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Staff Backend Engineer - Ads Platform

Airbnb· Ads Platform
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Hybrid (Remote USA)$212k - $265kfull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Staff Software Engineer role leading the AI-powered Growth Engine for Airbnb’s paid marketing across Google, Meta, and other channels. Architecting autonomous systems for creative generation, bidding/budget optimization, audience management, and feed intelligence at scale, with a focus on ROAS/CAC, quality, and human-in-the-loop controls.

Responsibilities

  • Set technical direction for the agentic Growth Engine — architecture decisions for creatives, bid/budget optimization, and audience management across paid channels.
  • Write and review code hands-on, establishing engineering standards for quality, availability, and system health.
  • Partner with Marketing, Product, and Design to translate growth objectives into platform capabilities and define human-in-the-loop controls.
  • Advance the AI-assisted → agentic → autonomous roadmap, introducing automation with controlled rollout.
  • Mentor engineers and act as a force multiplier through design reviews, technical guidance, and fostering an inclusive culture.
  • Collaborate with ML/AI and data platform teams on models and signals that feed campaign optimization, and integrate with the Airbnb product to understand the customer journey.

Qualifications

  • 9+ years of experience in a hands-on software engineering role.
  • Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree, preferably in CS, or equivalent experience.
  • Technical leadership: hands-on experience leading project teams, setting technical direction and strategy and mentoring engineers.
  • Passion for efficiency, availability, technical quality and system quality.
  • Passion to level-up those around you through curiosity and fostering a collaborative and inclusive team environment.
  • Proven experience in defining product/technical strategy and driving alignment with cross-functional leaders and stakeholders.
  • Strong communication and collaboration skills with experience driving initiatives across teams, departments and leadership.
  • Bonus - Hands-on experience with paid advertising platforms (Meta, Google, or similar).

Skills

Required:Software architecture and system designBackend developmentLeadership and mentorshipCross-functional collaborationCommunication
Nice to have:Paid advertising platform familiarity

Benefits

  • Pay range: $212,000—$265,000 USD
  • Bonus eligibility
  • Equity
  • Benefits
  • Employee Travel Credits
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Airbnb

Book accommodations around the world.

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone. Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 33,000 cities and 192 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions. No global movement springs from individuals. It takes an entire team united behind something big. Together, we work hard, we laugh a lot, we brainstorm nonstop, we use hundreds of Post-Its a week, and we give the best high-fives in town. Headquartered in San Francisco, we have satellite offices in Dublin, London, Barcelona, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, Berlin, Moscow, São Paolo, Sydney, and Singapore.

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