Staff Systems Engineer

Job description

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

The Community You Will Join:

Our BizTech Systems Engineering Team is growing, and we want you to be part of it! This team is responsible for architecting, building, and managing our corporate infrastructure, ensuring high availability, scalability, and reliability across a variety of platforms. BizTech plays a critical role in enabling smooth operations that empower Airbnb’s broader team to contribute to world-class offerings.

The Difference You Will Make:

As Staff Systems Engineer, you will drive initiatives that span organizational boundaries and elevate the operation and scalability of our systems infrastructure. Through your leadership and technical expertise, you will influence key stakeholders, deliver durable solutions, and establish operational excellence within BizTech.

A Typical Day:

• Infrastructure Development: Design and maintain scalable infrastructure using containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and infrastructure automation tools (e.g., Terraform, ArgoCD) and other legacy infrastructure. Develop workflows and CI/CD pipelines, enhancing efficiency and reliability while ideating solutions to improve core infrastructure functionalities.   Create technical documentation, runbooks, and training materials that empower teams to adopt best practices in maintaining and advancing infrastructure.
• Operational Excellence: Respond to operational incidents and security vulnerabilities, performing root cause analyses and implementing system improvements.
• Strategic Vision: Develop roadmaps and OKRs to align the technical roadmap with Airbnb’s priorities, ensuring technical solutions are durable and scalable for future needs.
• Cross-functional Engagement: Build inclusive environments by fostering collaboration across diverse perspectives and aligning shared priorities with business objectives.  Share knowledge with team members and mentor ICs, enabling professional growth and aligning individual contributions with organizational goals.

Your Expertise:

• 9+ years of systems engineering experience with Linux/Windows infrastructure management in cloud infrastructures using infrastructure as code techniques.
• Broad experience managing Linux and Windows operating systems infrastructure.
• Expertise in containerization technologies (e.g., Docker and Cloud hosted Kubernetes(EKS/GKE)).
• Proficiency in infrastructure automation such as IAC(Terraform), Kubernetes package management(Helm),  deployment(Git and ArgoCD), CI/CD(Jenkins), and configuration management(Chef).
• Programming proficiency in Python, JavaScript, Ruby, or Go.
• Mentoring junior staff and associated teams in implementing team technologies.
• Expert-level monitoring and observability skills using Grafana and OpenSearch.
• Creating technical documentation, service catalogs, and post-incident reviews that align with organizational standards and designs.
• Understanding of cost optimization strategies for configurations or infrastructure transitions.
• Extensive knowledge of security, risk assessment methodologies and the ability to implement scalable, resilient systems through failure-mode analysis and innovative designs.
• Excellent collaboration skills, engaging stakeholders across technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience building durable infrastructure systems that empower teams.

Nice to Have:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or relevant disciplines (Ph.D. preferred but not required).
• Deep knowledge of multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, OCI, Azure).
• Active participation in technical communities (e.g., open-source contributions, speaking engagements, blogs).
• Experience leading diversity and belonging initiatives, mentoring junior staff, or acting as an ambassador in technical communities.
• Project and/or portfolio  management experience using multiple methodologies.
• Experience building durable infrastructure systems that empower cross-functional teams.

Your Location:

This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. Click here for the up-to-date list of excluded states. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list. If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: [email protected]. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.

We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application.

How We’ll Take Care of You:

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.

Pay Range

$180,000—$225,000 USD