AI Safety Policy Evaluator, Violence & Threats | Seattle Onsite

Job description

This is a non-engineering content-policy evaluation role. Applicants must demonstrate relevant depth in violent fiction or media, military or emergency response, crisis or threat assessment, trust and safety, content moderation, or closely related policy work. Software engineering or LLM product experience alone is not sufficient. ## About Handshake Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today, we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions. Handshake AI works directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and improve AI models through human expertise. ## Role Details **Location:** Onsite in Seattle, WA, Monday-Friday. **Compensation:** $55-$120/hr. Placement within the range depends on experience. **Employer:** TCWGlobal. This is a W-2 assignment supporting Handshake AI. **Employment:** Full time, 40 hours per week, non-exempt and eligible for overtime pay. **Schedule:** Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. PT. **Assignment:** Ongoing. **Planned start date:** September 21, 2026. ## About the Role As an AI Safety Policy Evaluator focused on Violence & Threats, you will help AI models learn where the line falls between depicting violence and enabling it. Violence is one of the hardest domains in AI safety because most violent content is legitimate. Novels, games, screenplays, history, journalism, self-defense, and ordinary human frustration all involve violence, and a model that refuses them is broken. A model that helps someone plan real harm is worse. Your job is to tell the difference, case by case, and to explain your reasoning clearly enough that it can train a model. You will read user requests, model responses, and conversation history, then decide which policy category applies and whether the model's response was appropriate. The interesting cases are the close ones: a torture scene that is either a chapter of a thriller or an interrogation manual with character names; a message that reads as venting about a boss or as a plan; a "realistic" combat question from a novelist that is also a real-world capability question. One word, one contextual detail, or one shift in intent changes the answer. We are looking for people who already have strong instincts about violence in at least one of these areas: how it works in fiction, how it works in the real world, or how it shows up in people who are struggling. You do not need all three. You need one deep and the judgment to learn the rest. This is not rote annotation. Policies cannot anticipate every edge case, and good evaluators do not apply them mechanically. You will balance policy text and intent with customer expectations, conversation context, precedent, and team calibration. ## What You Will Do - Evaluate user requests and AI model responses involving violence, weapons, threats, and dark fiction within the full conversation context; maintain accuracy and consistency across repeated evaluations - Distinguish fictional, educational, historical, and defensive violence from requests that seek real-world uplift or express real intent to harm - Assess whether a model's response gives meaningful real-world capability, regardless of how the request was framed - Distinguish expressions of anger, frustration, or dark humor from credible threats or crisis indicators - Select the most defensible classification when a case is genuinely ambiguous, and write concise rationales that cite policy language and conversation details while applying customer policy consistently - Write and refine adversarial or borderline prompts that probe where a model draws the line - Identify policy gaps, contradictions, and emerging edge cases, and raise them with project leads and policy teams - Participate actively in calibration discussions; challenge interpretations respectfully and update your judgment when stronger reasoning emerges ## You May Be a Fit If - You have spent serious time in violent fiction as a writer, game master, game designer, screenwriter, or editor, and you know what good dark fiction looks like and what a story-shaped extraction attempt looks like - You have real-world exposure to violence and its consequences through military, law enforcement, security, EMS, emergency medicine, or similar work, and you can tell movie logic from what actually works - You have worked with people in distress through crisis lines, counseling, threat assessment, domestic violence advocacy, school safety, or trust and safety, and you know the difference between "I could kill him" and a plan - You use AI tools heavily and have opinions about where they refuse too much, help too much, or miss the point - You notice when one word, contextual detail, or change in intent materially affects the answer - You can hold a strong opinion without becoming attached to being right - You explain judgment calls clearly and precisely in writing so another person can audit your reasoning - You can separate your personal views from the standard a customer has asked you to apply and remain careful and consistent during repetitive work with difficult material Strong candidates may come from fiction writing, game design or game mastering, film and TV, military or law enforcement, emergency medicine, crisis counseling, threat assessment, trust and safety, content moderation, journalism, or law. We care more about how you reason than where you learned to reason. A degree, a clearance, and a technical background are not required. ## Nice to Have - Published or produced work involving violence: novels, short fiction, screenplays, comics, tabletop or video game content, mods, or fan fiction with an audience - Military, law enforcement, corrections, private security, or armed professional experience - Training or professional experience in crisis intervention, threat assessment, forensic or clinical psychology, or violence prevention - Experience with firearms, martial arts, or other weapons disciplines as an instructor, competitor, or professional - Prior work in AI evaluation, red teaming, data annotation, RLHF, trust and safety, or content moderation - Experience evaluating outputs from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or other language models in a professional capacity - Familiarity with calibration sessions, inter-rater agreement, or adjudication workflows ## Sensitive-Content Notice This role involves regular and deliberate engagement with graphic material. This is the core of the job, not an occasional part of it. Evaluations will routinely include depictions of violence, weapons, torture, abuse, threats, self-harm, and death, including violence against vulnerable people, along with the emotional distress that often surrounds it. The work is conducted within structured evaluation frameworks and professional guidelines, with exposure limits, content rotation, and access to mental health support. Candidates must be able to engage with this material carefully, responsibly, and sustainably while maintaining sound judgment and consistent work quality. ## Benefits Benefits are provided through TCWGlobal. Eligible employees can enroll in medical coverage, including prescription and mental health benefits, dental and vision insurance, healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts, and pretax commuter benefits. A 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match is available to eligible participants. Additional offerings include voluntary accident, critical illness, and term life insurance, wellness and pet-related reimbursements, charitable matching, and employee discounts. Eligibility requirements, waiting periods, employee contributions, and plan terms apply. Full-time employees scheduled for at least 30 hours per week are eligible for health coverage beginning the first of the month following at least 30 days of employment. Retirement plan eligibility follows a separate schedule. **Paid time off:** PTO accrues from the first day of the assignment at one hour per 40 hours worked, with no waiting period to use accrued PTO. PTO may be used for vacation, personal days, or illness, subject to policy approval requirements. Accrual is capped at 80 hours per year and balances at 100 hours, unless otherwise required by law. Additional paid sick leave is provided in accordance with applicable Washington and Seattle requirements. **Paid holidays:** The holiday policy lists 13 paid holidays. Eligible employees receive eight hours of holiday pay at their base hourly rate for observed holidays that fall on a scheduled workday, subject to the holiday policy. See the [TCWGlobal 2026 Benefits Guide](https://www.tcwglobal.com/benefitsguide-basic-2026) for coverage options, costs, and enrollment details. ## Interview Process The process includes application review, a recruiter screen, a skills assessment, a hiring manager screen, onsite interviews, and a final round before the offer stage. Your recruiter will share the next steps as you move through the process. ## Equal Opportunity and Accommodations TCWGlobal is an equal opportunity employer. Hiring decisions are based on qualifications and abilities, without discrimination based on characteristics protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available during the application and interview process. If you need an accommodation, please let your recruiter know.