Senior Data Scientist - Payments (Inference)

Details

You will join Airbnb's Payments Data Science organization, which operates at the intersection of Trust and Payments. The team supports payment optimization, fraud and risk mitigation, measurement, and regulatory compliance across Airbnb's global marketplace. This role will lead quantitative measurement efforts and apply scientific approaches to improve payment experiences, with a particular focus on payments fraud mitigation and loss optimization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and apply causal inference methods, including experiments, econometric regressions, and quasi-experimental methods, to measure platform and product impacts.
• Build methods for robust evaluation of machine learning and artificial intelligence model efficiency and performance.
• Identify use cases for and develop predictive models to classify, segment, and interpret user behavior.
• Support the evaluation and optimization of agentic and large language model-based systems.
• Develop methodologies to explore and simulate the impact of new interventions.
• Develop data products to optimize product and operational strategies.
• Conduct hypothesis generation, causal inference framework development, and model development and evaluation.
• Develop novel metrics and measurement frameworks, investigate root causes, and measure long-term impacts.
• Deliver research reports and effective data visualizations.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, communicate findings, identify opportunities, and drive data and product roadmaps.
• Think strategically about opportunities to improve and scale brand measurement and customer insights.
• Own a business or technical domain end-to-end, set a roadmap, and drive problems to resolution.

Requirements

• 5+ years of industry experience in a quantitative analysis role with a master's degree in a quantitative field such as mathematics, economics, or statistics; or 3+ years of experience with a PhD.
• Strong knowledge of causal inference, experimentation, applied statistical modeling, and end-to-end machine learning development.
• Proficiency in statistical programming with Python or R.
• Experience using databases and SQL.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with audiences of varying technical levels.
• Ability to work independently, set a roadmap, and drive cross-functional alignment.
• Payments fraud or risk domain expertise is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with evaluating agentic or LLM-based systems, including decision-quality measurement and human-in-the-loop calibration, is a plus.

Location

This position is US remote eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed with the manager. Candidates must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity.

Compensation

The base pay range is $179,000–$210,000 USD per year. The role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.