hourly work. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and more, we want you to help us continue to scale quickly and make an even greater impact.

As the Senior Investigations Manager, Escalations, you will lead a team of Trust & Safety Specialists focused on supporting and protecting Instawork’s hourly workforce. You will oversee sensitive investigations related to compliance violations, legal concerns, and other high-risk incidents involving hourly professionals on our platform. This role plays a critical part in resolving escalated worker relations issues and ensuring our response aligns with employment laws, internal policies, and regulatory standards. Your leadership will shape how we handle complex workplace concerns, improve platform trust, and foster a safe, fair environment for all hourly workers who depend on Instawork.

This role requires weekend/holiday on-call and non-standard business hours coverage. This is a on-site role based in our San Francisco office.

Who You Are:

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
  • 4+ years of experience in Trust & Safety, risk management, human resources, compliance or related fields, preferably in a two-sided marketplace.
  • 2+ years of people management experience, with a proven track record of leading high-performing teams.
  • Experience working with Legal teams. 
  • Strong executive presence and experience briefing senior leadership and C-level stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated expertise in managing high-severity escalations and sensitive investigations.
  • Proven ability to develop and implement scalable operational processes.
  • Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with experience engaging external partners such as law enforcement agencies.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; experience leveraging data to inform decisions.
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities.
  • Flexibility to work non-traditional hours, including weekends and holidays.

What You'll Do:

  • Lead and mentor the Trust & Safety Escalations team, providing guidance on complex investigations and high-severity incidents.
  • Oversee investigation and response to escalations, ensuring thorough, evidence-based investigations and timely resolutions.
  • Develop and implement strategies to enhance operational workflows and enforcement of Community Guidelines and terms of service.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Legal, Product, Engineering, Account Management) to manage safety risks and improve platform policies.
  • Act as a point of contact for executive leadership on critical safety issues and escalations.
  • Analyze data trends to identify emerging risks and develop proactive mitigation strategies.
  • Build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including law enforcement and industry partners.
  • Drive continuous improvement by identifying training needs and operational gaps within the team.
  • Ensure 24/7 operational coverage, including weekend and holiday on-call rotations.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experienced with legal writing, communication with government agencies, and investigations.
  • Strong focus on  
  • Strong operational experience. 
  • Proficiency in SQL and data analysis tools (Excel, Mode).
  • Experience drafting and publishing policies, help center articles, or user safety documentation.
  • Familiarity with regulatory compliance standards related to safety, privacy, and fraud prevention.

For CA based applicants:

  • The base salary range for this position is $135,000 - $175,000. This position is eligible for equity in the form of stock options
  • This position is eligible for Instawork benefits, including:
    • A variety of medical, dental, and vision plans with coverage beginning on the date of hire
    • Flexible paid time off
    • At least 8 paid company holidays annually
    • Phone stipend
    • Commuter stipend
    • Supplemental pay on qualified leaves
    • Employee health savings accounts (HSA) contribution
    • Flexible spending plans
    • 401K plan
    • Perkspot - discount program through Lumity

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone’s compensation including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location.  Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed above.

#LI-onsite 

Our Values 

  • Empathy, Trust & Candor
    We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

  • Bias for Action
    We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it’s OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

  • Always Be Learning
    We’re a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

  • Act Like an Owner
    We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

About Instawork

Founded in 2015, Instawork is the nation’s leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we’re doing it at scale.

Join our team to help us build something that matters! We’re looking for superstars who want to help us shape the future of work. With hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, we're back to working together in-person five days a week because we believe the best ideas happen when great people collaborate face-to-face. We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Ready to make an impact? Learn more at www.instawork.com/about.

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