Fractional T&S leadership - a good idea?

I'm Alice Hunsberger. Trust & Safety Insider is my weekly rundown on the topics, industry trends and workplace strategies that trust and safety professionals need to know about to do their job.

Apologies to those who weren't able to find the segment on fractional leadership in last week's newsletter! Good news: it's definitely in this week's edition of T&S Insider :)

Plus, I include four very meaty reports in the links section at the end, so be sure to check them out. I think they're well worth reading.

Next week I'll be writing about TrustCon: how to feel prepared for conferences, tips and tricks, what panels I'm looking forward to, and where to find me. If you have any must-attend TrustCon panels, I'd love to know!

Here we go! — Alice

Here for a full-time, not a long time

I recently received an email from T&S Insider reader about the potential for fractional T&S leadership.

Fractional roles, for those who don't know, involve individuals working part-time for multiple companies (example job description here). Typically, this is 1-2 days per week or month with the focus on strategic guidance and sharing experience and expertise. Here's the email I received:

Hi Alice,
I've been observing the rise of fractional roles over the past few years and have seen it pop up across multiple disciplines (including Chief of Staff, COO, CTO, Engineering, Product, Marketing, and Legal).
I've chatted about the concept with various T&S folks over the past year, and it occurred to me today to ask you what you think of the feasibility of Fractional T&S leadership as a role.

It's a great question.

I'll start by saying that fractional leadership makes a lot of sense for small companies and startups. For this type of organisation, it doesn't make sense to hire an expensive T&S exec right out of the gate, but you may still want T&S expertise to call upon. Consultants perform a similar role but I'd say it’s better to hire fractional T&S leadership over short-term or one-time support or, indeed, no one at all.

There's also the fact that many T&S leaders have been laid off over the last few years, have a lot to offer, and like to build things. In fact, I know a couple of people who have taken up fractional T&S roles and are really enjoying it. There are almost certainly more T&S leaders looking for work than there are small startups who need leaders, even fractional ones. But I can definitely see the appeal from a T&S practitioner point of view.

However, building a Trust & Safety function from scratch is a big deal and very time consuming. You need to consider operations, policy, vendor selection/ management, safety by design, and regulatory compliance. I’m skeptical that it’s truly a part-time job at any company with user-generated content.

My solution: a full-time employee working across several departments. The reason? Power.

If the leadership team really isn't sold on a full-time T&S leader, I believe it’s better to be a staff member with responsibility for multiple teams because you have more decision-making sway. 

When you’re a full-time employee and the company is invested in you for the long-term, they are signalling that they value your input more. You are more likely to have a seat at the table to other founding execs. You can argue about tradeoffs for growth versus safety with more conviction, and they’re more likely to listen. You may even have the opportunity to talk in board meetings. All of this means that it’s more likely for safety to be integrated into the company culture in a serious way. 

It's not exactly the same the this Wired article about T&S vendors points out the danger of “outsourcing responsibilities to teams with no power to change the way platforms actually work." Being a fractional leader carries the same risk. And, as many of you will know, the most frustrating thing as a T&S leader is knowing what you have to do to protect users but not being able to convince anyone to let you do it.

Been there, tried it

My view on fractional leaders is partly based on my experience. I've built teams from the ground up four times now, and I'm often doing more than "just" Trust & Safety:

• At OkCupid and Grindr, I managed customer support and user insights in addition to T&S operations, policy, and product strategy.
• At PartnerHero, I managed T&S operations, but also spent a lot of my time on business development, wellness, and marketing.
• At my current startup, Musubi, I’m in charge of marketing, the website, and product management for our AI content moderation tool, in addition to Trust & Safety policy and best practices. Oh, and I'm often involved in sales.

It's a lot to juggle, and there are times I feel like a jack-of-all-trades. But it feels good to be a permanent part of the leadership team and I believe I'm more effective in my role as a result.

To be clear, I don't necessarily think it's impossible for a fractional leader to have the power and influence to make changes the way an internal, full-time leader would. But for social media, marketplaces, dating, etc… safety is the product in many ways. Without user trust, safe content, and vetted users, there’s little hope for growth and success. Any company that isn’t willing to hire a T&S expert as part of the core team likely isn’t taking safety seriously enough. In my book, that's something worth pushing back on.

Also worth reading

Developing a Measure of Community Health in Games (Psychgeist)
Why? A smart, balanced perspective: "the path to sustainable success lies not in eliminating all harm, but in building resilience that allows communities to adapt, grow, and recover from disruption." Say it again louder for those in the back!

More Hate, Fewer Protections (Ultraviolent, GLAAD, All Out)
Why? This is a great report outlining the effects of Meta's harmful hate speech policies, according to users. "Since the January 2025 policy rollbacks: 1 in 6 respondents reported being the victim of some form of gender-based or sexual violence on Meta platforms." Ugh.

Red Teaming artificial intelligence for social good: the playbook (Unesco)
Why? I'm so glad to see this resource! I did red teaming for OpenAI a few years back and it really opened my eyes about how important it is. This looks like a really practical and useful guide. "Through the structured exercises and real-world scenarios provided, participants can systematically evaluate how Gen AI models may perpetuate, either intentionally or unintentionally, stereotypes or enable gender-based violence"

Frontiers in digital child safety (TUM Think Tank)
Why? This report looks at child safety holistically, balancing risks with rewards. The answer is not locking everything down and preventing youth from using the internet at all; we need to balance children's right to expression and learning as well as safety. "Convening an international, multi-disciplinary working group, the project sought to move beyond compliance-driven and restrictive approaches toward more innovative, child-centered design strategies."