Staff Software Engineer, Payments

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

The Community You Will Join

The AirCover Insurance Platform team builds the systems behind AirCover, which includes Host liability insurance, Experiences liability insurance and Host damage protection. We make it possible to launch and operate insurance products across global markets, and to learn quickly what increases the number of Hosts and guests who are protected. The team works with engineering, product, data science and legal partners across Airbnb's hubs.

What kind of Software Engineer are we looking for?

As a Staff Engineer on the AirCover Insurance Platform, you will lead the design and evolution of the core subsystems that manage policies, coverage, enrollment and regional rules, and the experimentation capabilities that drive attach rate. At the staff level, you establish the technical vision, then deliver a solution that is flexible, always available, auditable and able to scale with the needs of the business.

The Difference You Will Make

• Design the future-state architecture that lets us expand AirCover to new regions and products without rebuilding for each market, balancing short-term launch needs against long-term technical quality.
• Lead the design of an experimentation framework for insurance offers, pricing and placement, with trustworthy measurement of attach rate and downstream outcomes.
• Lead engineers inside and outside your team in building these solutions, and be the technical lead and owner of significant scope through ambiguity.
• Engage early with product managers, designers, data scientists and legal partners to shape requirements and steer teams toward the most efficient path to our goals.
• Raise the bar for technical quality from design, through code review, to production operations.
• Mentor engineers, and be a player/coach who helps build the team and drives collaboration across multiple teams.
• Apply emerging technology, including LLMs, where it improves automation and the experience for Hosts and guests.

A Typical Day

• Write and review designs and code for high-availability, distributed backend services.
• Make architectural trade-offs and scale services in a regulated, multi-region environment with strong audit, privacy and data-integrity needs.
• Analyze data to find gaps in conversion and coverage, and turn insights into product and platform changes.
• Partner with Product, Data Science, Data Engineering, Legal and platform teams to drive engineering decisions and influence outcomes.
• Present technical and product deep dives to stakeholders and leadership.

Your Expertise

• 9+ years of relevant software development experience in a fast-paced tech environment (or 7+ with an advanced degree).
• Expertise in backend systems in large-scale, service-oriented architectures, with real-world experience in at least one of Java, Kotlin, Python, Go or similar.
• Experience designing multi-region or multi-tenant platforms with configurable, rules-driven behavior.
• Experience with A/B testing and experimentation systems, and with using data to improve conversion or attach rates.
• Proficiency designing and operating high-performance systems with reliable monitoring and logging, and working knowledge of relational databases and SQL.
• Good judgment in balancing short-term business needs with long-term technical quality.
• Experience in insurance, payments, fintech or other regulated domains is a plus.
• Hands-on technical leadership across multiple teams, with excellent communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

How We'll Take Care of You:

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.

Pay Range

$212,000—$265,000 USD

Reasonable Accommodations: We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process for applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance, or an accommodation, please let your recruiter know once you are contacted about a role.

A Note on Recruiting Scams: Scammers sometimes pose as Airbnb recruiters to get money or personal information from candidates. A few things that will always be true for Airbnb’s hiring process: our open roles are posted on Airbnb’s Career’s Page at careers.airbnb.com, and our recruiters correspond only from @ airbnb.com or @ ext.airbnb.com email addresses. Our recruiters will never ask for your Social Security number, bank account details, passport, or payment app information while you are interviewing. We’ll also never ask you to pay a fee, send money, deposit or cash a check, or purchase work-related equipment (such as a company laptop) during the interview process. We encourage candidates to remain vigilant of these recruiting scams and not share sensitive information if you do not believe an individual is actually affiliated with Airbnb.