Trust and Safety Lead

About OpenRouter OpenRouter is the AI routing and infrastructure layer that AI builders, AI-native startups, and enterprises use to access, manage, and optimize their AI usage all through a unified API, billing interface, and analytics platform. We power some of the most advanced AI builders in the world by giving them the flexibility to move fast, scale confidently, and stay future-proof as models evolve. As enterprise adoption of AI accelerates, OpenRouter sits at the center of how organizations operationalize LLMs across research, product, and production workloads. THE ROLE We are hiring a Trust & Safety Lead to build and own OpenRouter’s Trust, Safety, and Compliance function. This is a 0 → 1 role. You will define policy, build systems, and handle operations, then scale the function over time. Core Challenges - Enforcing different model provider policies through a unified API - Preventing users from routing around restrictions - Designing sanctions and export controls with imperfect signals - Balancing developer experience with enterprise controls - Detecting coordinated abuse across accounts, usage, and payments RESPONSIBILITIES Policy & Enforcement - Define policies across accounts, payments, and API usage - Ensure compliance with sanctions and regulatory requirements - Translate provider policies into platform-level enforcement - Design enforcement actions and appeals Systems & Risk - Build a risk-based system driven by aggregated signals - Develop unified risk scoring and tiered enforcement - Partner with engineering on sanctions controls, identity validation, and enforcement systems - Introduce ML-assisted detection for fraud and abuse Operations (0 → 1) - Handle investigations, enforcement decisions, and appeals - Build workflows while operating them - Use AI for triage and decision support - Turn operational learnings into scalable systems Provider & Enterprise - Partner with model providers on policy alignment and escalations - Define enterprise controls (allowlists, policies, auditability) - Coordinate across engineering, legal, and go-to-market Scale - Build and scale the function across policy, systems, and operations - Establish monitoring, escalation frameworks, and KPIs QUALIFICATIONS - Experience building or scaling trust & safety, risk, or compliance systems - Strong understanding of sanctions, fraud, and enforcement systems - Experience working cross-functionally with engineering, legal, and operations - Ability to design and operate data-driven systems - Builder mindset with comfort in 0 → 1 and ambiguous environments WHY OPENROUTER - Work at the center of the AI infrastructure stack as enterprises define how they adopt LLMs. - High ownership and visibility with direct impact on how OpenRouter is perceived in the market. - Competitive compensation, including base salary and equity. - Fully remote team with a strong culture of autonomy and trust.