Senior Staff Software Engineer, Marketing Technology
Airbnb · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $279,000 / year
- United States
Job highlights
- Lead AI-driven marketing platform transformation.
- Own strategy for complex content systems.
- Solve ambiguous, cross-team technical challenges.
- Mentor senior engineers and influence culture.
- Partner with leadership on technical roadmaps.
About the role
About Airbnb
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
Our mission at Marketing Technology is to provide a state-of-the-art platform and measurement capabilities to enable marketing and product teams to engage with our customers effectively. Every day, millions of Airbnb customers are reached via our streamlined platform over comprehensive marketing channels such as Email, Push, SMS, Google Ads, Facebook Ads etc. We deliver substantial business impact by enabling numerous stakeholders across the company, including Marketing (Brand and Performance), Guest, Host, Airbnb Org, Policy, and more.
The Difference You Will Make
As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on the Content Platform team, you'll set the technical direction for the org's transformation into an AI-driven system that turns a marketing brief into a fully realized campaign in minutes, not months. You'll own the technical strategy across a complex, multi-team surface area spanning a CMS platform, no-code authoring tools, rendering infrastructure, and an emerging agentic layer, all operating at a scale where the content produced is consumed by millions of Airbnb users daily. You will partner with engineering leadership, product, design, and marketing stakeholders across the company to define multi-year technical strategy, resolve the org's hardest cross-team technical challenges, and raise the bar for engineering excellence across Marketing Technology.
A Typical Day
As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on Content Platform, you will:
- Define and drive technical vision and strategy for the Content Platform org, ensuring architectural decisions scale across teams and align with broader company technology direction.
- Identify and resolve the highest-leverage, most ambiguous technical problems that span multiple teams or systems, often before they become visible to others.
- Lead architecture and design reviews across the org, setting technical standards and driving consistency in engineering practices.
- Mentor and grow Staff and senior engineers, and act as a technical multiplier by scaling your judgment and expertise across the broader organization.
- Partner directly with engineering leadership, product, design, and marketing/business stakeholders to align technical strategy with business priorities and influence roadmap decisions at the org level.
- Represent Marketing Technology in company-wide technical forums, driving adoption of best practices and shaping technical direction beyond your immediate team.
- At Senior Staff level, our engineers are expected to operate with organization-wide scope and impact, setting technical direction that shapes how multiple teams build and scale, while remaining deeply hands-on when it matters most.
Your Expertise
- 15+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, including a track record of technical leadership at organizational scale
- Bachelor's and/or Master's/PhD degree, preferably in CS, or equivalent experience
- Deep expertise in backend systems and large-scale, service-oriented and distributed architectures
- Proven experience architecting and scaling agentic or AI-driven systems in production
- Experience with Java, and/or Kotlin, LangGraph, GraphQL, relational and NoSQL databases, caching solutions like Redis, and microservice architecture
- Demonstrated ability to set technical vision and drive execution across multiple teams and stakeholders, with a track record of influencing engineering culture and standards beyond a single team
- Passionate about efficiency, availability, and system quality at scale
- Past experience with Marketing Technology or Growth platform systems is a plus
- Exceptional communication and cross-functional influence skills, with experience driving initiatives that span teams, departments, and leadership
Your Location
This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. Click here for the up-to-date list of excluded states. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list . If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.
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.
We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.
We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application.
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
$248,000—$310,000 USD
Key skills/competency
- Senior Staff Software Engineer
- Marketing Technology
- Content Platform
- AI-driven systems
- Backend Systems
- Distributed Architectures
- Java
- Kotlin
- GraphQL
- Microservice Architecture
Skills & topics
- Software Engineer
- Staff Engineer
- Senior Software Engineer
- Marketing Technology
- Content Platform
- AI
- Machine Learning
- Backend Systems
- Distributed Systems
- Java
- Kotlin
- GraphQL
- Microservices
- Technical Leadership
- Architecture
- Remote
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight 15+ years of experience, technical leadership, and AI/agentic systems architecture.
- Showcase expertise: Emphasize Java, Kotlin, GraphQL, and distributed systems experience.
- Quantify impact: Use data to demonstrate how you've scaled systems and influenced engineering culture.
- Prepare for interviews: Be ready to discuss complex technical challenges and cross-functional influence strategies.
- Network strategically: Connect with Airbnb engineers on LinkedIn to understand team dynamics and culture.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What does a Senior Staff Software Engineer on Airbnb's Marketing Technology team do?
- As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on the Content Platform team at Airbnb, you will set the technical direction for an AI-driven system. This involves owning the technical strategy for a complex surface area including a CMS, no-code tools, rendering infrastructure, and an agentic layer, all at a massive scale. You will collaborate with leadership to define multi-year technical strategies and resolve challenging cross-team technical issues.
- What are the key technical skills required for this Senior Staff Software Engineer role at Airbnb?
- The role requires deep expertise in backend systems, large-scale service-oriented and distributed architectures. Proven experience architecting and scaling agentic or AI-driven systems in production is crucial. Proficiency in Java and/or Kotlin, LangGraph, GraphQL, relational and NoSQL databases, caching solutions like Redis, and microservice architecture are expected.
- What level of experience is expected for the Senior Staff Software Engineer position at Airbnb?
- This role seeks candidates with 15+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, including a proven track record of technical leadership at an organizational scale. A Bachelor's or Master's/PhD degree in CS, or equivalent experience, is also required.
- Is the Senior Staff Software Engineer role at Airbnb remote?
- Yes, this position is US - Remote Eligible. However, you must reside in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. Occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites may be required.
- What is the application process like for a Senior Staff Software Engineer role at Airbnb?
- While specific details may vary, typically for senior roles at Airbnb, the process involves resume review, phone screens, and multiple rounds of interviews assessing technical skills, system design, leadership capabilities, and cultural fit. Be prepared to discuss your experience with large-scale systems and AI-driven architectures.
- Can I apply for the Senior Staff Software Engineer role at Airbnb if I have a disability?
- Yes, Airbnb is committed to a disability-inclusive application and interview process. If you require reasonable accommodation, please contact reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com with your full name, the role you are applying for, and the necessary accommodation.