Risk Trends Lead

Details

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.

Community

Payment Risk Operations is at the heart of what makes Airbnb a place where anyone can belong anywhere. We're the guardians of trust in our global marketplace, working to create safe and authentic experiences for millions of hosts and guests worldwide. Our mission is to protect our community while preserving the magic of travel through thoughtful policies, intelligent rules, and innovative systems.

Role overview

As a Risk Trends Lead, you'll design, enhance, and oversee the business processes that serve as our first line of defense against fraudulent activities across the Airbnb ecosystem. You will partner closely with cross-functional teams (technical and non-technical) to ideate, design, and develop solutions that tackle complex transaction risk problems on the platform.

Responsibilities

• Lead timely investigations and analysis of suspicious behavior, fraudulent transactions, and platform abuse to maintain trust and safety across Airbnb.
• Identify platform vulnerabilities and partner with cross-functional teams to build preventative measures against fraudulent activity.
• Continuously monitor user transactions to spot emerging threats and evolving fraud methodologies.
• Own incident resolution from escalation to closure, ensuring swift and thorough case management.
• Collaborate with business, technology, and security/risk partners to drive scalable solutions for complex risk challenges affecting millions of users.
• Work closely with Product and Data teams to develop proactive and reactive fraud prevention solutions.
• Partner with Legal, Public Affairs, and other teams to respond to regulatory inquiries related to fraud and criminal activities.
• Create compelling fraud reports that highlight emerging trends and business impacts for senior leadership.
• Take on additional fraud operations initiatives to strengthen Airbnb's security posture.

Requirements

• Minimum of 5+ years professional experience in fraud, abuse, audit, or cybercrime investigations.
• Detail-oriented, highly analytical, with strong project management skills.
• Ability to understand opposing points of view on highly complex issues.
• Strong ability to gather information from various online sources and community groups (open-source intelligence).
• Advanced SQL skills.
• Capacity to draw actionable insights from datasets and communicate findings to stakeholders.

Preferred qualifications

• Python (or equivalent) is a plus.
• Data science background is a plus.
• Experience with data visualization and BI tools (Tableau, Superset).
• Experience with distributed SQL query engines for large-scale data analysis (Trino/Presto).

Impact areas

• Transaction security across Airbnb products and services.
• User verification and onboarding experiences.
• Fraud detection systems and operational excellence.

How we'll take care of you

The actual base pay depends on experience, skills, and market factors. This role may be eligible for bonus/incentives, equity programs, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.

India Pay Range: ₹1,470,000—₹2,100,000 INR

Offices: India

Technologies & tools mentioned

• SQL (advanced)
• Python
• Tableau / Superset
• Trino / Presto
• Data analysis and visualization