Staff Data Scientist, Search & Personalization

The Community You Will Join:

We are looking for talented Data Scientists to join our Search & Personalization Data Science team. Search is pivotal to the Airbnb marketplace. The team works on building a world class search experience for our guests, from the homepage, to search and listing pages, and checkout. Our team is responsible for building the data products, inference frameworks, and intelligence to create a personalized search experience, balancing both the short and long-term health of the marketplace. 

The Difference You Will Make:

As a Staff Data Scientist in the Search and Personalization space, you will have a unique opportunity to shape Airbnb's search and personalization strategy. Your role will involve developing and evaluating specialized models to power our recommendation platform, partnering with product and relevance teams, and understanding the impact of model changes on the overall product experience. You will serve as a connector between the Relevance team and the Data Science community, ensuring that our models and algorithms are both high-quality and aligned with our product vision. Unique among Search and Personalization roles, you will integrate marketplace thinking into ranking to ensure we balance the needs of guests, hosts, and Airbnb.

A Typical Day: 

• Design and evaluate inference frameworks and prototypes for Search and Personalization.
• Work hand-in-hand with Search and Personalization engineering and product teams to develop, implement, and iterate quickly.
• Integrate marketplace dynamics into ranking models to achieve marketplace and strategic objectives.
• Write model specifications and scientific documents to clearly communicate ideas to other subject matter experts and cross-functional partners.
• Understand and evaluate the implications of model changes on the user experience, ensuring optimal outcomes.
• Drive the development of innovative personalization strategies to enhance user engagement and satisfaction.

Your Expertise:

• Advanced degree (PhD or Masters) in Data Science, Econometrics, Statistics, or a related field.
• 9+ years of relevant industry experience (6+ with a PhD), with 1+ year of domain experience in ranking and personalization.
• Hands-on ‘builder’ experience in machine learning, recommendation systems, and data-driven product development.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with audiences of varying technical knowledge and seniority (up to Director).
• Prior experience in multi-sided marketplaces is preferred.

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.