#WorkItWednesday featuring Marielle Rodriguez, Product Manager, Anti-Abuse

Meet Marielle Rodriguez (she/her), our Product Manager working on our Anti-Abuse team at Grindr!

‍Marielle has been with Grindr for just over a year and has loved the work, the learning, and the achievements that Grindr has made in that time. Previously, Marielle was a Test Manager for a team of testers and had been part of the Quality Assurance world for more than 15 years before transitioning to product management. One of Marielle’s most recent accomplishments was taking part in her first Hackathon at Grindr where her team took home 1st place!

Check out Marielle’s Grindr story below, and take a look at our careers page to learn more about our open job opportunities.

Have you always worked in Product Management for Tech Companies? What drew you to the role or the dating space specifically?

There was a very special and endearing project I was working on at my previous employer and being part of that mobile app prototype sparked my interest in Product Management. I was passionate about the difference this prototype could have in someone’s life and the impact it would have on users.

I also loved the ability to collaborate cross-functionally to deliver a product that started as just an idea. While I wasn’t too familiar with the Product Manager role, I inadvertently was performing that work and when the opportunity to try this at Grindr presented itself, it felt right.

Tell us why you joined Grindr. What do you love most about our mission and our culture?

Initially, I was not familiar with the app; it wasn’t even installed on my phone. So when I downloaded it and created my account, I thought, “What am I doing?” I was new to the dating space but as I spoke to more folks on the Anti-Abuse team, I began to understand and feel very strongly about the work and the efforts of the team and what it means for our users and the queer community. Supporting the LGBTQIA+ community in building connections in a safe and secure space is work worth doing and I needed to be a part of it.

Also, the employees at Grindr truly make the culture here. Being around so many passionate, collaborative, and innovative colleagues motivates me to continue to do the work that I do. People work at Grindr for more than just a paycheck and you can really feel that.

Tell us a little bit more about your role as a Product Manager for Anti-Abuse. What is the function to Grindr and how does it support users?

Anti-Abuse has many facets and dimensions. Our work is mostly done behind the scenes and doesn’t always directly interface with the users. As a Product Manager, I am part of the integrations with systems and services that eliminate and reduce spam on our platform.

Those efforts also expand out to other bad actors and behaviors that users should not experience. Our efforts are to provide users with safety and security when using the app and engaging with the community in a trusted way. Oftentimes, when people think of spam on our app, they tend to categorize everything under the same umbrella. But there are many dimensions to the work that Anti-Abuse is doing. Beyond preventing scams, we are leaning in with the moderation team to proactively identify bullying, abuse, and activity that should not be happening on the app. There is a real human on the other side of the phone and we want to make sure that our users' safety is top priority in every interaction.

What interesting problems is your Grindr team solving for and what are you looking forward to for the future?

One of the most fascinating challenges working in Anti-Abuse is the evolution of spam and the negative use of social media apps. Our efforts to detect patterns and aid our moderation team is one of the biggest challenges we’re focused on solving. We aim to build new and unique features that build trust with our users and allow them to be their authentic selves.

While spam and bad actors are never a good thing for our users, they present interesting challenges for our team to solve. Not only do we have to work with the engineering and CX teams on developing strategies to counteract abuse, but also to mitigate it proactively as technology evolves.

What are your goals for Grindr’s Anti-Abuse team as you continue to grow and scale the team?

Anti-Abuse’s goals are ongoing and focus on making the user’s experience safe and positive, helping them find genuine and meaningful connections. To do this we are partnering with the engineering and moderation teams on implementing more solutions that identify bad actors earlier and more often. We consistently go through user-reported data and flags to make sure that we are addressing concerns while simultaneously being conscious of an inclusive moderation process. The goal is to make sure that we get bad actors off the app and keep Grindr a fun, engaging, and safe experience for everyone.

Beyond that, Grindr is a very collaborative company and as we grow and new product features are rolled out, we will continue to partner with other teams to keep our users' safety and security at the forefront of the work that we do. Our vision is a world where all queer people belong; empowered to connect, love, live joyfully, and build authentic community. To that end, we need to bring in talent that understands the importance of our users’ safety and is passionate about supporting the global queer community.

If you are interested in working with creative and passionate people like Marielle on user safety and security, you should check out our open Product Director, Anti-Abuse role!

Check out our careers page for a full list of open positions at Grindr.