Airbnb
Senior Staff Engineer, Guest & Host (Host Listings & Quality)
$248K–$310K
United States · Senior Staff · Full-time · Posted Sep 29, 2026
- Experience
- 12+ years of relevant tech-industry experience; 4+ years in an Architect or Staff Engineer role, with ownership of large-scale software systems.
About the job
Sets technical direction and builds backend platforms that manage listing data, searchability, bookability, and host quality across Airbnb’s marketplace.
What you'll do
- Set the multi-year strategy and roadmap for Listings and Quality backend platforms, aligning stakeholders and partner teams.
- Design APIs, data models, and provenance to support AI-assisted features and agents; simplify and platformize shared capabilities.
- Improve reliability and operational practices, contribute hands-on through design and code reviews, and mentor engineers.
What they ask for
- Deep backend expertise in distributed systems, data modeling, and API design for large-scale 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.
- Track record of setting and delivering a multi-year technical vision for a core platform, with strong reliability and operational skills.
- Strong cross-organizational communication and influence, including setting platform contracts and mentoring senior and staff engineers.
Pay
$248,000 — $310,000 USD (base salary)
Tools
Java, Kotlin
AI focus
Design platform APIs, data models, and provenance to safely support AI-assisted features and agents, including validation and guardrails; partner with the AI Platform team.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative