Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Summary

Join Airbnb's AI Experience Team as a Staff Machine Learning Engineer and lead complex AI initiatives, architecting solutions that leverage generative AI and agentic systems to create deeply personalized user experiences. You will collaborate with cross-functional partners, develop cutting-edge AI systems, and improve data quality using advanced techniques. This role requires extensive experience in machine learning engineering, generative AI, and data quality improvement. You will mentor team members and present to senior leadership. The position is US-Remote Eligible with occasional office work.

Requirements

• 9+ years of professional machine learning engineering experience, including proven leadership on AI/ML projects at scale, ideally at the Staff Engineer level or above
• Hands-on experience building and shipping generative AI solutions, emphasizing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic workflows, and large language models
• Demonstrated success improving AI data quality through synthetic data techniques, adversarial testing, or advanced data annotation pipelines
• Strong proficiency in backend engineering and cloud-based architectures that support high-volume, real-time AI workloads
• Excellent communication skills and a track record of cross-functional collaboration, translating complex technical concepts into actionable insights for varied audiences
• Passion for responsible and ethical AI, designing solutions with guardrails that prioritize accuracy, user trust, and inclusiveness

Responsibilities

• Architect and develop large-scale AI solutions, from data pipelines and fine-tuning methodologies to multi-step agentic workflows, transforming Airbnb’s platform into a deeply personalized and intelligent concierge
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to develop prototypes that push the boundaries of generative AI, then transition them into high-impact production features
• Develop prototypes that embed state-of-the-art generative AI capabilities, ensuring they meet production-level metrics for reliability, scalability, and ethical alignment
• Drive data quality, leveraging advanced synthetic data generation techniques and robust analytics to continuously improve AI performance
• Serve as a technical mentor, conducting knowledge-sharing sessions and code reviews that uplift team-wide expertise in AI and machine learning
• Present progress, insights, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership, influencing the broader AI roadmap at Airbnb

Benefits

• Bonus
• Equity
• Benefits
• Employee Travel Credits