Staff Software Engineer, Airbnb
Data Engineering
$204-255k
SQL
Python
Scala
Java
Kafka
Postgres
MySQL
Redshift
Spark
HBase
Flink
BigQuery
Senior and Expert level
Remote from US
More information about location
Community marketplace for holiday accomodation
Job no longer available
Community marketplace for holiday accomodation
1001+ employees
B2CHospitalityB2BTravelMarketplaceSharing Economy
Job no longer available
$204-255k
SQL
Python
Scala
Java
Kafka
Postgres
MySQL
Redshift
Spark
HBase
Flink
BigQuery
Senior and Expert level
Remote from US
More information about location
1001+ employees
B2CHospitalityB2BTravelMarketplaceSharing Economy
Company mission
To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.
Role
Who you are
- 9+ years of relevant industry experience with a Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in CS/EE, or equivalent experience, or 6+ years of experience with a PhD
- Extensive experience designing, building, and operating robust distributed data platforms (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Flink, HBase) and handling data at the petabyte scale
- Strong knowledge of Java, Scala, or Python, and expertise with data processing technologies and query authoring (SQL)
- Proven ability to design, productionize, and optimize batch and real-time data pipelines and systems, ensuring their quality, performance, and stability
- Excellent ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, engineers, data scientists, and business partners, to align on requirements and drive data-driven decision-making
- Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on data quality, governance, and system reliability
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, capable of influencing stakeholders and conveying complex technical concepts effectively
- Expertise in data modeling, warehousing, and working with relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and columnar databases (e.g., Redshift, BigQuery)
- Experience working with machine learning engineers to integrate ML models into data systems and products (preferred but optional)
- Ability to provide technical leadership and mentorship, guiding teams on best practices and contributing to the development of data engineering strategies
- Flexibility and innovative thinking to evaluate and incorporate new technologies and methodologies to improve data processes and solutions
What the job involves
- At Airbnb, we need to ensure every area of the business has trustworthy data to fuel insight and innovation
- Understanding the business need, securing the right data sources, designing usable data models, and building robust & dependable data pipelines are essential skills to meet this goal
- We are currently hiring for the following teams:
- Communication and Connectivity: This team builds systems and tools for stays, experiences, and beyond that support first class rich communications and connections among all members of the Airbnb community
- We create scalable and intelligent communication tools, including messaging and notifications
- The data team utilizes industry-leading tools, builds scalable data systems and applies AI models to provide insights and support all products in CnC
- Users, Listings, and Marketplace Data and AI: This team is a group of passionate machine learning, data, and analytics engineers responsible for creating new data products for our Guests and Hosts, Sales, and Finance
- You’ll be part of the overall Guest and Host organization that is responsible for the Airbnb web and native apps used by hundreds of millions of our guests and Hosts
- Guest Data: Understanding how guests and hosts use Airbnb allows us to give them the best possible experience
- The Guest Data team, part of the Guest & Host organization, is dedicated to developing top-tier tools, frameworks, and data models that offer a data-driven perspective on guest experiences on Airbnb products
- Our primary stakeholders include analytics and data science partners, ML engineers, and product and engineering leaders involved in the core booking flow
- Community Support Data Platform: Community Support Platform organization keeps our hosts and guests supported throughout the entire Airbnb experience
- The Data team is responsible for providing and governing trustworthy data foundations and metrics for critical data across experimentation, ML, measurement, product, and operational insights
- Your work will empower ML and backend engineers, analytics teams, and operations teams while contributing to Airbnb's 10-Star customer service vision and initiatives like Differentiated Services and CSxAI
- Trust & Safety - The Trust and Safety team at Airbnb is at the forefront of creating a secure and trustworthy experience for hosts, guests, and the global community
- Leveraging advanced technologies and proactive policies, they develop innovative tools to deter risks, uphold community standards, and safeguard user journeys—ensuring confidence and peace of mind for everyone on the platform
- The Difference You Will Make:
- Communication and Connectivity: You will partner with a cross-functional team, including product managers, frontend/backend engineers, data scientists, and machine learning engineers, to influence and build company-wide product releases
- You will develop innovative data systems to empower partners in making critical business decisions, enable product engineers to create scalable online systems with optimized user experiences, and collaborate with machine learning engineers to build AI/ML systems
- Additionally, you will work with our global sales team to develop business tools that optimize their workflow, making a significant impact on Airbnb's revenue
- Users, Listings, and Marketplaces are core entities to Airbnb and the quality of the data fundamental to Airbnb’s product and business
- We have been growing our Data Engineering practice in these areas to improve data foundation and better leverage our data and ML models in our product
- You will help us define and realize our vision for trustworthy data across the company and our products, shaping Data Engineering for not just the Users, Listings, and Marketplaces team but also across Airbnb
- We need to ensure every area of the business and our products has trustworthy data to fuel insight and innovation
- Understanding the business and product need, securing the right data sources, designing usable data models, and building robust & dependable data pipelines are essential skills to meet this goal
- Guest Data: As a Staff Data Engineer, you will help build our data strategy, develop top-tier data models and tooling, and provide technical leadership to a team of senior data engineers
- You have the opportunity to influence critical aspects of the Airbnb experience, including Search and Checkout, while collaborating with long-standing xfn partners across Product, Analytics Engineering, Data Science, Infrastructure, and AI/ML
- Your work will impact the quality of the Airbnb product experience for millions of daily visitors, making it an exciting opportunity for anyone passionate about data and its transformative potential
- Trust & Safety - You’ll play a key role in developing and scaling Data solutions that directly impact Airbnb’s ability to keep our platform safe
- From productionizing critical logs to improving Data quality for ML models, your contributions will increase the reliability, efficiency, and impact of our trust defenses—helping millions of Hosts and Guests feel confident using Airbnb every day
- Architect and productionize batch and real-time data systems to support various products and business needs
- Ensure the quality, performance, and stability of data systems through robust quality systems and monitoring practices
- Design and optimize data models for efficient storage and retrieval to meet critical product and business requirements
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, engineers, data scientists, and business partners, to align on data requirements and develop scalable systems
- Tune, productionize, and optimize data systems and machine learning models to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency
- Build and maintain strong relationships with partner engineering teams, including backend, client, data science, and ML teams, to ensure seamless integration and support
- Contribute to the development of long-term data strategies and roadmaps, and influence the technical direction of data engineering practices within the organization
- Mentor and coach team members, providing guidance and support to enhance their skills and performance
Our take
When Airbnb was originally founded, the product helped customers book air mattresses on people's apartment floors. Since then, Airbnb has had over a billion customers hosted through its platform. With more than 4 million registered hosts worldwide, it has grown into a major player in the hospitality sector.
Airbnb has been successful in disrupting the traditional holiday lettings sector. Before it existed accommodation was limited to hotels and bed and breakfasts, but Airbnb has mainstreamed the idea of renting out spare rooms or even entire homes. It has created a new sector of hosts purchasing properties to rent out on the platform and provides a level of flexibility and a range of offerings not previously possible for travelers.
Perhaps a victim of its own success, by 2022 supply of Airbnb-listed properties began to outstrip demand in some markets, as hosts overestimated the appetite for domestic travel. However, the company is still posting strong financials and has unveiled new tools to support its hosts in a tougher rental market. With a healthy bottom line and a huge user base, Airbnb is very likely to overcome the current market turbulence and continue its growth.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Top investors
25% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 10 rounds)
Apr 2020
$500m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Mar 2017
$447.8m
SERIES F
Total funding: $3.8bn
Company benefits
- Paid volunteer time
- Health food and snacks
- Generous parental and family leave
- Learning and development
- Annual travel and experiences credit
Company HQ
Showplace Square, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Brian Chesky
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously an Industrial Designer, studying at Rhode Island School of Design.
Nathan Blecharczyk
(Co-Founder & CSO)Studied Computer Science at Harvard, and had around 4 years of professional Software Engineering experience before founding Airbnb, including interning at Microsoft.
Joe Gebbia
(Co-Founder)Also studied Industrial Design at Rhode Island, and previously founded various design-related startups
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