Used Tools & Technologies
Machine Learning GenAIRequired Skills & Competences
Tag name is followed by "@" symbol and proficiency level value.
About proficiency levels:
- 1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;
- 3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;
- 7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;
- 10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.
R @ 3
Leadership @ 3
Prioritization @ 3
Product Management @ 7
Experimentation @ 3
Customer Support @ 3
LLM @ 3
Generative AI @ 3
AI @ 3
Reinforcement Learning @ 2
- 1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;
- 3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;
- 7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;
- 10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.
Details
Airbnb's Relevance & Personalization (R&P) team is the company's matching intelligence engine — a team of ML engineers, applied researchers, and technical program managers working on search ranking, recommendations, personalization, and generative AI to connect guests to the right listings across every surface.
Responsibilities
- Define and drive the roadmap for relevance and personalization platform, from natural language query understanding to multi-turn, context-aware discovery experiences
- Make prioritization decisions balancing guest experience, host success, revenue, fairness, and marketplace health
- Partner with ML engineers and applied researchers to shape model strategy, evaluation frameworks, and experimentation design
- Align cross-functional partners (Guest, Host, MarTech, Trust & Safety, Customer Support) on shared goals and sequencing
- Drive the Tripcycle vision to connect R&P intelligence across the full trip lifecycle (inspiration through post-trip)
- Design and oversee A/B experiments with rigorous metric design and long-term effect measurement
- Translate complex technical tradeoffs into clear decisions for engineering teams and concise narratives for leadership
- Synthesize user research, marketplace data, and competitive signals to refine strategy and stay close to guests and hosts
Requirements
- 10+ years of product management experience, with at least 3 years on ML, search, recommendations, or AI-powered products at scale
- Track record of owning strategy and roadmap for technically complex systems (not just managing features)
- Strong experimentation fluency: comfortable designing A/B tests, interpreting counterfactual results, and reasoning about proxy metrics vs. long-term outcomes
- Experience with two-sided marketplaces or platforms where supply-side and demand-side tradeoffs are balanced
- Ability to earn the respect of Staff and Principal-level engineers and researchers (no coding required, but technical credibility expected)
- Clear, structured communicator able to distill technical tradeoffs for executives and translate strategic intent into actionable guidance for engineers
- Experience with LLM-based products in production (preferred) — including evaluation challenges, latency constraints, or safety/guardrail work
- Familiarity with reinforcement learning, contextual bandits, or explore/exploit frameworks in a product context (preferred)
- Background working alongside applied researchers or with teams that publish externally (preferred)
Location
The successful applicant must be based in San Francisco, CA. Certain U.S. states were listed as ineligible for this role (Alaska, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Delaware, and Rhode Island); this list is subject to change. If employed by another Airbnb entity, recruiters will clarify eligible states.
Inclusion & Accessibility
Airbnb is committed to diversity and inclusion. Candidates with disabilities who require reasonable accommodation for the application or interview process are encouraged to contact [email protected] with their name, the role, and the accommodation requested.
Benefits & Compensation
The base pay range for this role is $232,000—$282,000 USD. The role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits. Actual base pay depends on factors such as training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and market demands.