Senior Communications Lead, Airbnb
DACH & CEE
Community marketplace for holiday accomodation
Be an early applicant
Community marketplace for holiday accomodation
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
1001+ employees
Company mission
To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.
Role
Who you are
- The right candidate will already be recognised as a leader in their field at this level, with a proven track record of using a range of comms strategies and disciplines to solve complex and ambiguous problems
- They will also have a history of delivering projects across cross-functional teams, taking a strategic leadership role and anticipating challenges
- The right candidate will also be expected to demonstrate a working knowledge of how to translate a global brand proposition to a local audience across the DACH markets
- You must be comfortable working in a global company, delivering counsel and guidance to senior leadership in both Europe and within our HQ teams in the US
- The successful candidate will have solid experience of creating internal advocacy among multiple senior audiences, as well as directing and inspiring a team of high performing communications professionals
- 12-15 years of experience within high performing international organizations - either with agencies or in-house roles
- A team leader with both a record of leading high performing comms teams, and experience of working with cross-functional teams to drive success
- A proven history of encouraging and developing innovative industry-leading thinking and turning it into executable plans and campaigns
- Experience of operating in a high performing cross functional team, acting as counsel on all comms related matters and being proactive in elevating the work of comms across the region
- A strong track record of developing inspiring goals that motivate team members to achieve personal and professional success
- Forward thinking, innovative and creative - proactively shares perspective at all levels of the organization
- Excellent problem solver with ability to anticipate future issues, unblock the most complex situations and facilitate drama-free environments where the team will thrive
- German native speaker with fluent business English. Working knowledge of other languages within the region will be desirable
What the job involves
- The Communications team is responsible for telling the Airbnb story around the world
- Whether we are briefing press on inspiring travel trends, highlighting unique stories about our hosts, or explaining how travel on our platform benefits local families and communities, we are the voice of Airbnb on a broad range of topics
- Based in Berlin, the Senior Communications Lead, DACH will be responsible for the overarching communications strategy across three key markets: Germany, Austria and Switzerland
- The role also has responsibility for reactive communications oversight in Central and Eastern Europe
- Reporting into the EMEA Communications Director, the role will strategically lead the DACH communications team, which is made up of a team of three people, including consumer and corporate comms experts focused on the region
- We also have agency partners in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Central & Eastern Europe, and successful management of these agency partners will be key to the role
- This role will also be required to collaborate closely with the Country Manager for Central and Eastern Europe
- The core focus of the role is to create industry leading strategies and campaigns that can deliver against the local business goals and the global comms priorities
- This role is for a communicator who has solid experience in delivering campaigns and strategies that will inspire the team and the wider organization, and create a vision for the way that we seek to promote the Airbnb brand and products to a range of audiences
- The role spans our corporate and policy work, where we face some regulatory challenges, as well as our consumer campaigns where we need to deliver strategies that will drive both brand awareness and positive sentiment
- The role demands high level expertise in both consumer and corporate communications, with the adaptability to switch between each area regularly and apply best in class thinking to challenges and opportunities
- Create, manage and drive the execution of the overarching communications strategy and plan, continuously aligning with the global and regional business and marketing strategies
- Direct and oversee the development and execution of market plans supporting Corporate Communications, Policy Communications, and Consumer Communications
- Develop inspiring and compelling comms strategies to challenge the team and the business to achieve beyond our existing success
- Provide strategic comms advice and counsel to our cross functional teams, collaborating with senior stakeholders from across the business (primarily Policy, Marketing, Business Operations) to work together to achieve goals
- Responsible for maintaining a clear organizational structure for the team and overall team performance and career development
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
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
Articles
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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