Senior Lead Program Manager, Airbnb

Design

$185-230k

Expert level
Remote in US
Airbnb

Community marketplace for holiday accomodation

Open for applications

Airbnb

Community marketplace for holiday accomodation

1001+ employees

B2CHospitalityB2BTravelMarketplaceSharing Economy

Open for applications

$185-230k

Expert level
Remote in US

1001+ employees

B2CHospitalityB2BTravelMarketplaceSharing Economy

Company mission

To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.

Role

Who you are

  • With a strong appreciation for the practice and process of design, you understand the multiple disciplines that go into a successful product
  • You bring creativity to the operational aspects of a design team and deal with solving the “how,” freeing up your design lead peers to focus on crafting the “what.”
  • You anticipate how decisions are made, persistently explore and uncover new ways of doing things, and work collaboratively with stakeholders
  • You have demonstrated strong performance in your prior roles; you thrive in ambiguity and demonstrate problem-solving leadership with limited oversight
  • BA/BS with 12+ years Consulting, Program Management, Product Management, Project Management or relevant experience
  • Demonstrated ability to work through ambiguity to detailed solutions. You can take a vague problem, crisply frame the challenge, identify a path forward, and drive an initiative over the finish-line
  • Track record of managing and shipping impactful design initiatives in a large digital product org
  • Long-term strategic thinking balanced with near-term execution skills. Distinctive problem solving skills
  • Proven ability to build strong relationships and influence business leaders
  • Demonstrable leadership skills and experience in mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution
  • Demonstrated track record successfully managing ambitious and operationally complex projects with cross-functional teams
  • Experience in structuring and implementing initiatives at scale with design and product teams
  • Background in establishing systems: experience developing process where little exists, and demonstrated flexibility to get things done
  • Passionate and enthusiastic about organizational excellence and attention to detail
  • Thrives in ambiguity in a fast-paced, hyper-growth organization

Desirable

  • Deep knowledge of and appreciation for the Product Design process
  • Experience with or understanding of cross-functional (Design, Product Management, Product Marketing, Engineering) product-driven organizations or digital agency

What the job involves

  • Design Operations enables Airbnb’s Design group to run effectively to make products that are usable, lovable, and scalable for our users
  • Partnering closely with Design, Product Management, Engineering, and business leaders, we drive Airbnb’s priorities through seamless day-to-day operations and strong stakeholder alignment, with an eye towards scale and efficiency
  • The Design Program Managers on this team lead the end-to-end planning, execution, and budgeting of programs to deliver success for our product, hosts, and guests
  • As a Lead Design Program Manager (DPM), you will partner with our Design Managers and/or Directors and cross-functional leaders to drive delivery of quarterly and annual roadmap objectives and ensure that what we promise in our roadmap is what we deliver in our product
  • You will drive tight alignment of activities across teams through cross-functional planning,strong communication, and rigorous program management
  • In this role, you are responsible for the program management and operations of a design team focused on a critical product initiative (as part of a broader launch) as well as establishing an operating rhythm within your team
  • You will lead the end-to-end scoping, planning, execution, and launch of your program to deliver success for our product, hosts, and guests
  • You will also serve as the bridge between critical business functions, aligning stakeholders, providing visibility into the workstream's progress, elevating risks, and shepherding the team through the process of bringing our work to life
  • You will partner closely with the Head of Design Program Management to provide insight on program progress and raise any red flags that could affect delivery
  • Drive consistency and harmony in design team operating rhythm, including communication structures, project templates, leadership cadence, and resource utilization.
  • Initiate and run internal initiatives that significantly improve the Design org’s operations and cross-functional ways of working
  • Optimize interaction models between Product Marketing, Engineering, Design, Creative, and Marketing, influencing cross-functionally to identify opportunity, unlock productivity, and accelerate execution
  • Drive continuous improvement leveraging lessons learned from teams to celebrate successes as well as identify ways to improve
  • Identify and predict obstacles, collisions, and risk to projects across multiple teams and seek solutions to eliminate them
  • Inspire, develop, and challenge Airbnb's Design Program Management team, modeling excellence
  • Build a following: attract and nurture the best talent

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 headshot

Kirsty

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Insights

Top investors

Some candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

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 values

  • Champion the Mission: We’re united with our community to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere
  • Be a Host: We're caring, open, and encouraging to everyone we work with
  • Embrace the Adventure: We’re driven by curiosity, optimism, and the belief that every person can grow
  • Be a Cereal Entrepreneur: We’re determined and creative in transforming our bold ambitions into reality

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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