Software Engineer, Dev Tools

at Airbnb

📍 United States

USD 162,000-190,000 per year

MIDDLE

✅ Remote

Tech Stack
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.

AI API AWS @ 3 CI/CD Communication @ 3 Debugging @ 6 Distributed Systems @ 6 Docker @ 2 Go @ 3 Kubernetes @ 2 Networking @ 3 Observability @ 3 Python @ 3 Security

Details

As a Software Engineer on Dev Tools, you will design, build, and operate foundational systems used across Airbnb engineering. You will work on technically challenging infrastructure problems involving distributed systems, Kubernetes, developer workflows, scalability, reliability, and cost efficiency, while partnering closely with teams across Developer Platform, DevAI, CI/CD, Cloud Infrastructure, and Security.

Responsibilities

Build and operate cloud development environments and execution platforms for engineers and AI agents.
Scale Kubernetes-based worker pools, control planes, and APIs for parallel and asynchronous workloads.
Improve AirDev validation so engineers and agents can test changes quickly before CI.
Strengthen source-control and code-review systems as PR volume, automation, and concurrency grow.
Improve developer workflows across build, test, dependency management, and polyglot monorepo tooling.
Diagnose production issues across distributed systems, networking, storage, and orchestration.
Set technical direction and make high-stakes architectural decisions with significant ambiguity.
Mentor engineers on the team and raise the quality bar through code review and design feedback.

Requirements

2-4+ years of industry experience with bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree, preferably in CS, or equivalent experience.
Experience leading and shipping large scope technical projects in collaboration with multiple experienced engineers.
Full-cycle developer: strong ownership and experience building and operating high-scale, distributed systems across the full software life cycle.
Familiarity with container and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
Excellent communication skills; ability to explain complex infrastructure tradeoffs and drive cross-team alignment without formal authority.
Strong problem solver with solid debugging skills.
Passion for developer productivity and making developer lives better.
Cloud infrastructure and Kubernetes experience running reliably at scale on AWS, including EKS, EC2, EBS, and cloud networking (VPCs, load balancers, VPN tunneling).
Platform thinking: understanding reliability, observability, clear contracts, and graceful failure modes.
Cost and efficiency: treat infrastructure spending as a first-class concern and drive meaningful cost reduction through architectural changes.
Agent or async workloads (a plus): operational characteristics of async, autonomous, or long-running compute workloads (pooling, lifecycle management, isolation, secret handling).
Developer tooling (a plus): end-to-end developer experience; difference between technically correct and genuinely usable tools.
Go, Python, or similar server-side languages (pragmatic about language; you’ll learn what you need).

Benefits

Base pay range: $162,000—$190,000 USD (dependent upon factors including training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands).
This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.