Senior Staff Engineer

Who you are

• 12+ years of relevant experience in the tech industry; 4+ years of experience in an Architect or Staff Engineer role, with ownership responsibility over large-scale software systems
• Strong product and platform judgment. You understand how backend architecture choices shape product velocity, and you design for the needs of product teams, hosts, and AI clients
• Track record of setting a multi-year technical vision for a core platform and delivering it incrementally, such as consolidating services, finishing major migrations, or platformizing shared capabilities
• Deep backend expertise in distributed systems, data modeling, and API design for large-scale, business-critical platforms, using Java, Kotlin, or similar languages
• Experience designing APIs and data systems for AI-assisted features and agents, including data provenance, validation, and guardrails
• Excellent engineering skills and a strong operational mindset, with a track record of improving reliability and reducing operational load on systems in critical business paths
• Strong communication and influence across orgs and platform teams, including AI/ML platforms. Demonstrated ability to set platform contracts, align stakeholders, and raise the bar for senior and staff engineers through mentorship
• A proven track record of fostering a culture of Diversity and Belonging, within the organization and across the tech community

What the job involves

• As a Senior Staff Engineer on Airbnb's Guest & Host team, you'll set the technical direction for the backend platforms at the core of our marketplace. These systems store and serve listing data for Stays, Experiences, and Services, and they decide whether each listing is searchable, visible, and bookable
• They also uphold the quality bar for hosts through ML, enforcement, and host guidance. As AI-assisted features and agents become first-class clients of these systems, you'll shape how our APIs, data provenance, and architecture evolve to stay stable, simple, and extensible
• You'll partner with engineers across Guest & Host, Trust, Infrastructure, and our AI Platform team to define how listings and quality architecture fits with the rest of Airbnb
• Set the multi-year technical strategy and roadmap for Listings and Quality backend, and bring the team and stakeholders along
• Partner with AI Platform, Trust, Infrastructure, and Product teams to shape how Listings and Quality architecture fits with the rest of Airbnb, and set the platform contracts between them
• Design APIs, data models, and data provenance so the platform can safely support AI-assisted features and agents
• Drive platformization, simplification, and self-service: generalize shared capabilities, consolidate duplicated systems, and let product teams build within guardrails
• Raise the bar on reliability and engineering practices, and reduce operational load on systems in critical business paths
• Hands-on development, including design and code reviews
• Mentor, guide, and support the career growth of individual contributors

Benefits

• Paid volunteer time
• Health food and snacks
• Generous parental and family leave
• Learning and development
• Annual travel and experiences credit