Staff Software Engineer

Summary

Join Airbnb's innovative team as a Distributed Systems Engineer and play a pivotal role in designing and building scalable, reliable systems for our global platform. You will provide thought leadership, lead multi-team technical initiatives, architect and implement complex features, and mentor junior engineers. This role requires 9+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in CS (or equivalent), and expertise in distributed systems, cloud platforms, and databases. The position is US-Remote Eligible, with occasional office work or offsites. Compensation includes a base pay range of $204,000-$255,000 USD, plus potential bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.

Requirements

• 9+ years of experience in a hands-on software engineering role
• Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree, preferably in CS, or equivalent experience
• Considerable experience working in Java, GO, Python or Scala
• Strong understanding of distributed system concepts, including consistency models, CAP theorem, and distributed algorithms
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and services related to distributed computing (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker)
• Knowledge of databases (SQL and NoSQL) and data storage solutions in a distributed context
• Understanding of network protocols, data serialization (e.g., JSON, Protobuf), and API design for distributed systems
• Ability to analyze and optimize system performance and scalability
• Technical leadership: hands on experience leading project teams, setting technical direction and strategy and mentoring engineers
• Experience in technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and setting project direction

Responsibilities

• Provide thought leadership, define strategy, influence cross functional collaboration and drive architectural decisions
• Lead multi-team technical initiatives, and work cross-functionally to identify opportunities for business impact, refine, and prioritize requirements for engineering systems
• Architect and implement complex features, focusing on data-driven decision making and performance optimizations
• Lead efforts with other engineering teams to advance Airbnb’s engineering processes and technical foundations
• Drive systemic improvements by identifying patterns to streamline development, reduce toil and increase technical quality and operational excellence over time
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior engineers  through design reviews, code walkthroughs, and knowledge-sharing sessions, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous learning

Benefits

• Bonus
• Equity
• Benefits
• Employee Travel Credits